AFCON
Cote d’Ivoire dethrones Algeria to set uo clash with Egypt
Cote d’Ivoire beat Algeria 3-1 to finish top of Group E and eliminate the title holders from the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021. With the result, they will face Egypt in the Round of 16 in Douala on Wednesday.
The Elephants produced a dominant performance in Douala to sink the reigning champions with goals from Franck Yannick Kessie, Ibrahim Sangare and Nicolas Pepe.
The Desert Foxes reduced the deficit 17 minutes from through substitute Soufiane Bendebka while captain Riyad Mahrez saw his penalty came of Badra Ali Sangare’s post.
Cote d’Ivoire dominated possession with AC Milan midfielder Kessi, Jean Micheal Seri and young Ibrahima Sangare pulling the strings for Patrice Beaumelle’s side.
The Elephants marauding left back Chislain Konan twice found space inside the Algeria box. Konan beat Algeria’s Atal on the right to play in Pepe whose first time effort missed the target on seven minutes.
Aissa Mandi latched on to a quickly taken Ismael Bennacer free kick only for Simon Desire to clear for a corner.
The Elephants continue to counter the Desert Foxes with their wide players giving them width as they pushed for the breakthrough.
Kessie broke the deadlock with a clinical strike after an exchange of passes with Pepe to beat Rais Mbolhi and give Cote d’Ivoire the lead on 22 minutes.
Djamel Belmadi’s side responded with chances of their own as they push for the equaliser.
Bennacer had a shot flashed the Elephants goal while Belaili failed to connect to Atal’s inviting diagonal pass into the area.
Ibrahim Sangare doubled the lead for the Elephants with a thumping header past Mbolhi five minutes before the break.
Cote d’Ivoire continued to dominate the second half and they found the third goal on 53 minutes through Pepe.
The winger drifted inside from the right to curled his left footed strike past Mbolhi to make it 3-0.
Algeria were awarded a penalty following a foul on Belaili on 57 minutes. Captain Riyad Mahrez struck the post as Cote d’Ivoire hang on to their three goal advantage.
Substitute Soufiane Bendebka pulled a goal back for the Desert Foxes but it was too late for the 2019 African champions.
The victory confirmed top spot for Cote d’Ivoire ahead of Equatorial Guinea who beat Sierra Leone 1-0 in Limbé to finish second. The Leone Stars finish third with two points and Algeria bottom with a point.
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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