THE AFCON 2013: No Better Time than Now!!!

    

THE 2013 AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS      

The Buildup:

The African Cup Nations Cup 2013 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is one tourney that will be evergreen in the minds of many lovers and followers of the beautiful game in the continent and the world over, most especially Nigerians.  

Interestingly, the 2013 African Cup of Nations, hosted by South Africa which was originally won by Libya in a bidding contest that had Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon as co-bidders, was the first to be held in the odd-numbered years instead of even number years so it is not held the same year as the FIFA World Cup, as the case had been in previous world cups, most recently the 2010, 2006 and 2002.

But due to the contagious Arab Spring which Libya sadly contracted, the North African Nation could not proceed with activities in hosting a successful tourney, which necessitated a ratification in September 2011 at CAF’s Executive Committee in Cairo, Libya that resulted in Libya trading places with South Africa that was originally meant to host the 2017 games. This trade done, Libya will be hosting the 2017 Nations Cup.  

No doubt, the 2013 Nations cup is gone but definitely not buried, as it was filled with so much thrills and turns that indeed made the tourney one to keep talking about, reminiscing and flashing back for many more years to go. And even though Zambia the defending champions did not win the tourney, they set a new tourney record.

So get spellbound as I take you memory lane to the 2013 African Cup of Nations. Let’s go there!!!

The Battle for 2013...

With African Power houses namely; Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and 2013 host, South Africa missing out of the 2012 tourney cohosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, the 2013 indeed was a must not miss by these teams, as they anticipated reclaiming their dominance of African football.

But only Nigeria and South Africa made it through, with Egypt and Cameroon missing out for the second year running.

Adding to the fray for the 2013 tourney were Cape Verde, Morocco, Angola, Ghana, Mali, RD Congo, Niger, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Algeria.

South Africa 2013...    

The 2013 AFCON kicked off with all teams in Group A having their matches end in a stalemate, as neither could break the deadlock. On Saturday 19 January, day one of the 21 day football tourney interestingly had host country, South Africa unable to get the ball in the back of the net of tourney debutant, Cape Verde. The match eventually ended in a draw. The subsequent match of the group between Angola and Morocco ended in the same manner.

Day 2 of the biggest football showdown in Africa had Ghana and Congo unable to break the deadlock, as they held each other to 2 goals apiece but the later match between Mali and Niger put an end to the draws, as Mali talisman and onetime Barcelona midfielder, Seidu Keita lone goal was enough to see off Niger in what was the first win of the 2013 tournament.

With these victory, more victories was expected  but sadly, that had to wait, as day 3 had Group C’s Zambia vs Ethiopia and Nigeria vs Burkina Faso being even with one goal apiece in both matches.

Indeed this dominating draw score lines made this tourney being perceived as boring but succeeding matches on Day 4 was a turnaround as Group D opening matches recorded 2 victories, as Côte d’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure and Gervinho’s goals were enough to see off that of Togo’s J. Ayite and Tunisia’s Msakin’s dying minute goal after full time was enough to see of Algeria.

From this moment, the goals were rolling in, as host nation, South Africa on Day 5 recorded their first tournament victory, courtesy their two goal victory over Angola. Though Morocco and Cape Verde locked horns together with one goal apiece, Day 6 had Ghana overcoming Mali by one goal to nil but Niger and Congo DR were tied in a goalless affair.

Day 7 of the tourney had the defending Champions Zambia denting the Nigerian contingent chances of recording their first victory of the tournament, as Zambia’s Mweene’s 85th minute penalty was a huge setback the 57^th minute strike of Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike’s.   

The other match of Group C had Burkina Faso showing every team in the tourney how best to score goals as they whitewashed Ethiopia by 4 goals to nil. Remarkably, 3 of the goals were scored after the Burkinabé shot stopper, Abdoulaye Soulama saw red for handling the ball outside his territory (box 18).   

This victory put Burkina Faso within touching distance of sailing through the group as they topped the group with four points, followed by Nigeria and Zambia which had 2 points apiece, leaving the final qualification spot going down to the wire.

With the group stage reaching its crescendo, Day 8 had Togo seeming to have woken up from their slumber, as Togolese talisman, Emmannuel Adebayor and Wome’s 31st and 90+3 minute goals were enough to see off Algeria whom failed to beat the Togolese goalkeeper, while tournament favourite, Côte d'Ivoire continued their march to tournament glory, as they recorded their second win in a remarkable fashion, three goals to nil against Tunisia.

After 2 matches played in all groups, Côte d'Ivoire were the only team to have recorded 6 points and indeed exuded why the tournament favourite tag on them was well deserved but, a huge turnaround and setback was looming, as everyone, majorly those that had put the trophy in the hands of the West African nation soon got proven that football is not mathematics. 

Nevertheless, with the second round of matches concluded in all groups, the final round which in the usual custom, would have the boys separated from the men was in high anticipation as tension brewed in the minds of the footballers and nations of the teams represented in South Africa. 

On match day 9, the final round of matches in Group A had debutant, Cape Verde remarkably beating Angola by 2 goals to 1, thereby recording their first victory as far as AFCON is concerned. Also, courtesy their advancement to the quarterfinals, the Cape Verdeans showed why though they are debutants, they had what it takes to be men, as South Africa were held to a draw which was enough to see them through this round.

The 10th day of the tournament had the other tournament favourite, Ghana beating Niger by three goals to nothing, as Mali recorded a solitary point performance against Congo DR in a match which had both teams finding the back of each other’s net once.

Day 11 had the Super Eagles of Nigeria, having a last chance to scale through. But this did not come as easy as expected as Group B whooping boys, Ethiopia proved to be a hard nut to crack. The once upon a time giant of African football had to wait till the 80th minute to resurrect their qualifications hopes. With Victor Moses hacked in the danger area by the Ethiopian box 18 general, the Super Eagles were back in the tourney as Moses coolly slotted in from the penalty spot. But indeed, the penalty party was not over as a déjà vu on the 90th minutes sealed the victory for the Super Eagles and handed them a date with the widely acclaimed tournament favourite, Ivory Coast.  The other match of Group C had Zambia and Burkina Faso having a goalless affair which was enough to see the latter through to the next match but not enough to for the former, as they left the tourney, becoming the first defending champion to fail to advance beyond the group stages since 1990 when Algeria failed to defend the cup in Senegal.

With South Africa, Cape Verde, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria in the quarter finals, the excitement for the concluding part of the tourney got deeper, as match day 12 had tourney favourites, Ivory Coast tackle Algeria, as Togo shrugged it out with Tunisia in a match that determined the faith of all teams in the group asides Ivory Coast that already knew their faith.

The 2 matches between the four teams was as tough as expected with all four teams unable to muscle out their opposing numbers. In this regard, Tunisia vs Togo and Ivory Coast vs Algeria respectively ending in a goal and two goals apiece.

The cruising of the men…

The quarter finals kicked off with first timers, Cape Verde getting knocked out by a Ghanaian side that had long known the business of playing in this stage of the tournament. This was not surprising due to the statistics, which had Ghana remarkably marking a 11 time semi-finals presence and Cape Verde just having their first. Irrespective of this margin in experience at the prime football tourney in Africa, Cape Verde was a hard nut to crack, as the West Africans, through Wakaso had to wait till the 54th minute to break the deadlock, before he got his brace on 5 minutes into added time in the second half. Though bade farewell to AFCON 2013, the Island nation must have relished and been proud of their debut performance in the tourney.

The second fixture of match day 13 had host South Africa and Mali squaring it all out with a goal apiece in a match filled with tension, as the 58^th goal by talisman, Seydou Keita was enough to cancel out the 31^st minute opener by South Africa’s Tokelo Rantie. This eventually took the match to extra time and penalty shootouts which had the Malians eventually carrying the day and waiting for their semi-final date.

Match day 14 first fixture had the popular tag, final before the finals. This tag is widely due to the longstanding rivalry between two powerhouses of African football, the Elephants of Côte d'Ivoire and the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Incidentally, majority of the lovers of the beautiful game gave the game to the Elephants. This underestimation of the Super Eagles was widely due to the drab and lacklustre performance they exuded, taking only 5 points from the possible 9 in the group stage that they were inches close to getting eliminated. But with football not being mathematics, the Super Eagles hammered a huge nail into the coffin of the Elephants as the 43rd and 78th minute goals from Emmanuel Emeneke and Sunday Mba saw off Cheick Tiote’s leveler and consigned the Ivorians back to their country.

In the day’s other fixture, Burkina Faso had to wait till the 15th (105th) minute of added time, courtesy the goal by Jonathan Pitroipa to dash Togo’s hopes of having a successful tournament.  

With Nigeria, Mali, Ghana and Burkina Faso in the semi-finals, the tournament favourite tag had an overnight shift to the Super Eagles and the West African affair, which had group B and group C ably represented, as both Nigeria and Burkina, and Ghana and Mali were paired in the same groups respectively. However, these teams, though dependent on the semi-final results, had a chance of reestablishing their romance in the final or third place fixtures of the tournament.

Having the favourite team tag bestowed on them overnight, the Super Eagles threw down the gauntlet to Mali whom they had a goalless affair with in the 2008 tournament. As the semi-final match between both powerhouse of the Sub-region football went underway, the Eagles left no stone unturned to see off the Eagles of Mali in a five goal thriller, that had them scoring four and Mali having the consolation goal.

The other fixture of the day had Burkina Faso beating Ghana through a penalty shootout after both teams were all squared in a goal apiece.

The finals decided, all four teams had a remarkable establishment of their relationship as Mali this time, turned the scores around, courtesy a  3, 1 hammering of Ghana, while Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso by a goal to nil, with Sunday Mbah the savior again, like he did in the quarter finals against the Ivorians.

The climax to the Tourney finally brought to an end, the Super Eagles of Nigeria long wait, as there was no better time than now, ending the 19year wait to be crowned the giant of African football.

No doubt, AFCON 2015 would be more scintillating.

 

The Super Eagles in Jubilant mood after being crowned "King" of African football in South Africa 2013