AFCON
Senegal, Guinea in West African Derby stalemate
The most anticipated top of the table clash in Group B involving West African Giants Senegal and Guinea ended in a goalless draw in their second match of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations at the Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam on Friday.
Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Naby Keita were playing on opposite ends with both players who were captaining their respective teams, looked to send their country into the Round of 16 having won their opening Group Matches with similar 1-0 scorelines.
Guinea came out of the blocks early with Ilaix Moriba having the first attempt of the game from a set piece but the effort was way off target.
Senegal responded quickly with Bouna Sarr seeing his shot blocked from outside the penalty area.
Seny Dieng the Senegal goal keeper denied Guinea what should have been the opening goal of the match. Morgan Guilavogui saw his right footed shot from the six yard box saved by Dieng at point blank range after good square pass by Ilaix Moriba.
The first half ended goalless with the Syli Nationale of Guinea edging the possession.
The second half started with Senegal looking more stronger of the two and doing more attacking. First it was Cheikhou Kouyaté attempting a header from a set piece by Bouna Sarr. Then just moments later Abdou Diallo’s header which was destined to the top left corner was saved by Guinea Goalkeeper Aly Keita.
The Teranga Lions kept pushing Guinea to the limit with persistent pressure. Bouna Sarr nearly broke the deadlock after being fed by from skipper Sadio Mane but his effort went agonizingly wide of the left post.
Guinea Coach Kaba Diawara looked to soak the pressure from the Senegalese team by switching things up. Ibrahima Sory Conté came in for Ilaix Moriba in midfield.
Aliou Cisse responded by bringing on an attacking player Mouhamadou Diallo to replace Mame Thiam.
In the end both teams couldn’t find an opening and will have to wait for their final matches on Tuesday to qualify for the Round of 16. Senegal will remain in Bafoussam where they will play the flames of Malawi while Guinea and Zimbabwe will travel to Yaounde with their tie set for the Ahmadou Ahijo Stadium.
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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