Julius Okorie
Mediterranean Knights were seen training seriously today ahead of ill-fated AFCON qualifier against Super Eagles hitherto billed for this evening in Benina Libya.
The team and technical crew were going about their business on the pitch as if the match against Super Eagles of Nigerian is still holding, with no sign of the nightmares that has played out in the North African country in the last two days.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIronically, the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) said it will not condone excuses insisting that the match against Eagles must hold close to 24 hours after Eagles who were thoroughly harassed in Libya returned to Nigeria.
Taking their X handle Tuesday, while sharing series of training pictures, LFF said “Some may be used to putting up obstacles before the match, but here in the heart of Benghazi, specifically on the grounds of the Martyrs of Benina Stadium, there is no room for excuses after the starting whistle.”
“Photos from our national team’s training at the Martyrs of Benina International Stadium, in preparation for the match against Nigeria on Tuesday evening, as part of the fourth round of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.”
LFF had earlier condemned Nigeria’s decision to withdraw from the scheduled 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Libya, threatening to take legal action to protect its national team’s interests.
Some Sports fans have however dismissed the training and the submissions by the Libyan Football Federation describing it as cheap blackmail.
While some who reacted the revealed training exercise say they smell a rat and cautioned CAF against playing into the hands of Libya, others chose to be funny in their reaction submitting that the team is training to play a ghost team.
BOUNDLESS @Teesaid wrote The Libya Team training to play against ghost African football on another level I see @CAF_Onlin dancing to their dramatic song.
Leo @ultradopemix said “Why is this thing looking like a planned work all along. We’ll see what CAF verdict will be before i talk”
Machala of FCT?? @Machala_D described it as joke, saying “Training to play themselves. They must be a joke.”
TopBoy @Top_lejs added “There are 22 of them training.Make dem share each other 11 vs 11 play.Or, make dem select 11 people from their fans play dem????
UPDATEBOYZ remained optimistic that the team will still end up with nothing even if awarded three points submitting “Make dem chop the 3 points. They still won’t qualify. After this qualifier. The NFF should work on having a friendly match with them in another country. Then the Super Eagle should do the needful??”
READ ALSO :Painful Libya Experience: Sports Minister Hails Team For Showing Maturity
All eyes are now on CAF and its disciplinary board that has now been saddled with the assignment of investigating the ugly incident that transpired since Sunday Libya forcing the Super Eagles to exit the country for good.
Nigeria still leads the group with seven points followed by Republic of Benin with six points, while embattled Libya are glued to the bottom of the ladder with just a point to show in three matches. Should CAF decide to award them three points for whatever reason, they will end up with four points and still likely to kiss the exit doors of the 2025 AFCON to be held in Morocco.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Benin will take on Amavubu of Rwanda today in Kigali. Should the Gernot Rohr tutored side earn a victory in Kigali, they would overtake Nigeria accumulating nine points in four matches pending CAF decision on the crisis scuttled Libyan versus Nigeria match.
CAF, a few minutes ago delisted the match between Libya and Nigeria from the list of fixtures for today, an indication that the Libyan antics including training for unexisting match will not fly as the botched match is under investigation and verdict being awaited from CAF.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
