AFCON
Salah won’t be a worry for us, Ahmed Musa declares ahead of Egypt clash
Egyptian publication, Kinfut has reported that the Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa is not worried about facing Mohamed Salah in Egypt clash as he believes their opponents should be the worried side.
Nigeria’s clash with Egypt takes place on the 11th of January in their first Group stage game in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations
The confrontation between the two teams will be an early finale as each side has a great history in the tournament, with Egypt being the record holders with seven wins and Nigeria having three trophies.
Speaking ahead of the game, Musa declared that they will be competing in Cameroon for the title, and facing Egypt isn’t going to shake them.
The Nigerian skipper even stated that they won’t be thinking about facing Salah as they have their own variety of skilled players.
“Everyone is talking about [Mohamed] Salah but if you look at our team, we have lots of players they will be worried about,” Musa told the media before Nigeria’s departure to Cameroon.
“So, we don’t have to think about Salah, they’ve to think about our own players.
“They talk about Salah but we have players like Samuel Chukwueze and others on the wings who are very dangerous – so that’s football.
“In each tournament, you will always see new players. I don’t think there is any new player going to AFCON that has not been with us since day one.
“So, we are together, and we know each other but it’s just something little the coach just needs to add into the team.
“For me, I think we’re ready because we have played lots of matches together, and like I said we are 100 percent ready.
“We aren’t going to Cameroon to see the beauty of the country but to win. I remember during the qualifiers when we sealed qualification, we said we aren’t just going to the AFCON we’re going to come back with the trophy.”
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.
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.
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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