AFCON
Jubilation In Abidjan As Morocco Hands Lifeline To Côte D’Ivoire –
Grieving crowd broke into jubilation Wednesday night as Atlas of Morocco offered life-line to hosts, Cote d’Ivoire in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
The hosts were arithmetically out until group table-toppers and already qualified Morocco beat Zambia 1-0 in the last group match.
With a draw, Morocco would have still qualified while Zambia needed a draw to remain. The crowd continued to cheer the Moroccans.
According to Ivorian newspaper, Fratmat, the president of the Boukani Regional Council on his official Facebook page wrote: “With a draw, Morocco was reassured to be first in their group. More than a match, we witnessed a celebration of brotherhood and love between our two nations. They fought today for Ivory Coast with passion. Congratulations and full gratitude to Morocco.
“To our footballing elephants, know how to appreciate the opportunity. The time has come for unity, discipline and work. Give back to the nation what it proudly gave you. Hearts for the Fatherland””
Another Ivorian, Saki Penda writes: “Thank you to our Moroccan brothers. I admit that the prospect of owing our qualification to the Eagles of Mali did not enchant me, because I do not want to be indebted for anything to the thugs in power in this brother country. For the rest, we have no pride in having obtained our qualification not through our game, but rather through the victory of another team. God has done his part.
“It is now up to the Elephants to reconquer our hearts from the next match. Otherwise, we are not going to be satisfied with the dismissal of the French coach.
“We would demand the resignation of the president of the football federation and that of its entire Executive Committee.”
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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