AFCON
ALEX IWOBI IS MAN TO WATCH AT AFCON 2019, SAYS OMERUO
Nigeria and Arsenal player, Alex Iwobi may not have made the final cut in the race to become Africa Footballer of the Year award holding in Senegal on Tuesday, his time may just come at the end of the season.
According to Chelsea FC loanee and Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo, Alex Iwobi is one of the key player that will lead Nigeria to glory this summer’s African Cup of Nations.
Nigeria who are three-time winner of the competition are one of the team’s favored to win the tournament going by the performance of the team since the last World Cup qualifying round of matches and the ongoing tournament to elite continental tournament where they qualified for both events with a game in hand.
Omeruo, who is
currently on loan at Spanish side CD Leganes in an interview with goal.com stated
that England-based midfielder Iwobi is now an important player in the Nigeria
squad.
“Iwobi has improved a lot and he brings that
into the national team as well and he has good footwork, he moves well and
he enjoys what he does. For him, it is fun to play football. He is a really
good player but the exciting thing is there’s more to come,” he remarked.
Iwobi, 22, is enjoying his football at the
moment having established himself as an important player for both English
giants Arsenal and Nigeria since last year.
“We have a big chance because we have got some
quality players coming up. This set of boys, they are good, young and the
coaches are good. Anything can happen now for us,” he added.
“If we keep working hard and listen to the
coaches then we can achieve a lot for the country. We just need to work
together more and increase our understanding of each other. The last meet up
was good because we had a lot of time to train.
“Right now, the team keeps changing. When we
play together more and understand each other more then we might be the team to
beat.”
The
tournament will be hosted by either Egypt or South Africa between June and
July.
Nigeria last won the tournament in 2013 but
failed to qualify for the last two editions and will return to the stage under
the guidance of German coach Gernot Rohr, will be hoping to clinch their fourth
AFCON title.
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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