adminmajor sporting tournaments.
The delegation, led by Makhlouf Mabruk and comprising former players and Ministry of Youth and Sport officials, has been in South Africa for a week gathering notes on how to host a successful soccer tournament.
Libya are scheduled to host the 2017 African Cup of Nations after Morocco in 2015. South Africa took over the hosting of the just ended 2013 tournament from Libya after the North African country had been plunged into civil war. I was amazed by what I saw.
This visit will help us a great deal in our 2017 preparations. This country is world class and the people are extremely friendly, hospitable and the perceptions we had before coming here are contrary to the incredible situation on the ground. I have been all over the world but this country is one of the most organised nations I have ever been to,” said Mabruk.
Mabruk said before coming here, he had heard stories of how unsafe this country was and that it was rife with diseases; perceptions he said were totally wrong. He said he was stunned at the beauty of the country.
“It is unfortunate these are some of the falsehood people are told about this great country. I will personally tell Libyans to take time and visit this wonderful country.”
Mabruk said he would ask for the South African expertise in the country’s preparations for 2017 Afcon tournament.
“We have gathered lots of information from our meetings with several stakeholders including meetings with Fifa and Caf presidents, Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter and Issa Hayatou. We briefed the two of the status quo in Libya, how safe the country was after the revolution and also requested them to support the country’s efforts for 2017.”
He said with the assistance of Africa, the World and South Africa in particular, Libya would host a good Afcon tournament in 2017.
“What will make the tournament in 2017 different from the rest is because of Libya’s geographical location. It is close to Europe, the Middle East and most of the outside world, so this will be the gathering of the whole world. My message to the football family is to come to Libya and see how nice the country is,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, former Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter believes the national team are in a stronger position than was indicated by their last-eight exit at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
South Africa, the lowest ranked team in Group A, finished top of the table before they were knocked out in a penalty shoot-out against Mali in the quarter-finals.
“I didn’t see anything that was hysterically frightening,” Baxter said in the wake of Nigeria’s 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in Sunday’s final.
“I don’t think we should look at the Afcon and say, ‘what a shame for us because we can’t do this and we can’t do that”. Baxter said strides were being made in improving the quality of local football, and he felt youth structures and talent identification were both being approached in the correct manner, which bode well for the future.
Bafana would remain a serious threat in the next few Afcon tournaments, he predicted, and could take heart from their performance as the 1996 champions reached the continental playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
“I certainly don’t think Nigeria showed us anything that we should be going out and working really hard at, to be like Nigeria,” Baxter said.
“If we do better with what is South African, we can go a long way.
“Rather than be inspired by Afcon, we should think we can be taking Afcon by the scruff of the neck in the next few years and shaking it.”
Baxter did not see anything groundbreaking during the tournament, and he believed Bafana had done well to stick to their own style. With more luck in the spot-kick decider against Mali, they could have held their own in the latter stages of the competition.
“I don’t think we saw anything tactically that’s revolutionary, or that will inspire league coaches to go in different directions. I think quite the opposite,” he said.
We’re working on a level here and I think Gordon (Igesund) and the boys were probably disappointed that the ball didn’t just fall for us in the penalty shoot-out so they could go on and have a crack at some of the other teams.” Supersport.com)
Online Reporter