AFCON Review: Cameroon on Track After World Cup Woe, but Nigeria Embarrassed
Africa’s nations were in action on Saturday as qualification for the 2015 African Cup of Nations began with a bang.
Seven groups of four are to be whittled down to 15, with the top two from each pool and the best-placed third-placed team joining hosts Morocco at the continental showcase early next year.
Africa’s five World Cup participants were all in action, as were other major nations such as Egypt and South Africa.
In this feature, we look back over the progress of some of the selected participants in AFCON Qualification.
Nigeria
1 of 7
Oh dear. Another day another disaster for Nigeria, who seem to have reverted to their old ways of leaping from one controversy to another.
Amid the ongoing uncertainty over manager Stephen Keshi’s future, a sapping, federation-splitting dispute and the threat of a FIFA ban, the Super Eagles contrived to endure their worst result since they won the 2013 Cup of Nations over 18 months ago.
In fact, some would say that you would have to look a lot further back to find a more disappointing showing—before yesterday, Nigeria hadn’t lost a competitive match at home since 1981.
However, history meant nothing to Claude Le Roy and his Republic of the Congo side, who put three past Nigeria in Calabar and shattered a record that had stood for 33 years.
The Eagles may have opened and closed the scoring (through Efe Ambrose and Gbolahan Salami respectively), but it was not enough to avoid defeat against the well-drilled Red Devils.
Statistically and historically, the loss is a major shock, but anyone who has kept a close eye on the Super Eagles in recent times will tell you that such an upset for the stagnating side has long been coming.
Algeria
2 of 7
Sensibly, new boss Christian Gourcuff has opted not to tinker too much with Vahid Halilhodzic’s successful Algeria team.
The side lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, but their approach wasn’t too different from the 4-3-3 used by the Desert Foxes during their successful summer in Brazil.
Essentially, Gourcuff has inherited a side rife with options and possible adaptations and will be required to cultivate a series of approaches, rather then find his own direction for the side.
He did give a maiden call-up to Mehdi Zeffane, another player for the squad’s growing French-born contingent, while Adlene Guedioura—who was overlooked for the World Cup—featured against Ethiopia as a late substitute.
Addis Ababa is one of Africa’s trickier away destinations, but Algeria coped with the altitude and the atmosphere with typical composure, running out 2-1 victors and looking comfortable for almost the entirety of their match.
Ghana
3 of 7
Sadly, the continuity demonstrated by Algeria (who changed their manager) was not matched by Ghana (who controversially retained theirs).
Kwesi Appiah has done precious little to convince Black Stars fans that he is genuinely international class during his tenure, and his critics were out in force once again following the side’s dismal home draw to Uganda.
Admittedly, the conditions weren’t ideal for Appiah.
The home fans turned on the side (a consequence of their World Cup shenanigans) before and after the match, while preparation was disrupted as captain Asamoah Gyan was forced to bail his brother Baffoe out of prison, per Citi 97.3 FM.
Things got worse when Tonny Mawejje fired home a 45th-minute goal, only for Andre Ayew to respond from the spot five minutes later.
The side that ended the match was encouragingly youthful, with troublemakers Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng absent for obvious reasons, but the likes of Kwadwo Asamoah, Jordan Ayew and Afriyie Acquah were unable to muster a winner against a side ranked 81st in the world.
Cameroon
4 of 7
Few sides needed a good start to qualification quite as much as Cameroon.
The Indomitable Lions were the ultimate African disaster of the World Cup, crashing out with zero points from Group A. Not only that, the Central African nation humiliated themselves with on-field fiascoes that, unfortunately, will take a long time to erase from the memory.
Volker Finke has kept his job, but talisman Samuel Eto’o has departed, although it remains to be seen whether retirement means retirement for the Everton man.
The German manager will have been happy that the Lions managed to negotiate a potential banana skin in their opening Group D qualifier.
With the Ivory Coast also in their group, Cameroon could ill afford a slow start and managed to pick up a 2-0 victory against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Lubumbashi.
Vincent Aboubakar and debutant Clinton N’Jie were the goalscorers.
Cameroon and the Ivory Coast meet in a mouth-watering clash in Yaounde on Wednesday evening.
Ivory Coast
5 of 7
A stuttering 2-1 victory over Sierra Leone wasn’t quite the start Herve Renard had envisaged as the new manager of the Ivory Coast.
Admittedly, the Leone Stars had pluck and organisation, but they cannot begin to compare to the wealth of talent available to the Elephants.
Eventually, class told, and second-half goals from Gervinho and Seydou Doumbia (who recently ended his brief international retirement) gave the home side the victory.
Problems remain for Renard and his men, however. Yaya Toure, so influential for Manchester City last season, struggles to replicate his club form in the famous orange of the nation.
Didier Zokora was absent and has since announced his retirement, while Kolo Toure, another who is creaking, wasn’t present either. In their absence, there is a vacuum of leadership and authority in the middle of the defence.
Forty-four-cap Palermo defender Sol Bamba, 29 and 6'3", ought to contribute both, but he remains a worryingly jittery presence.
Egypt
6 of 7
Sadly, Egypt’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Senegal was worryingly reminiscent of their 6-1 trouncing by Ghana in the play-off to reach the World Cup.
Obviously, the Pharaohs weren’t quite as dismal, but they appeared shorn of confidence, togetherness and poise—all of the things that made them such a force over the last decade.
The 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 formation that had once appeared dynamic now looked tired, and the West Africans picked them off at will during an emphatic first half.
Two Premier League forwards, Mame Biram Diouf and Sadio Mane, scored the goals to give the Lions of Teranga a lead they never looked like losing.
Egypt had no response, with Mohamed Salah looking woefully short of match fitness and Hossam Ghaly looking like anything but a professional footballer.
Having missed out on the last two Cup of Nations tournaments, Egypt can ill afford to miss another. There are mitigating circumstances, of course, but with local rivals Tunisia heading to Cairo on Wednesday, things look like getting worse before they get better.
South Africa
7 of 7
A new era is beginning down at the base of the continent, as South Africa have replaced Gordon Igesund with Shakes Mashaba. The new boss is looking to erase the memories of Igesund’s underwhelming regime and has picked a youthful squad with an eye on future tournaments.
The likes of Itumeleng Khune, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Bernard Parker were absent, while big names such as Thulani Serero, Tsepo Masilela and Kermit Erasmus were overlooked by the boss.
The new-look team got off to a stuttering start in the taxing conditions of Sudan on Friday night, and indeed, the home side should have had the game wrapped up by half-time.
However, some fine saves by stand-in stopper Senzo Meyiwa, some excellent defensive work by Eric “Tower” Mathoho and Sudanese profligacy kept the visitors in the tie until the midpoint.
After that, Bafana Bafana grew in confidence and received their reward on 55 minutes when substitute Sibusiso Vilakazi tapped in an opener.
The same player was on hand to double Mashaba’s lead seven minutes later, this time with a powerful strike from just inside the box.
As Sudan, pushing ever further forward in search of redemption, left themselves open, South Africa demonstrated a cutting edge not seen in recent years. Debutant Bongani Ndulula wrapped things up after 79 minutes following great work from another substitute, Oupa Manyisa.
Next up for Bafana: Nigeria in Cape Town—a real test for the manager’s young charges.
