AFCON
Afcon 2023: South Africa want Liberia qualifiers moved from Morocco
The South Africa Football Association (Safa) has asked that Liberia should not be allowed to play its home 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Morocco.
Liberia is one of several African countries who do not have a stadium which meets the Confederation of African Football’s standards to host international matches.
Instead Liberia wants to host its upcoming Nations Cup qualifiers in Morocco – despite the two teams being drawn together in Group K.
The west Africans are scheduled to play a ‘home’ tie against Morocco in Casablanca, in the second round of group matches on 13 June.
South Africa, who along with Zimbabwe are in the same group as the pair, have written to Caf to complain about the proposal.
“Safa hereby raise and officially object to that arrangement as it goes against the principles of Fair Play,” a letter from the association pointed out.
“The Moroccan Football Association will travel less and enjoy the benefits of home ground advantage more than anyone in the group.
“We understand the challenges of stadia on the continent, but we plead that it not be to disadvantage other countries or give unfair advantage to others.”
World Cup advantage
Last year Morocco played all six of their 2022 World Cup group-stage qualifiers on home soil with Sudan, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea all choosing to host some of their games in the North African country.
A total of nine of the 12 qualifiers were played in Morocco, with Guinea-Bissau hosting one of their matches in Mauritania while Guinea and Sudan both hosted a game on home soil.
However, all those games in north Africa were played behind closed doors as no crowds were permitted to attend because of restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Atlas Lions won all six of their group games to qualify for the play-offs, where they beat DR Congo 5-2 on aggregate to reach the World Cup finals in Qatar.
-BBC
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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