AFCON
Covid delays Senegal’s departure Africa Cup of Nations
The Senegal squad delayed their departure for the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon after three players tested positive for Covid-19, the sports ministry told AFP.
The Teranga Lions, who are favoured to finally win the continental crown after two runners-up spots, were meant to fly out on Tuesday but put it back to Wednesday.
The trio of players have been placed in quarantine.
“There are at least three cases: Saliou Ciss, (Mamadou) Loum Ndiaye and Habib Diallo,” an official at the Senegalese Ministry of Sport told AFP.
“There are other suspected cases too.”
The squad had been hosted by Senegal President Macky Sall on Tuesday who had called on them to “bring us the cup.”
Covid though forced the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday to make adjustments to spectator capacities for the tournament that kicks off on Sunday.
Stadiums will have their capacity capped at 80 percent for the host’s matches and other fixtures in the competition will only be played in front of 60 percent of the ground’s capacity.
Sunday’s opening match between Cameroon and Burkina Faso will be played at the 60,000-seater Olembe stadium in Yaounde.
Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse has made it a personal goal to lift the trophy having twice missed out in finals.
The 45-year-old tasted defeat in a final, first as captain in 2002 — he missed a penalty in the shootout defeat to Cameroon — and then as coach in 2019.
“I want this Africa Cup of Nations. I have been running after it since 1999,” he said last month after unveiling the squad.
Senegal’s challenge, led by Liverpool forward Sadio Mane and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, begins against Zimbabwe on January 10, followed by further Group B matches against Guinea and Malawi.
The biennial showpiece was given the go-ahead only last month despite fears over Covid and with European clubs threatening to prevent their players from going.
-AFP
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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