AFCON
Cameroon come from behind to claim Africa Cup of Nations bronze
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon came back from three goals down to beat Burkina Faso on penalties to win bronze following a 3-3 stalemate at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021.
The hosts showed character to claim the third place in an absorbing match against the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé.
Experienced Ambroise Oyongo scored the decisive penalty to win it after Ibrahim Blati Toure his spot for Kamou Malo’s side.
The two sides came into the match after losing their semi-final matches and they showed zeal to fight for the bronze medal.
The Indomitable Lions of dominated the opening exchanges in Yaoundé despite having a much changed lineup with the tournament’s leading scorers Aboubakar and Ekambi starting on the bench.
Marauding captain Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo found space on the left to place in an inviting cross into the Burkinabe box, which keeper Soufiane Ouedraogo pushed away towards Jean Junior Onana Onana who fired straight at him.
The Stallions weathered the early Cameroonian dominance to break the deadlock through Steve Yago on 24 minutes.
The enterprising midfielder stormed into the Indomitable Lions box to volley past Onana from Issa Kabore’s delivery.
Burkina Faso’s Abdoul Tapsoba was played through on goal but Onana was quick off his line to clear as the Stallions grew in confidence.
The doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Andre Onana bundled into his own goal Issa Kabore’s cross to stun the Olembe Stadium and give Burkina Faso a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Cameroon coach Antonio Da Concecao made changes introducing captain and talisman Vincent Aboubakar as they chase the match.
Djibril Ouattara added salt to the Indomitable Lions wounds when he headed in Bertrand Traore’s cross five minutes after the restart to give Burkina Faso a 3-0 advantage.
The Stallions continued to dominate the match and created few chances through Gustavo Sangare and Issa Kabore but either failed to trouble Onana.
The hosts had to wait until 19 minutes from to to pull on back and start their incredible comeback.
Angers striker Stephane Bahoken volleyed in from close range to reduce the deficit after 71 minutes.
Three minutes later Ekambi forced a save from Soufiane Ouedraogo when he cut in from the left to fire towards goal.
Vincent Aboubakar made it 3-2 when he slotted from the back post five minutes from time following a mistake by Soufiane Ouedraogo to register his seventh goal of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.
The Al Nassr striker still had time to add to his tally three minutes from to complete the comeback for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
Aboubakar latched on to Ouedraogo’s dropped ball to score his eighth goal and forced the match to penalties.
Cameroon made no mistakes from the spot as they converted all five kicks while Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Blati Toure missed his spot kick as the Indomitable Lions finished third and win bronze in the tournament.
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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