AFCON
Super Eagles on a five-match no-win run…1st time in 59 years
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles are now on their fifth match without a win since beating Guinea Bissau 2-0 on 19 January in Garoua, Cameroon.
Early this Friday morning in New Jersey US, they were beaten 1-0 by Ecuador in what is also the new coach’s second match on the saddle.
The last time the team had gone on a long streak without a win was in 1963 when they played five consecutive matches without winning any.
At the time, they lost 6-3 to Egypt and 4-0 to Sudan at the Africa Cup of Nations in Kumasi, Ghana and followed up with another 4-1 loss Morocco in Casablanca bringing their aggregate score line in the 1964 Olympic Games qualifier to 4-4.
In the tie-breaker match, the fifth consecutive game since losing to Egypt in Kumasi, Nigeria lost 2-1 in Dakar, Senegal.
The current streak began with a 1-0 loss to Tunisia in the round of 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations in Garoua. They followed up with two drawn matches with Ghana in the World Cup qualifying play off before the last two friendly matches lost to Mexico and Ecuador.
Their next match will be a home game against Sierra Leone, the team that recorded the biggest come-back episode in matches involving the Nigerian team.
When they came back from a 4-0 deficit to draw 4-4 with the Super Eagles in Benin City on 13 November 2020, it turned to be the highest number of goals Nigeria ever conceded at home since losing 6-2 to Egypt on 13 November 1959 in a Rome 1960 Olympic Games qualifier.
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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