AFCON
AFCON ouster is an eye-opener…we’ll fly higher now, says Ahmed Musa
Ghana’s Black Stars will bear the brunt of Super Eagles’ early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations holding in Cameroon, if the words of Ahmed Musa are anything to go by.
It is just two months to the double-legged World Cup final qualifiers between both teams and the Nigerian skipper has promised to take it out on their Ghanaian counterparts.
According to a press release by the NFF, Captain Musa said that though the Super Eagles’ exit from the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations was a hard one for the players, there is no time for any pity-party and the shock has only made the squad stronger as lessons have been taken on board for upcoming challenges.
“You know it is still a shock but I can assure you that things like these make a team stronger. We did our best in the circumstances. When you lose at a tournament, it hurts really bad. However, we don’t have time to keep reflecting over what went wrong.
“We have very important challenges in front of us, and all we can do is stay stronger and have firm belief in ourselves that we can do it. The focus is now on the World Cup play-off.”
Nigeria exited the 33rd AFCON after losing by the odd goal to Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles in a Round of 16 encounter in Garoua on Sunday evening.
On return to Abuja on Tuesday morning, Youth and Sports Minister Sunday Dare had a breakfast meeting with the contingent where he explicated that the Government was proud of the squad and its performance, “and how they comported themselves as ambassadors of our nation.” He stated that “this team will improve and become a solid and fierce contender in any competition we enter,” while praising the technical crew led by Augustine Eguavoen for “a strong performance.”
He added: “The overall performance of the team during this tournament shows we have regained our better footing and are heading in the proper direction. Our football, once again was fluid, purposeful and beautiful to watch. We have a good team and Nigeria will help them to get better.”
Present at the breakfast meeting were players of the Super Eagles and their technical and backroom staff, Sports and Youth Development Minister Sunday Dare; Alh. Ismail Abubakar (Permanent Secretary, Youth and Sports Development Ministry); Mallam Shehu Dikko (2nd Vice President, NFF/Chairman, LMC); Dr Mohammed Sanusi (NFF General Secretary); Ms Aisha Falode (Member, NFF Executive Committee/Chairman, Nigeria Women Football League) and; top officials of the Sports and Youth Development Ministry.
Up next for the Super Eagles is the 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off with the Black Stars of Ghana, with the Ghanaians set to host the first leg and the reverse in Nigeria, both matches to take place between 24th – 29th March.
In 57 previous encounters over 71 years of an intense football rivalry, Nigeria have won 16 of the matches, with another 18 drawn, while Ghana have won 23. Both countries have been involved in World Cup qualifying fixtures for the 1962, 1970, 1974 and 2002 finals, with honours evenly shared.
Ghana edged the contention for the 1962 FIFA World Cup ticket with a 4-1 win in Accra and 2-2 draw in Lagos. In the race for Mexico 1970, Nigeria won 2-1 in Lagos with the return leg ending 1-1 in Accra. For the 1974 finals in Germany, Ghana were awarded a 2-0 win for the first leg that was abandoned in Lagos, with both teams ending it 0-0 in Accra in the return.
In the race for Korea/Japan 2002, both teams battled to a 0-0 draw in Accra, with the Eagles winning the return 3-0 in Port Harcourt.
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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