AFCON
BENIN SQUIRRELS DREAM UPSET AGAINST MOROCCO’S ATLAS LIONS
Morocco’s Atlas Lions are overwhelming favourites in the Round of 16 encounter with the Squirrels of Benin as both sides square up at the Al Salam Stadium, this evening.
But football has a way of recording upsets as happened last Sunday in the Nigeria versus Madagascar encounter in Alexandria.
Morocco topped Group D with maximum points to reach the eighth finals in grand style. The Atlas Lions won their three matches with identical results (1-0) over Namibia, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa).
Meanwhile Benin had a historical feat when they managed to pass the group stage for the first time in their history, finishing as one of best third placed teams after finishing Group F with three points from three draws (2-2) with Ghana and goalless with Guinea-Bissau and Cameroon.
It’s the second time both sides lock horns in Africa Cup of Nations’ history. Morocco won 4-0 when they faced in Tunisia 2004.
On the lines, it will be an all French affair between twice AFCON winner Herve Renard (2012 with Zambia and 2015 with Cote d’Ivoire), and compatriot Michel Dussuyer who led Benin to their historical feat.
Renard admitted the game is going to be difficult, saying Benin is a very organized team especially defensively.
While Dussuyer showed his admiration to Morocco, title favorites as he tagged them, blaming the short period of rest his side had after finishing the group stage just 72 hours before the eighth finals clash.
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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