AFCON
Aubameyang departs Arsenal
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will not make his Arsenal return until after the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), if he returns to the first team picture at all.
The Gabonese striker has been left out by manager Mikel Arteta after a disciplinary breach cost him his status as captain, with Arteta’s team picking up a succession of league wins in his absence.
Arteta had remained coy about Aubameyang’s involvement in the New Year’s Day match at home to Manchester City, saying the club would “take it game by game”.
The assessment won’t begin until after AFCON concludes, though, with the 32-year-old joining up with his national side despite Premier League clubs being granted permission to keep their African players around until after the next round of fixtures.
“He wasn’t selected for today’s match, Arteta said after Arsenal’s Boxing Day victory over Norwich City, their fourth in a row without Aubameyang involved.
“We’ll take it game by game. That was the decision.”
According to The Athletic, the striker has joined up with the Gabon squad in advance of Arsenal’s game against City, with Patrice Neveu’s national side due to play their first tournament game on January 10 against Comoros.
Aubameyang is one of two Premier League players in the Gabonese provisional squad, along with Brighton & Hove Albion youngster Ulrick Eneme Ella.
The captain of the national side is among the players to join Gabon’s training camp in Dubai in advance of the tournament.
Gabon will face Ghana in their second group game, pitting Aubameyang against club teammate Thomas Partey, while Morocco will be their third opponents on January 18.
Arsenal have scored 14 goals in four games without Aubameyang, after netting just 18 times in their previous 15 outings.
They also reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup without their former captain, putting five goals past League One side Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium.
The striker is Gabon’s all-time leading goalscorer, but hasn’t found the net for his club since the October 22 victory over Aston Villa.
Aubameyang’s AFCON responsibilities mean he will miss Premier League games against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as an FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest and both legs of the Carabao Cup semi against Liverpool.
He may be absent for further games, depending on how far Gabon progress in the tournament.
“I don’t establish my authority by being dictatorial or being ruthless,” Arteta said earlier this month.
“I just ask for respect and commitment. At this level, if I don’t get that I pack my bags and go somewhere else because that is the minimum I can ask for.
“I am sorry but I am going to expect that from everybody who works for the club. First of all myself, and the day I don’t do that I walk through that door and go and do something else. It is as clear as that.
-Mirror
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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