I DON’T CARE WHO WINS AFCON
I JUST realised the other day that 26 years have now passed since I covered my first AFCON finals.
That’s a quarter-of-a-century, of course, with the little addition of a VAT in between. That was in 1998.
And, while I didn’t know it then, my romance with West Africa, and everything that it throws at you, had just begun.
I have always told my friends that until you go to West Africa, and spend some time out there, you can’t claim that you know anything about this great continent.
On the Goree Island of Senegal, you are reminded of the horrors of the slave trade.
It used to be the gateway for our brothers and sisters who were captured and then sold off like animals to work across the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It remains a scar on human conscience which the years, the changing of the seasons and even the explosive fury of climate change, will never erase.
It was in West Africa, in ’98, when I arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso which, at first glance, appeared a city which time had forgotten.
The Warriors were not at the AFCON finals but I had been invited by Coca-Cola to go to Burkina Faso and cover the tournament as the company’s special guest.
There were a number of us on that tour of duty, all of us drawn from Southern Africa.
And, for a month, Burkina Faso would embrace me, kiss me, make me feel at home and provide me with a football feast worth the stay.
Along the way I picked up some basic French words and chicken became poulet, good morning became bonjour, thank you became merci and beautiful became belle.
But what really blew me away was the sheer beauty of these people’s patriotism, their commitment to their national cause and that the majority of them were very poor didn’t seem to matter at all.
I have travelled around the globe since then and the Burkinabe people, who are ranked among the poorest in the world, still rank in the top 10 of the most passionate groups I have seen when it comes to pride in their country.
Their Stallions went all the way to the semi-finals of that AFCON, dragging their whole country with them in what was an incredible adventure which had to be seen, from close quarters, to be believed.
This year’s AFCON is in Cote d’Ivoire, just across the border from Burkina Faso.
From Bobo-Dioulasso, where I covered Burkina Faso’s 0-2 loss to Egypt in the ’98 AFCON semi-finals, to the town of Niangoloko, on the Ivorian border, the distance is only 73kms.
I have travelled extensively across West Africa, since then, and one thing which has been a recurring theme, no matter where I’ve gone, is that there is a special relationship between these people and football.
We love our football here in Southern Africa but not to the levels I have seen in West Africa, it’s a different romance out there, the game is everything and everything is about the game.
I don’t support other national teams in Africa because they are all direct competitors of my Warriors so, even in Burkina Faso back in ’98, I didn’t have any favourite team to win the tournament.
I’m not like some of our guys who find romance in supporting Bafana Bafana, as an alternative, and some of our guys who find it fine to occasionally throw their support behind Chipolopolo.
It’s just pure madness to expect that a diehard Manchester United fan like me can be seen, at some point, throwing my support behind Liverpool.
Once my Warriors were barred from the qualifiers for the current AFCON finals, which would in a way saved Bafana Bafana and ensured that they didn’t miss the tournament, like what happened in 2021, I lost interest in who could emerge as the winners.
Even Chipolopolo, who have lost their way in recent years, which saw them fail to qualify for the 2017, 2019 and 2021 AFCON finals, appeared to derive inspiration from the fact that we were not allowed to play in the qualifiers, qualified for the Ivorian party.
It’s unfortunate our Warriors were elbowed out of the qualifiers by the boardroom politics which resulted in them being barred from international football by FIFA.
I have this feeling that this was the tournament where our Warriors would have really enjoyed their finest run at the Nations Cup and, with a little bit of luck, could have even reached the semi-finals.
Why?
If a club side like Mamelodi Sundowns, disguised as a national team, thanks to the addition of one, two or three players, can make it to the quarter-finals of this Nations Cup, we have a right to believe our Warriors could have gone very far in this tourney.
Sundowns had eight players in the Bafana Bafana starting XI for their showdown against the Atlas Lions of Morocco and, maybe spurred on by the fact that they understood each other better, they were full value for their victory over the Atlas Lions.
If we add Percy Tau, who played for Sundowns before leaving South Africa to pursue his career elsewhere, then you have NINE players from the Brazilian fold, who were in that Bafana Bafana starting XI.
Percy is the guy who was told by Brighton & Hove Albion that he wasn’t good enough, after they had signed him, and started loaning him all over the place before their strained relationship eventually ended.
He now plays for the biggest and most successful football club in Africa, Al Ahly of Egypt, and he hasn’t really set this AFCON alight which, in itself, is a credit to the balance in this Bafana Bafana team.
It’s also a credit to football on the continent because Bafana Bafana only fielded just one player, who is based outside the continent, in their starting XI against Morocco this week.
That player is Sphephelo Sithole and, while Morocco’s Hakim plays for Paris Saint-Germain, he plays for Tondela in the Portuguese second-tier league.
This makes a mockery of the argument by those who say that we won’t write a successful story simply because we don’t have high-profile players playing for high-profile clubs in Europe.
They have the right spirit, South Africa, but while I wish them well I have to be clear that I won’t even shed a tear if they get knocked out in the next round.
In fact, the worst case scenario for me, as a fan, would be for Bafana Bafana to win this tournament.
After all, they are a team we will meet soon in the World Cup qualifiers and let it stay that way, they are our major rivals and their pain is our relief.
IT’S BEEN A BEAUTIFUL TOURNAMENT
What isn’t in dispute is that this Nations Cup finals has been a beautiful tournament to watch — the football has been breath-taking, the fearlessness among the lightweights has been refreshing and the upsets have been massive.
There was some concern that the Nations Cup was drifting into a tournament that would lose spectator interest and become just another ordinary football festival, which is played once every two years.
After the great World Cup, which was served in Qatar, culminating in the probably the greatest football game ever played in that classic final between Argentina and France, the fears that the value of the Nations Cup could be significantly devalued, were very real.
It didn’t help that the likes of Andre Onana were doing their best to try and turn it into some form of boozers’ tournament, where they would arrive just hours before a game and still play for their country.
But, when it needed to produce a spectacular fightback, and show that it still was a tournament which should be taken seriously, this AFCON has, so far, done a lot to prove just that.
Just the elimination of the heavyweights, which saw all the five top-ranked teams failing to make it into the quarter-finals, was worth its weight in gold.
I’m not sure whether I agree with those who are saying this is the best Nations Cup in the history of the tournament.
You don’t judge the greatness of a tournament based on the results from the first two rounds, we need to wait and see what happens in all the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final.
The perfect fairy tale would have been for the DRC to win this tournament, for the sake of the memory of their great side of ’74, which became the first African side, from south of the Sahara, to play at the World Cup.
This is the 50th anniversary of the year when that great Congolese side won the Nations Cup in Egypt playing football which was far ahead of their time.
The final, against Zambia, had to be replayed, after the first game ended in a 2-2 draw before the Congolese won the replay 2-0.
The legendary Ndaye Mulamba scored all four of the Congolese goals, to take his tally to nine in an eight-team tournament, on his way to winning the Golden Boot and Golden Ball. Of course, football isn’t all about fairy tales. There will be joy and ecstasy, cheers and tears, when this tournament ends next weekend.
I know the depressing feeling of losing in the final, especially in West Africa.
Twenty-six years ago, I was there in Abidjan, at the Stade Houphouet Boigny when Dynamos’ quest for immortality, in that Champions League final decider against ASEC Mimosas, ended in a 2-4 defeat.
No one knows how this one will end and I really don’t care, as long as Bafana Bafana don’t win the tournament.
To God Be The Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle. Come on Chegutu Pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Zaireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
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