AFCON
Tunisia hand-twist CAF to change Afcon 2023 qualifying schedule
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
In the original schedule for the group stage of the qualifying tournament for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the series were planned to end this September after busy four-match days proposed for June while match day five and six were to hold in September.
Then in March next year, the qualifying series for the 2025 was to commence.
But all that changed following the protest by Tunisia who threatened to boycott the qualifying tournament to concentrate on preparation for the Qatar World Cup which holds in November and ends in December.
CAF’s initial programme was to see that the Afcon 2023 qualifiers emerge before the World Cup and the tournament was to also serve as preparatory for the five African teams to the 2022 World Cup.
But Tunisian Football Federation president, Waddie Jary would not have that and threatened his team’s boycott. He is also a member of CAF Executive committee.
“If Caf doesn’t change the dates, then it becomes a problem,” Jary reportedly told Tunisian TV station Attessia.
“It becomes a question of whether we participate in this Afcon or not, if it will distract from our World Cup preparations.
“At that point, the question will arise: ‘Will we sacrifice the 2023 Afcon or not?’. I hope it doesn’t get that far and we come to find a solution with Caf.”
It was also understood that his Moroccan counterpart, Fouzi Lekjaa, suggested that their matches in the qualifying series should be postponed.
As a compromise, CAF decided to move two of the four initial matches in June to September while the original two matches for September were moved to March next year, the period slated for the start of qualifying tournament for 2025 which would have started even before the final tournament of 2023.
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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