AFCON
Senegal welcomes home Nations Cup heroes
Some swung from a billboard frame. Others danced on the tarmac. As Senegal’s national soccer team touched down in the capital Dakar after winning their first Africa Cup of Nations, each of the thousands of faces there to welcome them home was ecstatic.
Star player Sadio Mane scored the winning spot-kick to seal victory for Senegal in a 4-2 penalty shootout, following a 0-0 draw with Egypt in the decider in Yaounde the night before.
It was a long-awaited victory for the West African country that fell to Algeria in the last Cup of Nations final in 2019. Senegal also reached the tournament’s final stage in 2002, but lost to Cameroon in a shootout.
Sounds of fireworks, horns and cheers rang through the night in Dakar and into Monday morning, when hundreds of people wearing soccer jerseys or draped in Senegalese flags gathered outside the airport to await their team’s return.
“We have lost these games for so long. I’ve been watching the team since the 1970s, waiting,” said Thierno Niane, a 60-year-old computer programmer, who came from Dakar’s suburbs hours ago to cheer on the team.
“Last night I was crying in front of my family – my wife and my kids,” he added.
Senegalese dance music echoed from loudspeakers over the crowd of adoring fans as the team stepped out of the plane to a hero’s welcome. Roads surrounding the airport flowed with a river of supporters as long as the eye could see.
Fans arrived by bicycles, motorbikes, cars and on foot, bringing the otherwise busy highways to a joyous standstill. Among them were government officials and opposition politicians, celebrating the country’s victory together as one.
“We are very happy and very proud of our lions,” supporter Amina Cisse said. “Our dreams came true.”
-Reuters
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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