The Africa Cup of Nations has had its share of thrills, drama and shocking moments.
As the tournament culminates to the knockout rounds, poor performances from some of the tournaments best have left much to desire, with respective Football Associations placing the responsibility on managers, resulting in termination of their contracts.
Algeria has sacked their coach, DjamelBelmadi; a day after the Desert Foxes were bundled out of the tournament, following a 1-0 loss to minnows Mauritania.
Belmadi’s tenure ended prematurely and equally for his team in this tournament, whose record saw them draw their first two matches of Group D against Angola and Burkina Faso.
They needed a solitary point against Mauritania, but fluffed their lines as the team from the western region of Africa took all the points on offer.
The Desert Foxes won their second AFCON title in 2019, but would be bundled out in the group stage of the last edition held in Cameroon two years ago with just one point and one goal scored. Belmadi could not turn their fortunes for this campaign leading to the termination of his contract.
The tournament’s host, Ivory Coast; who narrowly avoided exit from the tournament after Morocco won 1-0 over Zambia have also sacked Jean-Louis Gasset after a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Equatorial Guinea.
The country’s football federation released a statement saying Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant’s contracts were terminated due to insufficient results.
The decision comes a day after the Black Stars of Ghana axed former Brighton and Newcastle coach, Chris Hughton after his team’s campaign saw the team finish group competition on 2 points.
The final-straw for Hughton however, came after his team blew a 2-goal lead against Mozambique to draw 2-2, subsequently exiting the tournament.
The Ghana Football Association also took the decision by further dissolving the whole technical team.
The knockout rounds are scheduled to kick off on February 2nd.
John Njuguna
