AFCON
GERNOT ROHR ALLAYS FEARS OVER OSIMHEN’S HEALTH
Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, has dismissed fears over the fitness of Victor Osimhen after the striker was knocked unconscious during the final minutes of Sunday’s Italian serie A match at Atalanta.
The 22-year-old was stretchered off the pitch and rushed to hospital in northern Italy after he fell awkwardly and hit his head on the ground, following a collision with Atalanta defender Cristian Romero.
After spending the night under observation and undergone multiple tests, Osimhen returned to Naples on Monday.
Rohr, who is expected to name him in his squad for next month’s crucial final two 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, is hopeful he will return to action soon.
BBC quoted Rohr as saying: “I spoke to Victor, he told me he’s physically and mentally okay now but must wait for the club doctors.
“My thoughts are with him because he’s had some difficult start in Italy, but he’s a strong boy and he must wait for the doctors to clear him to play again.
“He’s an important player for us and we’ll see how it goes at his club first, because his well-being is very important for everyone.”
A club statement read: “Victor Osimhen underwent further tests, with all coming back negative. The striker will now rest for a period of a few days before gradually returning to training. His condition will be monitored on a daily basis.”
Nigeria, who were third at the last Nations Cup in Egypt, still need two points from their final qualifiers at home to Benin and then away to Lesotho to confirm a spot at the next tournament in Cameroon.
The Super Eagle, who joined Napoli from Lille at the end of July in a deal reportedly worth more than $96m, only returned to action in late January after being sidelined for over two months.
His previous lay-off was due to a shoulder injury suffered on international duty in November and he then tested positive for coronavirus over the winter break.
Osimhen, who has scored just two goals for the club, is not part of Napoli’s preparations for the second leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie against Granada tonight.
Last season was a breakthrough one for the winner of the 2020 Marc-Vivien Foe award for the best African player in France’s Ligue 1.
He moved to southern Italy after scoring 18 goals in all competitions for Lille in his solitary campaign in French football.
Ahead of the final two 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers Osimhen is the overall top scorer with four goals, he has scored five times and provided four assists in nine appearances for Nigeria at senior level.
He burst into the spotlight at the 2015 Under-17 World Cup in Chile, as he clinched the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards while steering the Golden Eaglets to the title.
The then-16-year-old scored a tournament record 10 goals, netting in every one of Nigeria’s games, in a performance that helped earn him Africa’s Youth Player of the Year award for 2015.
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.
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