Libya national football team. It carries the hope of its fans in Kinshasa
When
it comes to the international scene, Libya would be hoping that its
fairytale run continues on Sunday when the national team takes on
Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa in a Group I FIFA World Cup
2014 qualifier while enjoying the top position in its group after two
matches.
Despite forfeiting home advantage due to security
reasons, Libya has been doing much better than one would have expected
and with four points from the two matches played, a 2-1 win behind
closed doors in neighbouring Tunisia against better fancied Cameroon,
and an away draw with Congo, therefore they go into their third round
away tie with much hope.
They however know that it will not be
easy at the Stade des Martyrs. Their inactivity could prove costly
against a side that was narrowly eliminated in the first round of the
2013 Africa Cup of Nations, following what has been described as an
honourable performance in South Africa.
The DR Congo are
currently lying second in their group, a point behind Libya and sharing
the position with Cameroon after a defeat in Yaoundé against Cameroon
followed by a home win against Togo.
Libya have been trying
hard to improve their standards and have even tried to attract some well
known names in the coaching circles in order to get the necessary push
to help them step up from being ordinary to favourites for
qualification.
The Libyan Football Federation has considered
contracting names such as French coach Alain Giresse, Egypt's former
coach Hassan Shehata and Morocco's Bado El-Zaki, but their efforts have
failed and Libyan coach Adel-Hafiz Arbish will sail on as the squad's
mentor to try and get them to another positive result, mainly to protect
their unbeaten record in the qualifying stages.
In the absence
of home games - Libya have not been able to host an international since
October 2010 - as part of their preparations for the World Cup
qualifiers, Libya have been visiting and playing other countries in
Africa in warm-up matches and last weekend in Morocco they met and
defeated Senegal, who had a team made up of locally based players, 4-0.
Then on Wednesday they travelled to Rwanda and won by 1-0 at Kigali's
Amahoro Stadium.
These two results help the Libyan team to keep
its momentum in view of the upcoming big challenges in World Cup
Qualification rounds.
Libya have been proving to have a very
strong defence, and though it has shown some weaknesses up front, on
their day, the midfielders and strikers can rise to the occasion and
perform well enough to get the results needed.
Libya and DR
Congo have only met twice before in official matches. In November 2005
in Tripoli Libya won a friendly by 2-1, while the DR Congo took their
revenge in the CHAN 2009 when they won 2-0.
This time round,
DR Congo will be all out to improve on that result and coach Claude
Leroy will have his main attacking assets available, Trésor Mputu and
Dieumerci Mbokani. However they will be without midfielder Cédric
Makiadi who is suffering a knee injury, and Matumona Zola Roum, who has
been dropped.
The Mediterranean Knights of Libya were beaten by
Algeria in the final round of Afcon 2013 qualifiers, but despite the
political instability reigning in the country since 2011 and the
suspension of the national championship as a result, have, surprisingly
for some, maintained a very good standard.
The Libyan team to
face DR Congo is quite familiar and coach Arbesh won't do any
experimenting but basing on players like Ihaab Boussefi, Ahmed Zuway in
attack, Ahmed Saad, Muataz Ben Amer, Hussein Al Idrissy in midfield and
defenders Muhammad Al Maghrabi, Ali Salama, and Younes Al Shibani, who
have all, already stamped their mark on the national team.
Most
of the team is expected to come from Ittihad who have tasted
international competition by playing in the CAF Champions League. Al
Nasser and Al Ahli will also be well represented.
Coach Arbesh has the following squad to choose his final team to face DR Congo
GOALKEEPERS: Muhammad Nashnoush, Ahmed Al Ammari, Jum'aa Q'tait
DEFENDERS:
Ossama Chtiba, Ahmed Al Alwany, Ali Salama, Muhammad Al Maghrabi,
Mahmood Bher, Hamed Snousi, Younes Al Shibani, Mohammed Mounir, Walid
Mhadeb, Abdulaziz Belreesh, Walid Jalal Al Sbaay
MIDFIELDERS:
Abubaker Suiueinei, Hussein Al Idrissy, Nader Al Targhi, Muataz Ben
Amer, Abdallah Al Sharif, Djamal Mahamat, Ahmed Sa'ad, Abubaker Rabea,
Marwaan Mabrouk, Mohammad Al Sinaani
FORWARDS: Ihaab Boussefi, Ahmed Zuway, Faisal Saleh, Khalifa Abdulla, Mohamed Al Ghanodi
Libya are ranked seven places higher than DR Congo on the African
continent. They are placed 13th place, while DR Congo are in 20th place.
Hectic 2014 World Cup Programme of 60 Qualifiers
Libya's
match against DR Congo in Kinshasa is only one of 60 World Cup
qualifiers due to be played between this weekend and Wednesday, with 20
of them from the African zone and the rest, 42 from the nine groups
making up the European zone This weekend alone, 36 teams from the
African continent, and 50 from Europe will be in action in 43 matches. Wednesday
March 27 is set for 19 other matches (17 in Europe and two in the
African zone) mostly involving teams who would be playing their second
match in four or five days. The other match that truly concerns Libya will be played today from the same Group I at Yaounde with Cameroon hosting Togo.
It
is very important for Cameroon after being absent from the last two
Africa Cup of Nations and consumed by internal quarrels since the South
African World Cup. The Indomitable Lions are set on restoring themselves
to their former glory by qualifying for their seventh World Cup finals.
Cameroon have been under the technical guidance of Jean-Paul Akono
since last September and the dismissal of Denis Lavagne, following the
defeat in Praia against Cape Verde in the first leg of the final round
of Afcon 2013 qualifiers, but have just suffered another disappointment
in their friendly against Tanzania where they were outclassed and lost
1-0 in Dar Es Salam early February.
That majority of that team
was made up of local players, following a massive defection of their
star players, but the latter are expected to be present for the clash
against the Sparrowhawks. Cameroon are currently lying third in
their Group I following a home win against the DR Congo and a defeat
against Libya, so must therefore ensure an imperative win at home at the
Stade Amadou Ahidjo to ensure their chances.
But it will not be
easy against the Togolese national team who were quarter finalists in
the last Afcon, although they themselves have also suffered some
internal upsets.
The full programme of matches from the African zone in the next few weeks is:
GROUP A South Africa v Central Africa Ethiopia v Botswana
GROUP B Tunisia v Sierra Leone Eq. Guinea v Cape Verde
GROUP C Ivory Coast v Gambia Tanzania v Morocco
GROUP D Lesotho v Zambia Ghana v Sudan
GROUP E Congo v Gabon Burkina Faso v Niger
GROUP F Nigeria v Kenya Namibia v Malawi
GROUP G Mozambique v Guinea Egypt v Zimbabwe
GROUP H Rwanda v Mali Algeria v Benin
GROUP I DR Congo v Libya Cameroon v Togo
GROUP J Senegal v Angola Liberia v Uganda
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