AFCON
Iwobi Says Osimhen’s Attitude Gives Nigeria Extra AFCON Motivation –
Nigeria midfielder Alex Iwobi says the attitude shown by team-mate Victor Osimhen is being used as a source of motivation at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by Equatorial Guinea in their group stage opener, a result which adds extra importance to tomorrow’s match against host nation Ivory Coast.
Osimhen, 25, scored Nigeria’s goal — his 21st in 29 international appearances — and Iwobi says the rest of the squad can take inspiration from the Napoli marksman’s hunger.
The Fulham ace told LiveScore: “Everyone has the opinion that he’s a great striker and the reason why he’s such a great striker is because he’s someone that is hungry.
“I’ve seen him grow from a youngster. Without that hunger and passion for football, he wouldn’t be where he is now.
“It’s something we also use as inspiration. When we see our striker pressing and hungry to get goals, it gives us that motivation to do the same and go win the ball to create chances.
Boniface blow
Osimhen’s importance to Nigeria’s AFCON hopes was further increased by Victor Boniface’s withdrawal from the squad. The 23-year-old suffered a serious groin injury in training which required surgery.
The Bayer Leverkusen star has scored 10 goals and assisted seven more in the Bundesliga this term — and Super Eagles centre-back Calvin Bassey recognises his absence is a significant blow.
He said: “A big loss. Everyone could see his quality from what he’s been doing in the Bundesliga. We wish him well.
“Of course, it wasn’t nice for us regardless of who it was. You don’t want to see anyone get injured and have to undergo surgery.”
Iwobi added: “When it happened, it was so sad. We were doing a finishing drill and he hurt his groin.
“The way he went down was so sad because someone of his quality is something we needed.
“But at the same time, it’s Nigeria. If one person goes down there’s another one coming in. So we can’t dwell on it.
“He [Boniface] wished us well. Hopefully we can do our best for him.”
Nigeria are among the favourites to win this year’s AFCON and add to their previous three triumphs in 1980, 1994 and 2013.
Iwobi is confident of lifting the trophy at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe on February 11, calling on his team-mates to simply prove their quality.
The 27-year-old said: “Of course I believe in us [to win the trophy]. Because I feel we have one of the best teams, player for player, in Africa.
“We just have to prove it.”
Speaking positively about the Super Eagles’ chances, Fulham team-mate Bassey added: “All of us are very grounded.
“We know we’re going to need to work hard, be more prepared than the opposition regardless of the quality we have.”
-LiveScore
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.
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