AFCON
Kingsley Onye wants Siasia – Okpala combo for Super Eagles
With just 14 days to Super Eagles opening match in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, former Nigeria international, Kingsley Onye who is better known as “Mature” has called on the Nigeria football Federation (NFF) that they are running against time.
“We courting another disastrous opening just as we have turned the World Cup qualifier to be”, remarked the former left-sided defender from his base in the UK.
To him, not having a coach in place, two weeks to a major competition implies poor approach to the qualifiers. “The popular saying goes that to fail to plan is to plan to fail”, remarked Onye who in the 1980s featured for major Nigerian clubs such as the defunct Leventis United, Iwuanyanwu Nationale and Enugu Rangers which remains the club after his heart, even till now.
He pointed out that while they have not been able to get a foreign coach owing possibly to lack of fund, “the NFF should latch on the opportunity of the expiration of the ban on Samson Siasia.”
According to him, Siasia remains Nigeria’s best option. “First he is a Nigerian. More importantly, he has done it before and has proved his mettle.”
He pointed out that Siasia has possibly the best coaching profile in the country today. “He has silver and bronze medals in the Olympics, he has coached the Super Eagles even to major victory against a team like Argentina and has taken the Flying Eagles to championship match in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
“A Lionel Messi propelled Argentina had to depend on two penalty kicks to beat Siasia’s Flying Eagles in the final match of the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.
“Argentina also had to depend on a break-away move to beat Siasia’s team in the gold medal match of the Beijing Olympic”, Onye pointed out.
To him, that is the best option for Nigeria, even as he advocated for another Nigerian international and coach, Sylvanus Okpala as Siasia’s assistant.
“This we can do in the short term, while hoping for a long-term solution”, said Onye. He pointed out that Okpala was pivotal in Stephen Keshi’s crew that led Nigeria to victory at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
“Okpala is a good match reader and his support for Siasia will be valuable as he had done with Keshi.”
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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