African coaches praise CAF Workshop ahead of AFCON 2019 draw

Coaches of countries that qualified for the Nations Cup in June, have lauded CAF's organisation of a workshop to get them abreast with the new changes in the game. 

The coaches were taken through a thorough workshop regarding the major changes expected in the 32nd edition of the biggest African football extravaganza.

In particular, the technicians were able to familiarize themselves with “the latest refereeing guidelines”, according to Paul Put, who will be leading Guinea Conakry in the finals.

“Afcon is one of the biggest football competitions in the world, you have to use the VAR. It was already done at CHAN 2018 and Africa is a continent like any other in this field,” Paul Put added on the use of VAR for the first time at the Nations Cup.

The Confederation of African Football also explained the upcoming use of GPS trackers on players involved in the tournament to measure their performance and other indicators.

Above all, the technicians were able to share their experiences with each other: “It was good to hear Gernot Rohr talk about Nigeria’s preparation for the 2018 World Cup,” said Nicolas Dupuis, Madagascar head coach.

All the coaches are looking forward to Friday’s draw at the foot of the pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza.

Nineteen of the 24 teams who have qualified for the final tournament scheduled for June 21-July 19 were represented by their coaches at the workshop which was conducted by Anthony Baffoe, the CAF Deputy Secretary General in charge of football and development.

“The essence of this workshop was to meet the coaches who are the key actors of their teams, exchange ideas and knowledge towards a successful tournament. We also discussed technical and tactical issues related to the tournament as well as organizational arrangements,” Baffoe said.

“It was brilliant to meet with other coaches and exchange ideas. It was also great to learn from Rohr and Alliou Cisse about their World Cup experience and how it is close to Afcon because of the expansion now. I think it was a very good idea for capacity building,” Kenya’s coach Sebastien Migne commented.

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