AFCON 2012 – The real battles begin!

The final teams are hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, pre-tournament favourites Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana, trusted fighters, Zambia, last-minute qualifiers, Mali, North African representatives, Tunisia and surprise qualifiers, Sudan. I admit that I got my estimation of Sudan and Senegal very wrong before the start of the championship. I dismissed Sudan by not even listing […]

The final teams are hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, pre-tournament favourites Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana, trusted fighters, Zambia, last-minute qualifiers, Mali, North African representatives, Tunisia and surprise qualifiers, Sudan.

I admit that I got my estimation of Sudan and Senegal very wrong before the start of the championship. I dismissed Sudan by not even listing them amongst the teams in the championship, and chose Senegal as one of the three favourites to get to the finals. Otherwise, at the half-way mark, I give my self a humble pass mark for my other pre-tournament predictions.

Group round -up

Senegal were the most disappointing team of the championship. They let everyone including themselves down. The ‘superstars’ turned out to be anything but that in all the three matches they played. Sow, Ba and Cisse, were blown out like candles in the wind. They looked so ordinary that many could not recognise them from the three lads that had been painting the English Premiership red with goals just weeks before the African championship began. Many are forced to wonder if this is any indication of declining quality of the EPL, or if it is that African football is so markedly different that it requires a totally different kind of approach and mentality for players to cope and excel in it. The ‘smoke’ of Senegal was extinguished from the first match. They could not light up their fire after that.

Sudan have been the surprise team of the tournament even though with the composition of the team they make a strong statement that the rest of the continent must take note of. The entire team is made up of home-based players, all playing constantly in the domestic Sudanese league. That could be a great advantage were the contest for supremacy is that of team versus the individual players. Sudan are a team. They have played well and have been well organised, even without outstandingly brilliant players. They exemplify the advantage of a team and remind us that some of Africa’s past great heroes of the African Nations Cup were mostly home-grown and home-based.

Guinea also did very well as the matches progressed. They played their best match against Ghana. Many people felt they deserved to have won and qualified. But a draw against Ghana, and Mali winning their last match against the whipping boys of the championship, Botswana, ensured that they exited the championship where I had predicted they would.

Tunisia are technically a good team showing good build ups and good organisation until they come into the attacking third of the field where their creativity and their finishing in front of goal evaporate in a plume of naivety. They just do not know how to bury balls behind goalkeepers. That will be their undoing again as they play what I believe would be their last match when they meet Ghana.

Quarter-final matches

The quarter-final matches are going to be intriguing. My challenge is that I am doing this preview on the eve (Thursday) of some of the matches, and by time people are reading this some of the matches would have taken place. I am therefore pitching my analysis against what fate holds in store.

Ghana versus Tunisia in Francisville.

Ghana have not been brilliant in the championship so far, but they have demonstrated great maturity and professionalism in dealing with opponents even when they are now ‘blending’ more and developing into a formidable team. With the return of the team’s captain, Mensah, after his suspension spell, Ghana would be a bridge too far for Tunisia with their timid and tame front line.

Gabon versus Mali in Libreville.

Mali have struggled through the championship so far. Until he scored a goal against Botswana Seidu Keita had not made a mark on the championship. Gabon on the other hand have been very hardworking and committed to winning. That spirit will see them out-run, overpower and out-score the Malians.

What will FIFA do to Egypt?

Will the death of football followers make FIFA to violate its own statutes? That is a big question to which many of us are looking forward to FIFA providing an answer. What will FIFA do in reaction to the Egyptian government reaction to the latest football disaster in Egypt.

But first, I join millions of football followers all over the world in mourning the death of 73 football supporters in Egypt this past week. They were victims of a fracas that broke out between rival fans of clubs during a football match. Apart from the other over 130 injured victims that were taken to hospitals, part of the stadium was burnt down by the irate fans. Whilst the fighting and arson were going on the Egyptian Police, still trying to recover from their ignoble role in the recent Arab Spring political agitation in Egypt, stood and watched helplessly, unable and unwilling to do much against the irate crowd of spectators.

I watched the horror on television, and at the tail end of the news bulletin it was reported that the Egyptian government had stepped in and had ordered the immediate sack of the entire members of the board of the Egyptian Football Federation! What? Sack? Has FIFA changed its much-trumpeted rule? Can government now interfere in the internal affairs of a member of FIFA?

The world is waiting and watching to see what FIFA would do in regard to this violation of its sacrosanct statutes. Can FIFA overlook this matter because lives are involved? This surely would be an interesting test for FIFA. We are waiting and watching!

Academicals sports competitions start all over the country.

In direct response to the agitation by Nigerians that the tradition of academical sports be revived in secondary schools in Nigeria as a panacea for tackling the decline of sports development in Nigeria, the initial 6 competitions introduced by NASCOM to start this academic year, will kick-off in two weeks time all over the country. The sports to be competed for by all State selected teams are football, track and field athletics, basketball, tennis, swimming and table tennis.

The requirements for participation, the dates, formats, venues and fixtures have been sent to all the States sports commissioners, and the States are expected to register their student participants by the February 7 deadline. Many States have already started to respond positively and preparations are intensifying to select talented students from schools to represent the various States.

Inter-schools competitions are unable to be organised this academic year due to late take-off of the programmes, This would have served as the methodology for discovering the best students athletes. But having said that coaches in the sports councils and in schools would come in handy in assembling State representatives.

At the end of the competitions the best students discovered in the various sports will be selected to represent the country as national academicals teams in several international competitions and games being put together now. These include the Nigeria/Caribbean Games, the Nigeria/Ghana Academicals Games, the Olympic Development program in the US, and so on.

The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will kick-start the championships during any of the very first competitions in February.

Nigerians are watching in anticipation of the prospect of this project that used to be the bedrock of grassroots sports development in Nigeria in the distant but glorious past.