AFCON
AFCON 2021: Eagles may face Egypt, Cape Verde, Comoros as draw holds in Yaounde
The Draw Ceremony for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals will hold in Yaounde, capital of host nation Cameroon on Tuesday, with three –time champions Nigeria in Pot 1 of the draw, and with the possibility of being drawn against seven –time winners Egypt (Pot 2), 2022 FIFA World Cup foes Cape Verde (Pot 3) and the gritty and gutsy Comoros team that recently achieved a first-ever qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations (Pot 4).
All teams in the same pot avoid one another but they could be drawn against any in the other pots, so no one can rule out the likelihood of the Super Eagles clashing with the Pharaohs, the Blue Sharks and surprise packets Coelacanths.
Being grouped in Pot 1 together means the Eagles, who picked up the bronze medals at the last edition in Egypt two years ago, will avoid Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions (five-time champions), Senegal’s Lions of the Teranga (Africa’s number one –ranked team), Tunisia (2004 champions and Africa’s number two –ranked team), Cup holders Algeria (now ranked number three in Africa) and 1976 winners Morocco (now ranked fourth in Africa, a step above the Super Eagles).
The draw ceremony formally kick-starts preparations for all teams concerned. However, the disruption caused by the global coronavirus pandemic means the AFCON 2021 is now to hold 9th January – 6th February 2022, with the qualifying series of the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals yet to be concluded before the AFCON. The knockout rounds for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 holds in March 2022.
Most of the teams involved in Cameroon 2021 will be using the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers as preparatory sessions, with six tough games to negotiate between September and November, and only the last week of December and the first week of January open for any camping programme.
Ghana, who have four titles from the AFCON but have not won the trophy in 39 years, are in Pot 2 alongside Egypt, 2015 champions Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.
THE POTS:
Pot 1: Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria
Pot 2: Egypt, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea
Pot 3: Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone
Pot 4: Malawi, Sudan, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, The Gambia
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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