AFCON
Super Eagles step up preparation for Ecuador, Sierra Leone, Mauritius
Following their arrival in New Jersey from Dallas on Sunday, three –time African champions Nigeria have stepped up preparations for their friendly match with Ecuador on Thursday evening, as well as next month’s AFCON 2023 qualifying matches against Sierra Leone and Mauritius.
A rampant Mexican side were lucky to win a game of two halves at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas on Saturday, with the Eagles showing great spirit and creating a number of chances in the second half after settling down to the prestige friendly, following long-haul flights into the United States from across the world.
“We were unhappy to have lost to Mexico because everyone worked very hard. The issues of long travel and little time to adapt to the new zone affected us all in the first half, but we created a raft of chances in the second half and were unlucky to have lost.
“Nevertheless, we have taken on board a lot of lessons from the game and they will be quite useful in subsequent matches,” captain William Ekong told thenff.com in New Jersey on Monday evening. Ekong heaped plaudits on the four home –based professionals who were given opportunities in the second half, saying they were tireless and showed composure and confidence against the El Tri.
“Everyone has been great here with good attitude and response at training. However, I must specially commend the team mates from the Nigeria Professional Football League who have shown poise, pace and power and also commitment; they have no doubt raised the NPFL’s profile with their attitude and performance.” Defender Sani Faisal, midfielder Chiamaka Madu and forwards Victor Mbaoma and Ishaq Rafiu came into the fray in the second period.
Having divested themselves of procession and environmental issues (long-haul travels and time zone body reaction), the Eagles filed out for full training session at the Montclair State University pitch on Monday, with most of the players showing the usual enthusiasm, energy and sharpness.
Monday’s session was accented on close control, space management and clinical finishing, as Coach José Peseiro supervised proceedings alongside his assistants.
Only defender Olaoluwa Aina, who suffered a knock during the team’s first training session in Dallas, and midfielder Innocent Bonke, who copped a knock in Saturday’s game against the Mexicans, stayed out of the grueling session to do light recovery training of their own.
The Eagles will file out against Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison on Thursday evening, as from 8pm ET (1am on 3rd June in Nigeria).
However, Peseiro says his crew is not losing focus on the AFCON 2023 qualifying games, with the Eagles due to take on the Leone Stars at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Thursday, 9th June before flying to Saint Pierre to take on Mauritius on Monday, 13th June.
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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