AFCON
Nigerian legend, Amuneke tips Algeria to win Afcon again
Emmanuel Amuneke won the 1994 AFCON title with Nigeria Super Eagles and was Tanzania’s coach in the 2019 edition in Egypt. He is a member of the Technical Study Group (TSG) of the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, and spoke to CAFOnline.com about his view of the 9 January – 6 February 2022 tournament.
CAFOnline.com: What are your expectations for this edition of AFCON?
“I expect it to be better than the previous edition. The 2019 edition in Egypt was the first Africa Cup of Nations with 24 teams, and this will be the second time.
“We have newcomers like Gambia and Comoros, this shows that African football is progressing. AFCON is a tournament watched and followed around the world. Therefore, despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this tournament must rise to international standards.
“Africa must show that its flagship competition is making giant strides. We are going to discover new stars. I am very positive.”
Who are the favorites in your opinion?
“Algeria is the reigning champions, and they are the favorites. Senegal is a very strong team, so are the hosts Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia. It will be very difficult to predict who will win the title because we have so many great teams here.
“There are big changes in African football, players with a global dimension, it is promising. In Europe today, African footballers play the leading roles in their clubs and evolve in the top clubs in the world. That must be reflected in this competition.”
Despite the African football progress, all African representatives came out in the first round in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup. What was the problem?
“We have to wait to get an idea of our next representatives in Qatar 2022. Either way, we must learn from our mistakes in Russia 2018.
“We weren’t very far, but our representatives were missing things. It was not the quality of our players that was the problem, but we struggled to find tactical solutions to the equations posed by our opponents. The main thing is to have learned the lessons and try to move forward next time.”
Do you think this AFCON edition will be a good preparation for African teams in Qatar 2022?
“It’s clear that the teams here will have a certain advantage and a great opportunity, despite that the play-offs have nothing to do with the Africa Cup of Nations.
“The teams present in Cameroon are of great quality, and personally I cannot predict the future AFCON winner because all the teams are of such quality. With this competition, the teams will know at what level they can be and have an idea of what remains for them to do. In terms of preparation, we couldn’t get better.”
What about Nigeria in this AFCON 2021?
“We would have liked to see players like Victor Oshimen who is doing very well in a very tough league in Italy. But the most important in life is health and we pray he will regain his health very quickly.
“He will play other tournaments for his country and certainly the World Cup qualifying play-offs. Oshimen is a young footballer, but he is part of the present and future of Nigerian,
“African and world football. It’s sad not to see him at AFCON, but he will be there soon. Despite everything, the selected players have a lot of quality. Nigeria will bravely defend their chances in this competition.”
-Cafonline
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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