AFCON
Equatorial Guinea revive 2023 AFCON qualifying chances after win over Libya
Equatorial Guinea revived their chances of qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations when beating Libya 2-0 in Malabo on Monday night.
An own goal by Libyan defender Mohammed Alhadddaj and a penalty converted by Frederico Bikoro in the second half sealed the victory for the home side in Malabo.
The victory put the Nzalang Nacional back in contention for a place at the tournament to be staged in Cote d’Ivoire next year after losing their opening Group J match.
Following their emphatic 4-0 defeat at the hands of Tunisia in their opening group match over the weekend, the Equatoguineans were eyeing a win to revive their campaign.
The Nzalang Nacional were keen on making amends but found Mediterranean Knights difficult to crack in the first-half as they dominated the exchanges. After the break, the Libyan defence finally lost concentration when left-back Basilio Ndong laid a nice pass to Juan José whose attempt at goal was inadvertently turned in by Libyan defender Mohammed Alhadddaj in the 51st minute.
Despite the pressure of the Libyans, the Nzalang Nacional managed to extend their lead with six minutes remaining when Bikoro converted a penalty after Sand Masaud handled the ball in his own penalty area.
Tunisia and Libya, who had won in the first match of the group stage against Equatorial Guinea (4-0) and Botswana (1-0) respectively, have now been stopped.
Libya lost 2-0 on Monday while Tunisia only drew 0-0 on Sunday against Botswana.
This means all the teams in the group remain in the race for qualification for AFCON TotalEnergies 2023 which will take place in Côte d’Ivoire.
At the end of the six matches, the first two teams will get their ticket for Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
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
Italian World Cup striker Schillaci dies aged 59
Undisputed World Boxing Champion, Oleksandr Usyk detained and released in Poland
Kane scores four goals as record-breaking Bayern crush Dinamo Zagreb 9-2
Breaking! Uzoho suspended from Super Eagles’ next match with Sierra Leone
No longer Super League as CAF changes name of its new clubs competition
AIU releases its report on Tobi Amusan
-
AFCON1 week agoSuper Eagles lead Afcon Group D qualifiers despite Benin’s defeat of Libya
-
AFCON7 days agoAustin Eguavoen remains the ‘Big Boss’, says NFF
-
AFCON1 week agoWhy I benched Osimhen again – Eguavoen
-
AFCON6 days agoRwanda newspaper gives 5 lessons gleaned from Rwanda-Nigeria clash
-
Nigerian Football1 week agoWesterhof recommends Siasia for Super Eagles’ job
-
AFCON1 week agoNigeria’s managerial crisis resumes as Eguavoen reportedly declines to continue
-
AFCON6 days agoPresent and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
-
CAF Confederation Cup5 days agoEnyimba continues unbeaten run against Burkina Faso clubs