AFCON
What a tournament of twists, Ghana are gone!
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Heart break for Ghana, delight for Comoros! And so, Ghana are out of the Africa Cup of Nations, the first among the nine World Cup play-off teams to suffer the cruel fate.
What a game of fluctuating fortunes as Ghana are kicked out of the tournament, deeply rooted at the bottom of Group C table after a 2-3 loss to unlikely winners, Comoros.
The win will certainly send people searching the African map to know the location of Comoros. Well, it is a chain of islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northwest of Madagascar.
They are making a debut at the Africa Cup of Nations and the 3-2 win over four-time champions is a pleasant one for them, although it may not be enough for them to advance into the knockout stage.
But it was damaging enough for Ghana who laboured to come back from two goals down to initially tie at 2-2 before the backbreaking third goal was conceded.
In their opening two matches, the problem Ghana had was conceding late goals in the games with Morocco and Gabon.
RELATED STORY: Early AFCON exit looms for Ghana. https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2022/01/18/early-afcon-exit-looms-for-ghana/
But on Tuesday, they conceded early goal that proved damaging. The game was barely four minutes old when El Fardou Ben Mohamed went through two Ghana central defender to beat the goalkeeper and another defender for the opening goal.
To worsen the matter for Ghana, their inspirational striker, Andre Ayew was given a straight red card after jabbing Comoros keeper following a clash.
With Ghana struggling to level up another damage came in the 62nd minute when El El Fardou Ben Mohamed assisted Ahmed Mogni with a pass and the latter clinically finished it into the Ghanaian net.
Ghana fought back. Off a cornerkick, Richmond Boakye pulled a goal back barely two minutes after Comoros doubled their lead. In the 77th minute, Alaxander Djku levelled up for Ghana and they pressed for a lead that could have seen them into the knockout stage.
It was not to be. Five minutes to regulation time, Mogni fired in the third goal.
AFCON
Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria
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.
AFCON
CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban
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.
AFCON
Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
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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