AFCON
Nigeria’s World Cup qualification contender, Ghana still in turmoil over Ayew brothers
Just as it appears the Super Ealges have put behind them the dissappointment of early elimination from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and now focus on picking a valuable World Cup ticket, their contenders, Ghana Black Stars are still in tumoil
Nigeria and Ghana are due to go head to head in a two legged World Cup playoff in two months time.
Apart from the sack of ther coach, there had been speculations that their insipartional players, the Ayew brothers – Andre and Jordan may have voluntarily resigned from the Black Stars.
But a family spokesman, according to information Sports Village Square gathered from some Ghanaian sources, denied the stories.
According to Ghanaweb, a former Black Stars midfielder who is related to the Ayew brothers has waded into the issue.
Sola Ayew an uncle to Andre and Jordan has dared management of the Black Stars to drop his nephews if they are unfit for the senior national team.
The Ayew brothers in recent times have come under huge criticisms from a section of Ghanaians for their performance in the national team especially Jordan Ayew who has not scored for the Black Stars in a long while.
The brothers were part of the Black Stars squad that finished bottom of Group C with just a point from three matches in a group featuring Morocco, Gabon, and debutantes Comoros at the AFCON 2021.
Ghana recorded their worst performance in history as they went in search of their fifth African title.
Following Ghana’s exit from the AFCON 2021, a section of Ghanaians have called for the expulsion of the Ayews from the national team.
But speaking in an interview, Sola Ayew called on management of the Black Stars to exclude the Ayew brothers from the national team if they don’t merit a call-up.
“If you ask me whether the national team is not a reserve of the Ayews, then drop them [from the national team]. It’s not me or Abedi Pele or the boys who pushed for their invitation Adikanfo FM.
He added, “you can’t say the Ayews are like this, the Ayews are like that. The Ayews we know eat football, drink football, sleep football and we want to be there. So if we cannot do it then you drop us, period.”
According to him if there are better players than the Ayews, they deserve to be given the opportunity. He explained also that being tagged as ‘owning the Black Stars as a family property’ is not a bother.
“We hear those rumours but it does not disturb us because it’s part of football. If those who criticize the Ayews do not exist, football will not be complete. When we are not doing well and there are players who are better, drop them,” Sola Ayew added.
Sola [Kwame] Ayew who is a former Ghanaian footballer played as a striker and spent most of his time in Portugal where he appeared for four teams in the 90s, amassing 131 appearances with 51 goals for six seasons
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.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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