AFCON
Sierra Leone coach gets death threats over Afcon squad selection
Sierra Leone coach John Keister says he received death threats prior to naming his squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on Sunday in Cameroon.
The 51-year-old received two threats – regarding the inclusion of certain players – a day before announcing his 28-man squad and reported them to police in the west African country.
“I think it’s very, very sad that it has to come to this,” Manchester-born Keister told BBC Sport Africa.
“Whatever walk of life you are in, nobody deserves that.”
Keister added: “I don’t think it should get to that point where my life is being threatened because people feel players should be in [the squad] – and if they are not, this is what they are going to do.”
Keister featured for several British clubs, including Walsall and non-league Margate, during his playing career and was capped by Sierra Leone between 1997 and 2003.
He is in his second spell as national coach and has led the Leone Stars, ranked 108th in the world, to the tournament finals for the first time since 1996.
“We have come a long way [so] there’s no reason for [the death threats],” added Keister.
“I’ve got family, I look after these boys and I have a job to do. It gets me angry and for me, where I have come from and my background, I feel there is something I need to do about it.
“Regardless of the job, I need to do something about it.”
His squad, including one-time England defender Steven Caulker and former Middlesbrough striker Kei Kamara, 37, will face holders Algeria, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea in Group E at the Nations Cup.
-BBC
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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