AFCON
“No Stopping Here,” says interim coach of ‘born-again’ Cote d’Ivoire –
Cote d’Ivoire caretaker coach Emerse Fae says his team “must not stop here” after their monumental penalty shootout victory over Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations last 16.
The tournament hosts eliminated the reigning champions 5-4 on penalties on Monday following a 1-1 draw after extra time to book their spot in the quarter-finals.
In front of a raucous home crowd at the Stade Charles Konan Banny in Yamoussoukro, Senegal made a blistering start and took the lead just four minutes in.
A superb cross from Sadio Mane found Habib Diallo, who calmly chested the ball down before firing a rocket into the top corner.
Cote d’Ivoire were unfazed and continued pressing and when the game turned on a pivotal 86th minute moment when the host nation was awarded a penalty as Pepe was clumsily brought down by Edouard Mendy.
After VAR reviewed the incident, Franck Kessie coolly sent Mendy the wrong way from the spot to equalize.
In the shootout, Kessie stepped up to smash home the winning kick and send the home crowd into ecstasy.
It capped a remarkable turnaround for the Elephants after a disastrous group stage saw them suffer two defeats, including a humiliating 4-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea.
“We had a difficult start, conceding an early goal, but I told the players at halftime to keep playing the same way, not get confused,” said Fae.
Unlike under previous coach Jean-Louis Gasset, Fae took full responsibility for tactical decisions during the match.
“It was my decision on what needed to be done. With Gasset, I would give an opinion and he would make the decision,” Fae explained.
The interim boss admitted he was under intense pressure before the Senegal showdown.
“There was a lot of pressure before the match, and match day was too long for me. I couldn’t nap as usual, thinking about all scenarios. If I said there was no pressure, I would be lying,” Fae confessed.
But scraping through the group stage boosted belief before facing the champions.
“Qualifying after Morocco’s win gave us confidence. We beat Senegal and eliminated them; morale is good,” said Fae.
With a place now booked in the quarter-finals, Fae stressed the team cannot get carried away by this result as tougher tests lie ahead.
“We must not stop here; we must continue working, maintain this morale, and keep playing match by match,” the coach asserted.
After inspiring a remarkable reversal in fortunes, Fae seems determined to ensure this giant-killing act is just the start as the Elephants seek further AFCON glory.
-CAF
In what mirrors the match days 3 and 4 of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, Nigeria and Libya will again meet at the same stage in the qualifiers for the 2025 edition.
The same pattern is also maintained with Nigeria hosting first before heading to Libya days later.
When the fixtures first occurred in 2018, an Odion Ighalo inspired Super Eagles won comfortably, 4-0. In the reversed leg in Sfax, Tunisia, the adopted home ground for Libya, Nigeria won 3-2 after Libya initially cancelled Nigeria’s early two-goal lead.
Heading to another back-to-back encounter, the currently bottom-placed Libya has opted to host Group D leaders Nigeria at the Martyrs of Benina Stadium..
The facility is located in the city of Benina, some 19 kilometres outside the country’s second largest city, Benghazi.
Known previously as Hugo Chávez Stadium, the stadium is a 10, 000-capacity facility with an artificial turf.
Both countries will do a Matchday 3 battle at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Friday, 11th October, before the clash in the city at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, 15th October.
While the match in Uyo will kick off at 5pm, the battle in Benina will commence at 8pm Nigeria time.
Libya remain bottom of Group D after two rounds of matches, following a 1-1 at home to Rwanda (a game that was played at the Tripoli International Stadium) and a 1-2 loss to the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan.
Nigeria top the pool with four points, after a 3-0 spanking of Benin Republic in Uyo on Matchday 1 and a scoreless draw with Rwanda’s Amavubi in Kigali on Matchday 2.
Frenchman Michel Dussuyer has been named Guinea coach, returning for a third stint in charge of the national team, the country’s football federation has said.
Dussuyer is a veteran of the African coaching circuit and managed Guinea from 2002-04 and 2010-15. He was also twice Benin coach and had a stint in charge of the Ivory Coast from 2015-17.
The 65-year-old former goalkeeper has coached at six different Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, taking Guinea to the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2015.
Dussuyer will be Guinea’s third coach this year after they fired former Arsenal and Paris St Germain striker Kaba Diawara following a World Cup qualifier defeat by Mozambique in June.
Charles Paquille was coach for this month’s opening two matches of the 2025 Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, which saw Guinea get off to a poor start, losing away to the Democratic Republic of Congo and at home to Tanzania
They next play two matches against Ethiopia in the Cup of Nations preliminaries on Oct. 11 and 14. Both games will be played in the Ivory Coast because Ethiopia and Guinea do not have a stadium that has been passed fit to host internationals.
-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.
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