January 30, (THEWILL) – After resolutely defying the weight of the goal drought that plagued the Match Day One fixtures of the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and taking full advantage of the goal-scoring abilities of team captain Vincent Aboubakar, tournament hosts Cameroon have maintained their initial momentum to remain top favourites to win Africa’s most coveted prize in football.
The continental competition that has seen other early contenders disappoint and fail to live up to the expectations of their elevated statuses has been witness to the blossoming of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. From the opening fixture versus Burkina Faso on January 9 to the knockout tie against the impressive Comoros on January 24, there has never been a match that they failed to score, and score multiple goals, except in their final group tie against Cape Verde on January 17.
The resourcefulness of AFCON 2021 leading goal-scorer, Aboubakar, has seen to Cameroon’s advancement and trophy-winning contention. The 30-year-old forward, who plies his trade for Saudi Professional League club, Al Nassr, has been in red-hot form in the tournament. The competition has just concluded the Round of 16 stage, but Aboubakar already has six goals to his name from the four matches so far played. His skilful positioning, resilient determination to find the goal and often clinical finishing have all combined to make him a menacing presence for opposition defenders and a boon to the hosts, who are itching for their fifth African Football prize after they last won it in the Gabon-hosted AFCON of 2017.
Combined with the elegance of strike partner Karl Toko-Ekambi, the Cameroonian forward line is fearsome. Toko-Ekambi, the Lyon forward, is tied for second on the list of top goal scorers at the competition, with three goals in four appearances. His creativity and the intricate bonding he shares with Aboubakar make both a lethal force.
As they continue to top the scoring charts and, by implication, improve Cameroon’s chances to reclaim their African football heritage, the continental competition witnessed the swansong of other high-flying contenders that were expected to resolutely challenge the rest of the continent for the prize. It was assumed that based on the talents at their disposal, the ranking they have maintained on the international scene and the enviable pedigree that they boast of historically and currently, that they will unhesitatingly pose a serious threat to each team that they encounter. They were meant to send all sides that stood on their way to the trophy to the cleaners and to, at the very least, return home with a podium finish of any of the three prizes available in the competition: Gold, Silver or Bronze. Nigeria was one of such contenders and for a brief while in the group stages, they demonstrated why they were so considered. But, that was as far as it went.
The Super Eagles emerged from the Group D set of fixtures as the best team in the competition when they beat Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in the final group tie to cap up a strong showing in the group stages. Already guaranteed a spot in the last 16, the Super Eagles advanced to the knockout stages as Group D winners with the only perfect record in AFCON 2021. It seemed the hue and cry over the change of technical management of the team so close to the start of the competition and the notable absences of key figures in the striking department such as Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis, Al Shabab’s Odion Jude Ighalo, Racing Genk’s Paul Onuachu and Feyenoord’s Cyriel Dessers were all over nothing.
The team had put in six goals and conceded just once via a penalty kick. And, even though caretaker manager Augustine Eguavoen was uncomfortable with the chance-conversion ratio, the team looked ready to challenge the best sides for the top prize. Unfortunately, this was a reality that came back to haunt the team.
Nigeria was dumped out of the competition in the very first tie of the knockout stages by the Tunisian Eagles of Carthage. All the promise of challenging for the prize and of Eguavoen winning the trophy he won as a player of the Super Eagles’ squad, in his interim role as manager, went up in smoke. The acclaimed rampaging Eagles, the best team of the competition at the group stage, could not go past a team depleted by positive COVID-19 tests that affected no fewer than 12 members of their team, including the coach and had to face Nigeria under the guidance of the assistant coach. One of the stingiest defences, which had only let in one goal previously, could not hold out against the Eagles of Carthage and, even more damning, could not find the net in 90 minutes of football. It was as disappointing an outcome as can be given that Nigeria finished with 53 percent of the average possession statistics and registered 13 total shots on goal. Yet, only one of such shots was on target as opposed to the Tunisians’ seven total shots, three of which were on target and one that breached Nigeria’s defences to give victory to the Tunisians.
It meant that Eguavoen’s worry about the team’s goal-scoring was right on the money. The 56-year-old strategist identified this critical shortcoming that the team had to address in order to improve their chances of winning the 33rd AFCON as he remained unimpressed with the Eagles’ offence, particularly in finishing off created opportunities. Against Guinea-Bissau, the Super Eagles were in possession of the ball for more than 60 per cent of the time, launching 10 shots, six of which were on target. They therefore could have scored a lot more goals than the two they registered against the Bissau Wild Dogs if they had been more effective in attack.
In the days that followed Nigeria’s unceremonious exit from the tournament, there have been a nonstop apportioning of blames. A major part of it has been laid at the feet of no less than the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari. Elated by the pronouncement of the Super Eagles as the best team out of the group stages, handlers of information around the President arranged for Buhari to speak directly with the team where he encouraged them to continue to make the country proud whilst singling out for mention two players – Kelechi Iheanacho and Simon Moses – for their excellence so far.
There were enough blames to go round and therefore some of it was apportioned to the goalkeeper. The rationale was that the lone goal was supposed to have been a routine save for Maduka Okoye, whose level of professionalism precluded him from falling victim to long range shots within his reach. However, Eguavoen himself led the voices that argued in favour of the goalkeeper, insisting that it was a strike that came through a host of bodies and could beat even the best goal-tenders in the business.
The consolatory fact for Nigerians was that they went through an impressive group run and finished above the highly-rated Pharaohs of Egypt, a claim that other early favourites could scarcely boast of. The pair of the Black Stars of Ghana and the defending champions, the Desert Foxes of Algeria, were cases in point. Both their AFCON 2021 campaigns ended in grave disappointments as they finished bottom of Groups C and E respectively. As a fallout of the poor outing, which culminated in one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history, a 3-2 loss to tournament debutant Comoros in their final group match, Ghana’s coach Milovan Rajevac was fired by the Ghana Football Association. The GFA acted on the technical report from the coach, and the report from the management committee in arriving at the decision to terminate Rajevac’s appointment and promised to announce the reconstituted technical team and management committee after due engagement with all relevant stakeholders ahead of its two-leg World Cup playoffs against Nigeria in March.
Back in Cameroon, the match officials have shown a proclivity for reaching for red cards. The most glaring occasion of this was the unfortunate reduction of the very hardworking Cape Verdean team to nine men in their knockout tie against trophy-contenders Senegal. Patrick Andrade was sent off midway through the first half, weakening the Cape Verde midfield, before goalkeeper Josimar Dias, more popularly known as Vozinha, was also sent off following a collision with Senegalese forward Sadio Mane. While the decision to send Andrade for an early shower after a VAR check on a foul on Pape Gueye in the 21st minute seemed harsh, the decision of Lahlou Benbraham to reduce Cape Verde to nine men by red-carding Vozinha for a 50-50 attempt at the ball between the keeper and Mane was a testament to the perceived penchant of the referees to decide on dismissals rather than the caution of a yellow card or a verbal warning. The statistics back this up as so far, with the tournament heading into Quarter-finals, 13 red cards have been issued, which is more than those issued in the last four AFCONs combined. It appears as if the use of video assistant referee (VAR) has contributed, positively or negatively, to this.
Perhaps, the referees will be more lenient in the remainder of the competition. However, the last eight teams will hope to avoid falling victims to the red card frenzy that has seized the referees, if things do not change. Currently, the final eight teams that have made it to the quarter-finals include Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Cameroon, Egypt and Morocco. They will contest fiercely in the last eight pairings that have pitched Burkina Faso against Tunisia, Gambia against Cameroon on January 29 and Senegal versus Equatorial Guinea, Egypt versus Morocco on January 30 to see which teams will go into February with the hopes of becoming the next African football champions.
Unfortunately, the tournament recorded a tragedy on Monday last week from a stampede as fans struggled to get access into the Olembe Stadium for a match between the hosts and Comoros in Yaounde. As THEWILL reported, no fewer than eight deaths occurred with dozens more injured to different degrees. CAF, FIFA and UEFA condoled with the victims while organisers immediately rescheduled the quarter-final matches to be played at the Olembe Stadium to another venue. The stadium was scheduled to host a further three knockout matches, including the showpiece final on February 6. It is as yet uncertain if that will still be the case.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
