The 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations ended exactly a week ago with Zambia’s Chipolopolo emerging champions for the first time in the history of the competition.
The competition ended with memories that would last for many years to come: fanfare, high points and low points and more importantly, lessons for football in the African continent.
New champions Zambia displayed the true African spirit; determination to succeed against all odds, beating Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants 7-6 on penalties in a pulsating encounter that held football followers worldwide spellbound in over two hours of the best football on display.
Many would agree that was the best final ever seen in the competition’s recent history.
But more importantly, the Zambians cruised to the final with just four members of the entire 23-man squad playing outside Africa. The rest play their football on the continent.
Out of the four, two play in Europe. Twenty-year old midfielder Chisamba Lungu plays for Russian first division side Ural Oblast while mercurial forward Emmanuel Mayuka, stars for Young Boys of Switzerland. The other two, captain Christopher Katongo (Henan Construction) and forward James Chamanga (Dalian Shide) play their football in China.
Before the final match, the Ivoirians were overwhelming favourites. What with their big stars like current Africa Footballer of the Year, Yaya Toure, Chelsea duo Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, Kolo Toure, Didier Zokora and others. In fact, the West Africans had only Kader Keita playing in Asia with the other squad members played week-in-week-out in the big leagues of Europe.
So who would have given the less-fancied Zambians any chance against the Ivoirians? Of course not Henry Makinwa, Spain-based former Super Eagles fringe striker.
“The level of Ivoirian footballers is very high; in fact, they are the best African football nation at the moment. I don’t foresee any upset. If Zambia try any upset, they may end up losing 5-1,” Makinwa said before the final.
But he would eat his words after the final game.
“Football is really unpredictable. Who would believe Cote d’Ivoire could crash out with their superstars? I was caught in fear when I saw them (Zambians) win. They did a great job.”
Just like Makinwa, the Ivoirians probably didn’t bargain for what they encountered on the day as young and relatively- unknown talented Chipolopolo players sent them to the cleaners.
Before the final, the Zambians had beaten the two other pre-tournament favourites Senegal 2-1 in the group stage and Ghana 1-0 in the semifinal. These countries too paraded Europe-based stars. So the Zambian triumph was not a fluke.
Sudan and Libya went to the tournament with squads picked from their domestic leagues but they made an impact. While Libya narrowly exited the tournament in the group stage and beating Senegal, Sudan reached the last eight, bowing out to the superior might of Zambia.
The last four editions of the biennial competition have been won by teams predominantly made up of players in Africa.
In 2006, six-time champions Egypt won the tournament with only two players- Abdelzaher El-Saqua and Ahmed Mido- plying their trade in Europe. The remaining 21 players were picked from the Egyptian league by coach Hassan Shehata.
Two years later, the Pharaohs again won the trophy with only six players outside the North African country. At the penultimate tournament held in Angola, Egypt again came tops using just four players outside their league.
In 2010, Congo’s TP Mazembe became the first African side to reach the final of the FIFA Club World Cup. Even though they were defeated 3-0 by Inter Milan in the final, they returned home with their heads held high.
The latest development according to followers of the continent’s game, is that African football has gradually come of age.
A member of CAF Media Committee, Aisha Falode, says it’s a good sign for football in Nigeria.
“It’s a positive trend for African football. Stephen Keshi, who is renowned for firsts in Nigerian football, has just started a rebuilding process as coach of the national team and we all can see the results,” Falode told our correspondent.
Former Shooting Stars of Ibadan forward, Gordon Osusu, however believes not all African countries can produce good players from their domestic leagues.
“It depends on where the players are playing in Africa. For instance, the Egyptian league is very competitive and the money is good too unlike most African countries. In Africa, most leagues are very poor; people don’t watch matches any longer unlike when we played,” he said.
Ex-Eagles defender, Abdul Sule, shares the same opinion with Osusu.
Sule, now a Denmark-based football agent said, “I agree that players in Africa can give the Europe-based players a fight, but I am not sure if our own home-based players can do that because there is hardly any support for them in the Nigerian league. There is poor organisation and players don’t get salaries for months.”
However, there was a major snag at the tournament. Of the 16 coaches on display in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, only six were Africans. Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, Niger, Tunisia and Botswana were the only countries that paraded their indigenous coaches.
It is a big setback for the continent’s coaches but Osusu insists the reasons are not far-fetched.
He said, “Some African coaches don’t go for good players but are after money they will get from the players that they sign. Everything is wrong with African football
“Coaches here don’t go for refresher courses; no good management; clubs owe players salaries and signing-on fees and the FAs are not doing anything about it. If a player is not happy how can he give his best?
“Most African players in Europe started from here before moving there to play but we don’t give them good training and always depend on white coaches to teach us what to do.
“A good coach doesn’t look at what his players do but to get the result that he wants and also knows how to deal with his top players if they go wrong.”
“After the Nigerian team of 1994, nobody was ready to build that same type of team until now. But I can see that Keshi is trying to build teams A and B from players playing outside Africa and players playing in Africa respectively.
“That is what we all should focus on now. It took the Zambians some years to build the team that won the Nations Cup. The same team was in the 2008 and 2010 editions of the competition.
“Ghana has the same problem with Nigeria and that is why they could not win the Nations Cup.”
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