AFCON
‘MAN OF THE MATCH’ AWARD AWAITS BEST SUPER EAGLES’ PLAYER AGAINST LESOTHO
The ‘Operation 33’ theme established for the Super Eagles in the countdown to their last two matches in the home stretch of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series got on course with the three points obtained in Porto Novo on Saturday.
Another three- point exploit is the target of the team as they host the Crocodiles of Lesotho on Tuesday as an icing on their ticket to the 33rd edition of the African premier football tournament.
Charged by “33” Export Lager to aim for a perfect finish in the qualifiers, the Super Eagles rose up to the occasion over the weekend in Porto Novo; defeating the Squirrels of Benin Republic by a lone goal thereby ending their hosts’ eight-year unbeaten run at home just as Nigeria’s 497-day winless run since November 17th 2019 also came to an end.
No doubt the urge from the official lager beer to the team was the psychological boost that ended the winless run for the team.
On arrival back to the country on Sunday morning, the team was received by top echelon from corporate world and high profile celebrities in the entertainment industry, a platform provided by “33” Export lager at Heineken Beach House, Ilashe, up-scale in Lagos.
The Eagles will now be gunning for another double as they take on the Crocodiles who they defeated 4-2 in the first leg. The return match, which is potentially a celebration, comes up on Tuesday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
Even though the AFCON ticket is already in the kitty, passionate football fans and consumers of “33” Export Lager are keen to see the Super Eagles go full throttle against the already eliminated southern African opponents.
“33” Export Lager’s football campaign slogan “Let’s Go Naija” captures the brand’s full support for the Super Eagles and a reminder to the millions of football fans to come out and cheer Super Eagles to victory.
In what will be the Super Eagles’ first official game in Lagos in 20 years, “33” Export will be giving the “Man of the Match” award during the last qualifying match on Tuesday.
33” Export Lager, the quality beer brand, the official beer of the Super Eagles and known for nurturing friendships among Nigerians will also be giving free match tickets to lucky consumers to access the main bowl of Teslim Balogun Stadium and watch Tuesday’s match live.
Loyal consumers will also be able to win quality prizes in the predict and win contest via the brand’s social media platforms (@33exportnigeria)
Meanwhile, 33” Export Lager beer through its Brand Manager, Rex Anieke, has urged passionate football fans and consumers to stay solid behind the team as they prepare for the final qualifying match in Lagos and the main tournament next year in Cameroon.
“The brand’s partnership with Super Eagles is a unique one and “33” Export Lager is passionate at building a solid fan base for the team in something similar to what is obtained among top European clubs in Europe.
“The campaign slogan, “Let’s Go Naija” is to enable passionate fans to stand behind and cheer the team to glorious success at all matches played by the national team within and outside the country,” he remarked.
With the 19th AFCON ticket already in the bag, the three-time African champions are among the contenders for glory at the next tournament and for more details, follow @33exportnigeria on all social media platforms
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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