Africa’s Showpiece

Before we get to the crux of this article’s chosen discussed topic, a significant milestone has been reached ladies and gentlemen. What am I alluding to? Well here’s a clue, 50 not out. Yes folks, in just over eighteen months the Frankly Speaking column is celebrating post number fifty. Boy time does sure fly by. Well to commemorate this landmark and being a sucker for sentiment, it would be only right to go back to how it all started in post number one, and review a major international football tournament held on the continent of Africa. 

Okay so the Africa Cup of Nations, or African Nations Cup if you are old skool like me, is not quite the South African 2010 World Cup. But let us be honest, what football tournament is? However, this year’s tournament to crown Africa’s finest culminated with a battle of the Oranges, as the pre-tournament favourites of Ivory Coast faced the surprised outfit of Zambia in the showpiece final. Hearty congratulations are in order for the triumphant Zambian team, who in a tight match secured their first African title. With neither team registering a goal after 90 minutes and in extra time, the dreaded drama of a penalty shoot-out had to separate the teams, with the Zambians taking it with a score of 8-7 in the shoot-out.

Speaking of which was I the only one who thought that the shoot-out was more like a masterclass of how to take penalties? I could not believe how expertly both teams were taking their respective spot-kicks under so much pressure, and the accolade that stood before the winners. From a selfish point of view I would hope both Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, and the players of the England national team were watching!! For that matter the Liverpool football team also, they have been terrible at taking penalties so far this season.

Looking at the competition itself, the co-hosts of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon put on a wonderful event. From an armchair perspective, both countries staged the near month-long tournament well, and can be proud of their efforts in maintaining that African football is firmly in the public’s sporting consciousness when this tournament is played. However, as good as its staging was and being known as a bit of a critic by some of my closest friends (this is not true by the way); this year’s finals left me a little bit flat and disappointed.

I along with quite a few fans of African football was excited by the prospect of a collection of new and unfashionable teams competing for the continent’s biggest prize. For me the non-appearance of the long established superpowers, whose names resonate firmly in the mind of the average football fan that is knowledgeable in African football, was a stimulating prospect and a big plus going forward for the game in Africa. The seven times winners Egypt, who held a monopoly in winning the last three previous tournaments were absent. In addition the might of Nigeria, Cameroon, and South Africa all missed out the latest African Nations Cup festivities, including Algeria who put a decent showing in the 2010 World Cup.

I was animated by the prospect of seeing new players come to the football party, and show their skills on the big stage of a tournament that is now being seen as a key arena to European clubs looking to discover upcoming talent. From my viewpoint the 2012 African Nations Cup did not produce either one of these two mentioned features, and in general flattered to deceive.

The aspiring teams who had successfully challenged the recognized football order in the tournament’s qualifiers, failed to reproduce their efforts during these finals. What was on display was an event high on promise but woefully low on quality. The pre-competition favourites of Ivory Coast and Ghana, who successfully avoided the big reputation trapdoor in the qualifiers, could barley utilize their undoubted collective talent in the competition. Both teams really stumbled to the later stages with uninspiring performances. The event just seemed passive, which was a real shame because it did not show African football at its full potential to a growing international audience.

I attended the 2008 tournament held in Ghana, and putting my ties with the host country aside, that year’s edition was full of gusto and verve. The well-known teams of African football were present and playing to their fullest, and the perceived lesser nations who had qualified were competing strongly also. Some of Africa’s crown jewels from a player perspective such as Didier Drogaba, Samuel Eto’o, Salomon Kalou, Steven Pienaar, and Michael Essien just to name a few all left their mark on the tournament. A staggering 99 goals were scored in the 32 matches played over the three weeks, with a worthy winner in Egypt taking the title. In its aftermath, I along with many others concluded that this was African football reaching a new quality peak standard, and fulfilling the intended aim that CAF and its football members had been working to achieve.

But since that particular tournament held four years ago, African football seems to have stood still or has even gone backwards within this period. Some of may think that this is a harsh statement to make, but you only have to look at the 2010 World Cup. Held on home soil, arguably the six teams that competed was the strongest lineup to best represent Africa going into any World Cup. What resulted was failure to readdress the status of only one African country going forward to the tournament’s knockout stages in each of the 4 World Cups, when the tournament had been expanded to 32 nations in 1998. 

A statistic that I have found disappointing considering that after UEFA and Europe holding the most allotted berths at a World Cup, CAF and Africa has the second highest guaranteed spots for a given. A worrying and lingering trend that may need to be focused on further, but a matter perhaps a discussion that can be saved for another day. What cannot be argued is how Zambia’s performances were one of the very few plus points over the last three weeks, with a display that perhaps was destined for glory in beating both Ivory Coast and Ghana en route. More symbolically and fittingly paying the ultimate honour for the Zambian team that died in a plane crash in 1993 in Libreville, the very same city in Gabon where the current Zambian squad held the African Nations Cup aloft on Sunday night.

With all that said, it is South Africa 2013 we roll on to. Hopefully the next tournament shall fair better in providing my request for a higher level of quality shown, and a place where newer memories are forged. I am looking forward to the colourful antics of the watching fans in attendance. Vuvuzelas are at the ready!

Back To The Future?

Last weekend saw the culmination of the AFC Asian Cup, where the football tournament was held in Qatar. Yes folks, the same Qatar that was recently and somewhat contentiously selected as the host nation to stage the 2022 World Cup. Deemed a controversial decision sanctioned to many at the request of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and his band of merry men within the organisation. I think this gives you an insightful clue as to where this post may be heading. However, before we get into that, I do believe congratulations are in order for the successful Japanese team that won the Asian Cup, defeating Australia 1-0 after extra time.

Like many showpiece finals, the match can only be described as an uninspiring contest. But with so much on the line and tactics set out not to lose, you can understand the reason for such an exhibition. With a superb volleyed goal from Tadanari Lee scored in extra time befitting to win any match, Japan secured a third continental triumph in the last four tournaments to go along with their successes in 2002, and in 2004 respectively.

With the plaudits put to one side, for those following the event we got a glimpse of the future. If the sound bites are followed, in exactly 11 years time and at this point of the year, football’s gatekeepers FIFA have suggested that the World Cup breaks 92 years of tradition, and be staged in Qatar outside the standard months of June and July. A move aimed to combat the situation of both the players, and their supporters being exposed to the extreme temperatures of the Middle East country during that time in the year. 

Technically speaking, football’s World Cup has been contested in much cooler temperatures in the past, or even in the winter months of its hosting nations. You only have to look at last year’s tournament in South Africa as a recent example of a winter World Cup, and looking slightly further back, the 1978 competition in Argentina which the host nation won. But it has always fallen in line with being played in June and or July, and an aptly time when many league and cup competitions in Europe have finished. But what football’s chiefs are putting forward is nothing short of a logistical minefield all for the sake of not scrutinising efficiently, the enormity of the potential problem of the event being held in temperatures that could reach 50 °C.

Now I am all for emerging groupings getting their time to shine, and those who have often been overlooked showcasing what they are all about to a grand stage. I always like to see challenges to the status quo, and champion revolution in the correct manner. With globalisation thus making the world smaller and far more accessible, the days of the long established nations always leading the way are beginning to cease in many fields. This too can be said in sport, and a factor in which I felt there was only going to be one winner in who was to stage the 2022 tournament. I personally am glad the World Cup is going to new territory in the shape of Qatar, though query the 2018 decision, but that is for another time.

Yet since its selection both FIFA and the constructed Qatar event organisers appear not to be on the same page, with the FIFA President claiming it most likely the competition will be staged at the start of the calendar year. Blatter’s European equivalent at UEFA, Michel Platini has also backed the idea, and even suggested the tournament could be co-hosted by Qatar and its regional neighbours. 

Both views which have been rebuffed by the Qatarian coordinators, and have insisted they plan to hold the competition during June and July, in a solo effort as proposed as part of their bid. But where was the correct foresight and provisions in place to deal with this matter at hand? There is no point in FIFA and some of the game’s influential individuals to now recognise that after two years of a bidding campaign, and choosing the nation to host the 2022 edition of the World Cup that this is a real predicament to negate.

Fair enough many of the stadia during the competition are planned to be air-conditioned but what about the fans travelling to and from the stadiums? You cannot air-condition a whole entire country? Yes, 2022 does seem like a long way off and who knows what technologically advancements or proposed allowances can be employed, to make both the playing and spectating experience more comfortable. But the lack of foresight and making wild statements without sound consultation with the event organisers of Qatar, a nation FIFA in the end did give the World Cup too is nothing short of staggering. Not to mention the lack of acknowledging the sport’s numerous football associations, and clubs whose fans and players will be taking part.

Now Michel Platini has gone a step further and wants to make football a summer sport from 2015, where every league in the world would have their domestic season being played from March to October.  A plan that would allow a time of six weeks for a scheduled program of international qualifying games to be completed in Novemer and December, with a rest period for the players of four weeks that covers the festive season. Platini’s scheme would mean all the big international tournaments to be contested such as the World Cup and continental competitions to be held in February and March, just before the start of a new domestic season at club level.

Gentlemen, as key figures within the world of football let me remind you your job is to administer the safekeeping and continual development of the sport we all love so much. Not to enforce your whimsical ideals in an almost dictatorship fashion to the world’s beautiful game, with consultation clearly being absent. There are far more pressing matters that need your respective organisations concentration.

Issues that include as clarifying once and for all the open-endedness and ambiguous interpretation of the different and active phases of the offside rule, which in fairness to the officials is not making their lives any easier to supervise over during match play. The latest addition to this subject’s ever-growing catalogue was seen this week at the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal played Everton in the Premier League. Everton’s Louis Saha scored a contentious goal which for many was deemed offside, however the game’s officials and their understanding of active phases allowed the goal.

How about introducing the aid of technology of to conclude matters of fact in the game? More specifically goal-line technology to prove whether the match ball has fully crossed the line, eradicating endless situations like what we saw in the 2010 World Cup and the quarter final clash between Germany and England. Or are you waiting before such a tournament is won or lost in the final with similar circumstances, before you boys get your act together.

I agree perhaps there maybe a need to formulate a more concise football calendar, but these rather are key topics that need to be looked into more urgently. Not the half empty gestures that you show in proving that doing your jobs, and taking wasted affirmative actions against banning of all things, snoods!