AFCON
Defending champions Algeria unveil AFCON squad
Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi announced the final squad list of the defending champions that will take part in the impending Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, which is scheduled to kick off on January 9th, 2022.
Algeria won the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt 2019. The Desert Foxes also won the FIFA Arab Cup, which was held in Qatar this month.
Algeria’s final list includes 28 players, led by the English Premier League stars Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City and Said Benrahma of West Ham, as well as the best player in the FIFA Arab Cup, Yassine Brahimi, and best goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi.
Algeria plays in Group E of the Africa Cup of Nations 2021, besides Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. They will start their title defending campaign by facing Sierra Leone at the Japoma Stadium in Douala on January 11, 2022.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Rais Mbolhi (Al-Ettifaq, Saudi Arabia), Mustafa Zaghba (Damac, Saudi Arabia), Alexandre Oukidja (Metz, France)
Defenders: Issa Mandy (Villarreal, Spain), Abdelkader Bedrane (Esperance, Tunisia), Mehdi Tahrat (Al Gharafa, Qatar), Djamel Benlmari (Qatar, Qatar), Mohamed Amine Taugai (Esperance, Tunisia), Youcef Attal (Nice, France), Houcine Benayada (Etoile du Sahel, Tunisia), Reda Halaimia (Beerschot, Belgium), Rami Bensebaini (Borussia Monchengladbach, Germany), Ilias Chetti (Esperance, Tunisia)
Midfielders: Ramiz Zerrouki (Twente Enschede, Netherlands), Haris Belkebla (Brest, France), Sofiane Bendebka (Al-Fateh, Saudi Arabia), Adem Zorgane (Royal Charleroi, Belgium), Sofiane Feghouli (Galatasaray, Turkey) Ismail Bennacer (AC Milan, Italy)
Forwards: Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, England), Adam Ounas (Napoli, Italy), Youcef Belaili (Unattached), Said Benrahma (West Ham United, England), Farid Boulaya (Metz, France), Yacine Brahimi (Al Rayyan, Qatar), Islam Slimani (Lyon, France), Baghdad Bounedjah (Al Sadd, Qatar), Mohamed El Amine Amoura (Lugano, Switzerland)
AFCON
Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
AFCON
CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
AFCON
Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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