AFCON
Algeria begin AFCON defence with world’s longest unbeaten run record in sight
Algeria begin the defence of their African Cup of Nations title on Tuesday as they chase down the record for the longest unbeaten run by a national team.
Algeria go into their Group E clash against Sierra Leone in Douala undefeated in their last 34 internationals and threatening the mark that Italy set last year (37 games).
They have not lost since Benin beat them in a Cup of Nations qualifier before the 2019 finals, which Algeria went on to win.
The run does not include participation in the African Nations Championship, which is the competition for national teams made up solely of home-based players and where Algeria enters with a B team, as they did in winning last month’s Arab Cup in Qatar.
The full national side under coach Djamel Belmadi have 26 victories and eight draws since their last loss in October 2018 and compete at this month’s Cup of Nations as one of the heavily-fancied teams.
“We are the title holders and we are approaching the competition with ambition, because we want to make our people happy,” said Belmadi on the eve of the kick off of the tournament in Cameroon.
But he conceded that Algeria, who also have Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast in their group, would be targets for other teams.
“The pressure on the title holders can only be a positive. When we went to the last Cup of Nations finals in Egypt, we were considered a team without much chance. But we won the trophy and everything was different, the respect was palpable,” Belmadi added.
“We are aware of this, and we want to stay up high, we want to be the best.
“There is no easy path in the Cup of Nations. There is a chance you get to the quarter-finals and you are up against one of Mali, Nigeria, Tunisia or Egypt, which would be like an African cup final!
“Egypt, for example, has a world-class Mohamed Salah, even if he has not had the same form for his country (as he has with his club Liverpool). Such a player can change the face of a team on his own.”
Italy went 37 games without defeat from October 2018 to October last year when they lost 2-1 to Spain in the Nations League semi-finals in Milan.
Their unbeaten streak included success in last year’s European Championship.
-Reuters
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.
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