AFCON
Algerian coach defends Mahrez after penalty kick miss
Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi hit back at criticism of star man Riyad Mahrez but admitted his team would need to improve drastically to qualify for the World Cup after the reigning African champions were dumped out of the Cup of Nations on Thursday (Jan 20).
The 2019 champions needed to beat the Cote d’Ivoire in their final group game to qualify for the last 16 but slumped to a 3-1 loss in Douala to finish bottom of their section.
“This is something we have to swallow. It is hard for us because we are not used to losing. It is a bitter taste. It is horrible,” said Belmadi as Algeria head home after collecting just a single point in three group matches.
The 2019 champions came to Cameroon on a 34-game unbeaten run but were held to a 0-0 draw by minnows Sierra Leone in their first match and then lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea.
They were then outclassed by the 2015 champions in Douala as Mahrez missed a penalty.
Belmadi was deflated but still hit back at one question criticising the performance of Mahrez and suggesting the Manchester City star had been allowed to take a holiday before the tournament rather than join up with the squad at their training camp.
“Don’t go and point the finger at players who have given you so much happiness,” he slammed.
“When things are not going well you start to point the finger at him or me.
“Did you want me to drop him to the bench? I didn’t change things. I left him in the team. When you talk about holidays you are at the very least ill-informed and at worst dishonest.”
Algeria must now turn their thoughts to trying to reach the World Cup with the draw for the final play-off round of African qualifying taking place this weekend.
“We will have to pick ourselves up, digest this, analyse it and lift our heads up. The World Cup awaits and we will need to do better,” Belmadi said.
-AFP
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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