The next instalment in the history of African football is looming. No really it is! This Saturday marks the beginning of the 28th edition of The Africa Cup of Nations and twenty three days of flavoursome football. It is something to be celebrated instead of chastised. We should look forward to the carnival and not mourn the loss of stars from our sides. This year it could be something magnificent. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea play host to sixteen nations this time round and it will be interesting to see how things pan out given the backdrop against which the tournament takes place with major events such as the Arab Spring still fresh in everyone’s minds. Indeed, we will see Libya, Morocco and Tunisia fielding strong teams in the hope of bringing back glory.
Now, the Cup of Nations may not mean a lot to the average football fan but it should. Since the 1990s players from the African continent plying their trade in the English Premier League has grown considerably; sometimes with great aplomb and then sometimes with disastrous consequences. Leeds legend Lucas Radebe is the probably the best example of the good whilst Southampton’s short lived legend Ali Dia is unquestionably the worst player to set foot on a top flight pitch and the ugly award goes to Everton’s Ibrahima Bakayoko . Nonetheless African football has been thrust into our consciousness. No longer are they mere snippets like the ageless Roger Milla tearing apart defences and then gyrating against a corner flag or Zaire’s Mwepu Ilunga’s antics in the 1974 World Cup in which Ilunga, being stood in the wall to face a Brazilian free kick, breaking ranks and promptly spanked the ball as far as humanly possible. This is a great chance to see the future stars of the Premier League.
This is also a great chance for the continent of Africa to come together despite all of the difficulties that lie in their respective countries. Famine, genocide, drought, political revolution and war. These are just SOME of the issues that are being faced on a daily basis. In light of these a ‘game’ should not attempt to take any sort of limelight but rather draw attention to the continent and to these nations and highlight both the good and injustice. This is the power of football and sport it can bring us all together.
With this competition not being even slightly on a similar scale to the FIFA World Cup or even the UEFA European Football Championship expect to see some pretty questionable camera work alongside commentary from a man who is sitting in a shed in London and some outrageous/shady kits that you would kill to get your hands on so you could dazzle your mates at your 5-a-side game, but don’t let this deter you from this festival of footballing delights. Because that is what it truly is.
Anticipate powerful centre forwards in the mould of Nat Lofthouse and Dixie Dean, rapid, lithe wingers akin to Garrincha and defensive enforcers like the aforementioned Radebe. It’s time to turn on the tele with paper and pen at the ready for this is time to be of service and instruct your club who they should be buying. If only reality was like Football Manager. You’d snap these fella’s up in a heartbeat and become the next Arsene Wenger, in terms of spotting talent that is not for claiming to have missed every bad challenge his side have made or that time Patrick Viera shot a centre half from point blank range in the penalty area. “I did not see it” indeed Arsene, indeed.
Expect this to be the year for the underdog to shine with a couple of the big boys of African football failing to qualify. Egypt, who hold the record for most wins at 7, failed to qualify as did the Super Eagles, Nigeria, who also failed in their attempt following some governmental outcry about their performance in the 2010 World Cup. A winner is hard to choose from the outset but my favourites for the competition come in the form of a resurgent Senegal whose outfit boasts a good mixture of ‘steady eddies’, seasoned pros and powerhouses on the European continent with a strike force of Lille’s Moussa Sow, Newcastle’s Demba Ba and new Geordie boy Papiss Demba Cisse. It could well be a tale of two Demba’s for Senegal should they live up to expectation. There should be some stiff competition though from the Ivory Coast (or Cote d’Ivoire if you’re feeling particularly posh), Tunisia and Ghana. As an outside shot I’d have to go for Burkina Faso because their starting XI will be full of starlets that you will soon have heard of but will lack depth in quality.
I will be expecting a lot of support for minnows Niger from you because let’s face it who doesn’t love the underdog.
searching for lee mavers 