AFCON
Against Leone Stars, Super Eagles must avert a sixth ‘no-win’ match
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles will be aiming to regain their esteem this Thursday evening as they begin the quest for qualification for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will a home duel with Sierra Leone.
This is a duel like no other one. It is the first time ever the team has been compelled to play a home match behind closed doors following crowd behavior the last time they played at home.
Somehow, playing in an empty MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja has its advantage. The Super Eagles will not be put under crowd pressure.
But there is another pressure. First this is the third time in two years that the team will be facing Sierra Leone. Sadly, they have not been able to beat the Leone Stars in their last two encounters.
Worst still, when they met on Nigerian soil, the visitors did the incredible, coming back from a 30-minute four goals down to level up at 4-4 within 20 minutes. It was one of the most remarkable come-bact stories in African football.
It marked the first time Nigeria conceded four goals at home since their 6-2 loss to United Arab Republic (largely Egypt) in November 1959.
But the greater presure on the Super Eagles is the quest to return to the winning way. The last time they won a match was on 19 January this year in Garoua, Cameroon when they beat Guinea Bissau 2-0.
Since, they have gone five matches without a win. The last time Nigeria ran a five streak of ‘no win’ was 59 years ago when it took a whole year from 24 November 1963 to 27 December 1964 before Nigeria won a match having lost to Egypt, Sudan, twice to Morocco and losing on Nigerian soil to Togo on home soil to be out of contention for the football event of the 1st All Africa Games in Congo.
This Thursday’s encounter with Sierra Leone will be the sixth match since they last won a match in January. Beyond that, new coach on the saddle, Jose Peseiro under whom the the team has played two matches is expected to win his first match with the Super Eagles.
Meanwhile, the Leone Stars appeared a determined lot having being in Nigeria four days ahead of the encounter. Winning may not be their first thought, but frustrating the Super Eagles into a drawn game may likely be their mission.
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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