AFCON
FIRST SCORING TEAMS EMERGE EVENTUAL WINNERS AT AFCON ROUND OF 16
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
With eight matches concluded in the Africa Cup of Nations’ Round of 16, Sports Village Square observed that teams that scored first emerged eventual winners.
It began with Benin Republic facing Morocco last Friday. Against popular expectations, Moise Adilehou shot the West Africans ahead after 53 minutes before Youssef En-Nesyri leveled up in the 76th minute.
The game went into extra time and got decided by penalties. Benin as first team to score won. That appeared to have set the tone for the subsequent seven matches.
Senegal scored in the game with Uganda and won. Nigeria opened scoring in game with Cameroon and triumphed 3-2 just as South Africa’s only goal against Egypt was decisive.
Madagascar, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Morocco scored first in their respective Round of 16 matches and prevailed. Little wonder then that Tunisia sustained the trend in the Monday night match with Ghana.
AFCON QUARTER FINALS PAIRINGS AND PAST COMPETITIONS’ ENCOUNTERS
Wednesday: 6pm 30 June Stadium, Cairo:
Senegal v Benin
- No previous meeting in AFCON
Wednesday: 9pm Cairo International Stadium:
Nigeria v South Africa
- 10.02.2000 Lagos (Semifinal) Nigeria 2-0 South Africa
- 31.01.2004 Monastir (Group stage) Nigeria 4-0 South Africa
Thursday: 6pm Suez Stadium
Algeria v Cote d’Ivoire
- 12.01.1968: Addis Ababa (Group stage) Cote d’Ivoire 3-0 Algeria
- 13.03.1988: Casablanca (Group stage) Cote d’Ivoire 1-1 Algeria
- 05.03.1990: Algiers (Group stage) Algeria 3-0 Cote d’Ivoire
- 13.01.1992: Ziguinchor (Group stage) Cote d’Ivoire 3-0 Algeria
- 24.01.2010: Cabinda (Quarterfinal) Cote d’Ivoire 2-3 Algeria
- 30.01.2013: Rustenburg (Group stage) Algeria 2-2 Cote d’Ivoire
- 01.02.2015: Malabo (Quarterfinal): Cote d’Ivoire 3-1 Algeria
Thursday: 9pm Al Salam Stadium
Madagascar v Tunisia
- No previous meeting in AFCON
AFCON
Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria
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.
AFCON
CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban
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.
AFCON
Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
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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