AFCON
AFCON: Ethiopia stun Egypt 
Without star forward Mohamed Salah, record African champions Egypt were stunned by Ethiopia at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, losing 2-0 in their second Group D match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Salah missed the game due to injury and his absence was felt as first half goals from Dawa Hotessa and skipper Shemeles Bekele earned Ethiopia a well deserved victory.
Hotessa broke the deadlock after 21 minutes with a sliding finish that beat keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal. The forward stretched in to direct the ball home after some fine work from Abubaker Nasser who had done the donkey work on the right to lay in a cross.
Just before the goal, Ethiopia had tested Gabal with Gatuoch Panom’s shot from distance which the keeper calmly collected.
Nasser came inches close to making it 2-0 for Ethiopia in the 24th minute when he ran on to a through ball from the middle, but his shot past the keeper hit the upright and rolled away.
He thought he had scored in the 34th minute when he tapped home a cross from the right, but the referee’s flag was up for offside.
The Walia Ibex however finished the half with the second goal five minutes to the break through Bekele’s thumping shot from inside the box. The skipper had started the move himself, spreading to Amanuel Gebremichael who played him through on goal.
After the goal Egypt made a surprising decision to throw in three changes, Magdy Afsha, Amr el Solia and Ayman Ashraf all coming off for Ibrahim Adel, Kamal Omar and Mohanad Lasheen.
Despite the changes, Ethiopia still forced them to play deep in the second half and their ambition to get a way back into the match wasn’t as successful.
Malawi 0-1 Guinea
Elsewhere at the General Lansana Conte Stadium in Conakry, Naby Keita scored late into added time as hosts Guinea beat Malawi 1-0 to storm to their first victory in the qualifiers.
The game seemed to be heading for a draw until Keita struck the winner for the home side, earning a well deserved win after putting in the pressure and looking more hungry.
With the victory, Guinea move to third in the standings below Malawi, with all teams in the group sitting on three points.
Both sides had some chances in the opening half. Keita had a go at goal in the 27th minute when he stretched out his feet to connect to a cross from the right but it went wide.
In the 34th minute, midfielder Amadou Diawara had a chance for Guinea when he rose at the backpost to connect to a corner, but he headed just wide.
At the tail end of the first half, Malawi had a chance when Khuda Muyaba broke away on the right and into the box, but the effort was blocked by the hawk eyed Guinean keeper.
It remained a close encounter in the second half. The best chance fell on Guinea, with Serhou Guirassy missing a golden opportunity as he slashed a shot just wide off a cross from the left two minutes after the restart.
Substitute Ilaix Moriba also had a chance with an 85th minute freekick from range, but he struck it inches over the bar.
The late drive bore fruit, with Keita sending the stadium into frenzy with his late winner.
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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