International Football
How the Super Eagles will qualify for Qatar 2022
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Nigeria need an outright win to qualify for the Qatar 2022 when they face Black Stars of Ghana in Abuja on Tuesday. A goalless draw will take the game into penalty shoot-out. A score draw will give the ticket to Ghana.
There is the possibility of another scoreless draw, Eguavoen and Amuneke therefore need to add penalty kicks to the training schedule of the Super Eagles.
The ghosts of the Afcon final match of 2000 must be banished.
Super Eagles have faced a penalty shoot-out situation in World Cup qualifying series only once. That was on 12 July 1980 when they beat Tunisia 2-0 in Lagos to bring aggregate scoreline to 2-2.
Nigeria triumphed 4-3 on penalties. Sports Village Square recalls that that was the first time the Nigerian national team had a penalty shoot-out situation.
The team has a lot to learn from lessons of history. They have to realise how an hitherto simple arithmetic can turn into a complex Greek puzzle.
The most recent example of such was the qualifier played against Cape Verde whom they had beaten at home. Even with a first minute goal in Lagos, it was a miracle how the team managed to survive the remaining 89 minutes of regulation time.
First within four minutes, they lost their solitary goal advantage as the visitors were threatening to even win the match. The situation easily opened the exit doors for Gernot Rohr.
Rewind to the Africa Cup qualifiers in 2020 when within 30 minutes, the Super Eagles were four goals up against visiting Sierra Leone. But under a spell of 20 minutes, the visitors cancelled the four goals and threatened to even add another one in what has become one of the biggest come-back stories in African football.
The often repeated phrase of ‘It is not over until it is over’, is applicable here.
Nigeria missed out in the maiden edition of the African Nations Championships (CHAN) which is for the products of the domestic league owing to complacency.
Nigeria scored two goals before half time and Ghana staged a remarkable come-back in the second half to win 3-2. Ordinarily, such a result may not be too bad for a team that will host the return leg as they needed just a goal to advance.
Alas, the return leg in Calabar ended goalless. Adios, home advantage! Such lessons call for cautious optimism as well a focus until the game is over.
Lessons should also be learnt from the last Africa Cup of Nations when the Round of 16 encounter with a heavily depleted and hitherto unimpressive Tunisia.
But the same Tunisia bounced back and fortuitously eliminated the hitherto unbeaten Super Eagles from Afcon 2021. There are lessons to be learnt.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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