AFCON
Covid-19 ravaged Tunisia face uphill task as AFCON group stage rounds up
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
A total of 11 players may be unavailable for Tunisia in their last group match.
Sitting third on the log in Group F, Tunisia are Super Eagles’ potential opponents in Sunday’s Round of 16 match at the Roumdé Adjia Stadium, Garoua.
But for that fixture to be valid, Tunisia will have to scrape at least a point in their Thursday last group match with unlikely group leaders, The Gambia.
Going by form book, the game could easily be ‘awarded’ to Tunisia. But in a tournament that has seen form books being turn into shreds, nothing is impossible.
However, Tunisia go into the match with heavy odds. No fewer than eight players are reportedly to have tested positive to COVID-19.
The latest is left back, Ali Maaloul. Tunisia started their Africa Cup of Nations adventure with a 1-0 defeat to Mali.
They then had to play their next match against Mauritania without six players all knocked out for testing positive to Covid-19. Tunisia however still won the match 4-0 to lift the hopes of progressing.
Among the six who had to to into isolation are: Mohamed Dräger and Naim Sliti.
The other six players in isolation are: Ayman Dahman, Ghailan Chaalali, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane, Wahbi Khazri, Ali El-Jamal and Mohamed Amine Ben Hmida.
The Tunisian Football Federation revealed that the above mentioned players are currently isolating and will undergo another test soon, as per CAF’s regulations.
Additionally, the previous group of players to contract Covid are yet to test negative, except for Mohamed Dräger , meaning that they have 11 players unavailable for the moment.
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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