AFCON
Getting from bad to worse? Osimhen suffers pre-Afcon Covid setback
Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen has cancelled a planned trip to Italy to assess his cheekbone injury after contracting coronavirus for a second time.
The 23-year-old returned a positive test in Nigeria ahead of his trip to Naples, but is asymptomatic according to a statement by the Serie A outfit.
“Consequently, the local authorities have ordered that Osimhen self-isolate and the check-up will be rescheduled after he has tested negative and his period of isolation ends,” Napoli’s statement added.
Osimhen, whose latest positive test comes just 12 days before Nigeria’s opening game at the Africa Cup of Nations, will isolate for at least one week in line with public health protocols.
He first caught Covid-19 during Italy’s winter break last season.
BBC Sport Africa understands that the player, included in his country’s final 28-man squad after declaring himself fit to play in the continental showpiece event, is still expected to join up with the Super Eagles ahead of the trip to Cameroon.
Osimhen suffered facial fractures after a clash of heads with Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar on 21 November and required titanium plates and screws to be affixed to his cheekbone and eye socket.
Napoli’s initial assessment was that the player would be out for three months but the forward returned to training two weeks ago wearing a protective mask, giving him a chance of making the Nations Cup.
The former youth international was in a good run of form prior to his injury, with nine goals and two assists for Napoli this season as well as four goals for Nigeria in 2022 World Cup qualifying.
Osimhen is the latest Cameroon-bound player to suffer a coronavirus-related setback ahead of the tournament, which kicks off on 9 January.
Spanish giants Barcelona announced Morocco forward Abde Ezzalzouli is self-isolating after testing positive, while holders Algeria and Ivory Coast have announced cases at their pre-tournament training camps in Qatar and Saudi Arabia respectively.
-BBC
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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