The ongoing Africa Cup of Nations after the conclusion of all the Round of 16 matches on Tuesday has set a standard in all ramifications of football that may be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate when the next African teams gather again for another AFCON....CONTINUE READING
Mimi Mefo Takambou, writing on an online platform, DW, puts it succinctly, “As Elephants rise and Lions fall, the AFCON’s jungle proves no team is safe from the ambush of an upset.”
Fans have been treated to a thrilling rollercoaster of excitement, drama, and unexpected twists. The tournament has witnessed electrifying atmospheres in the stands, with fans donning vibrant costumes and dancing tirelessly. To some, this is why AFCON is worth its weight in gold.
This tournament will go down as one that justifies that there are no longer minnows in African football. To buttress this fact, none of the eight quarterfinalists at the last edition qualified for this edition’s quarterfinal. Of all the continent’s ‘big teams’ it is only Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire that are left to redeem their image.
This is a tournament that shredded all pre-tournament predictions. It is undoubtedly a tournament of big surprises, shocks of unimaginable proportion with the elimination of Africa’s number one team, Morocco by South Africa on Tuesday. With the exit of the “Atlas Lions,” the tournament bid farewell to the top five African teams according to FIFA’s official ranking. In order, these are Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt.
Morocco, Senegal, and Egypt all exited the tournament in the round of 16. The latter two suffered the most painful defeats, losing in the dreaded penalty shootout.
Meanwhile, Tunisia and Algeria (the 2019 champions) failed to even make it to the knockout stage, being eliminated in the group phase.
While five-time winner, Cameroon exited the tournament with their 2-0 loss to Nigeria in the knockout stage, Ghana Black Stars, four-time winners crashed out at the group stage, placing last in their group.
The minnows- Angola, Cape Verde and Guinea- who were never thought of reaching the quarterfinals are the ones dominating the airwaves. Middle weight teams Mali, DR Congo, South Africa are not left out, while Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire are the two big weights still in the race before the quarterfinal games kicked off last night.
Aside the surprises by teams, refereeing in this tournament has been topnotch. In fact, the quality of refereeing is largely responsible for the many surprises and shocks that have become a feature of this tournament.
But the unsung heroes of the tournament have been the referees, their video assistants, and how the technology has been used in all the venues. Refereeing levels have massively improved from two years ago in Cameroon where Zambian referee, Janny Sikazwe, bizarrely ended a game five minutes from time – twice.
Collins Okinyo, a football journalist, who is covering the tournament, believes the referees have outdone themselves this time around.
“The refereeing has been topnotch. We haven’t had any complaints about the referees being effective and to the point,” he said in an exclusive chat with Sports Brief.
Okinyo also lauded CAF for the improvements, drawing sharp comparisons to previous tournaments where questionable decisions were made.
“Unlike the previous tournaments, where we saw a lot of recklessness, the 2023 tournament has given us a glimpse of what is needed in football – stability. Congratulations to CAF for having the right people in charge.”
The fact that controversial decisions that been reduced to the barest minimum has led to stakeholders holding in high esteem the referees and by extension the tournament.
However, while the referees have been praised to high heavens for doing an excellent job, a distraught Senegalese star, Krepin Diatta, on Monday accused the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of corruption, alleging that the African football ruling body aided Cote d’Ivoire’s defeat of his team. The AS Monaco of France star shouted at CAF officials after the game: “You’ve killed us, you’re corrupt!
Diatta anger was because Senegal was not awarded a penalty early in the second half when Ismaila Sarr went down in a tangle of legs in the Cote d’Ivoire box with defender Odilon Kossounou.
Senegal was leading 1-0 at the time after Habib Diallo’s early goal, but Gabonese referee Pierre Ghislain Atcho did not point to the spot and did not come across to the pitch-side monitor to review the footage.
“You have killed us. You are corrupt. Keep your African Cup,” Diatta said in an outburst overheard by reporters on leaving the stadium in the Ivorien capital Yamoussoukro.
Cote d’Ivoire, who were themselves unhappy that Senegal star Sadio Mane escaped with a yellow card for a dangerous early challenge on Ibrahim Sangare, went on to equalise late in normal time with a spot-kick of their own which was given after a VAR check.
“You go to the VAR to give them a penalty, while our guy (Sarr) picks up the ball 40 metres from goal, goes on a run into the box and you don’t want to go to the VAR?
“I’m sorry but that is going too far. I am really sorry but they have killed our competition,” Diatta added.
Diatta’s outburst was not only reckless, but also irresponsible. For him to cast aspersion on the integrity on the continent’s version of world football; a tournament that has become the yardstick for measuring the performances of referees, is to say the least embarrassing.
Though, CAF has yet to comment on Diatta’s remarks, the player should face disciplinary action from CAF for his stinging criticism of the refereeing and use of VAR.
CAF should not let Diatta cast aspersion on the good work that President Patrice Motsepe is doing for African football.
Before the coming of Motsepe as CAF boss, African football was in doldrums. Corruption was so rife that FIFa had to shove aside a former president of the continental body, even banned him for five years from all football related issues. Several other CAF executive members were also banned from football on account of corruption.
But under Motsepe, CAF has made significant progress over the past two years in increasing the prize money of the AFCON and all its other major competitions.
“We have increased the prize money of the AFCON winner to $7 million which is a 40% increase from the previous AFCON prize money,” CAF wrote in a statement. The runners up get win $4 million.
Motsepe cannot be removed from the quality of refereeing that the AFCON is experiencing now. Should the body now let a player to cast aspersion on the tournament. He should be made to serve as an example to anyone who holds such despicable idea. There is need to let everyone to know that the CAF of today is not the CAF under Isah Hayatou and co, not CAF under Ahmad Ahmad.
