The continent’s biggest
show, the Nations Cup revs off in grand style today in Bata, with the defending
champions, the Super Eagles absent and watching as spectators as Equatorial
Guinea confront Congo in the opening match at the Estadio de bata
In its 3oth edition, this year’s AFCON has come with a lot of drama,
even before the first ball is kicked. The major shock is that the match will be
played without the defending champions, Nigeria, who failed to qualify for the
16-team competition. Continue...
But like they say, with or without its defending champions, the
show must go on and that is what is about to play out today as Africa stands
still for the kickoff of three weeks of fun-filled soccer action from the
motherland.
Nigeria’s failure to defend their title did not come to many as
a surprise as they lacked the bite, drive and dynamism during the qualifying
games. In hindsight, Eagles were the albatross of their doom, as they started
their campaign like a house on fire against Congo and never really recovered
from their drowsiness, missing out on a place at the competition.
The tournament was initially scheduled to be hosted by Morocco,
who last hosted it in 1988, where the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon defeated
the Super Eagles in the final, but Morocco refused to host the tournament at
the scheduled dates because of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.
With time running out and CAF seemingly short of options,
Equatorial Guinea, which co-hosted the 2012 edition with Gabon, was later named
as the host country, as the Issa Hayatou-led executive committee of CAF pulled the chestnut out of the
fire, to maintain the status quo of organizing the AFCON between January and
February of every odd year.
While the Eagles will be watching the action from the field as
spectators, the 16 qualified teams will be involved in an intense soccer
rivalry to determine who succeeds Nigeria as African champions on February 8.
In Nigeria, the Nations Cup fever is absent as fans still sulk
over their darling team’s failed bid to qualify. Unlike the vibes that were
generated two years back when the Eagles were preparing for South Africa 2013,
the scene this time around is dull as sombre as a nation is yet to come to
terms with the reality that they will be watching the tournament as spectators.
To set off the party rolling today, , two matches are on offer
with Equatorial Guinea flagging things off against Congo while 2013 losing
finalists Burkina Faso tackle Gabon in the second match at the Estadio de Bata.
Tomorrow, Zambia zoom off their title hunt in the opening match
against Democratic Republic of Congo while island nation Cape Verde confront Tunisia in the
evening game. Both matches hold at Nuevo Estadio de Ebebjin.
Group C, aptly tagged the ‘death zone’ provides for the most
intense and riveting soccer battles as the quartet of Ghana, Senegal, South
Africa and Algeria go in search for the available two tickets to the
quarterfinal stage of the tournament.
Algeria, on the strength of latest FIFA rankings, are Africa’s
top-ranked team and were so dominant in the qualifying matches for this year’s
AFCON. But all that lofty record will count for nothing when push comes to
shove on Monday when they square-off against a vastly improved Bafana Bafana
side, who stopped Nigeria from defending their title.
In the other match billed for Monday at the Estadio de Mongomo, Ghana go up against Senegal.
Rounding up the first group matches of the tournament on Tuesday,
Ivory Coast are in action against Guinea while Mali take on Cameroon. Both
games hold at the Nuevo de Estadio, Malabo.
Four-time African player of the year winner, Yaya Toure will be
running the rules from the midfield as the golden generation from Ivory Coast
attempt to win the AFCON title for the fourth time of asking.
Both they will face a serious examination of their title
credentials when they tackle the Indomitable Lions on January28 , as they bid
to emerge top of the group to avoid the top team from group C.
Any way the pendulum swings, the battle for soccer supremacy in
Equatorial Guinea promises to be a show-stopping experience as the gladiators
of African football rumble in the jungle for the right to be called the African
champions of 2015.
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