Cameroun, defending champions of the All-Africa Games football gold, start as favourites again after a rash of impressive performances on the international scene in the past few years. To divert a little, Cameroon are the defending champions of the African Nations Cup, defending champions of the Olympic football gold, defending champions of the African U-17 title, defending champions of the All-Africa Games gold, and vice-champions of the FLEA confederations Cup. That is an intimidating curriculum vitae in itself.
Back to the All-Africa Games, Cameroon won the last edition of the tournament by beating Zambia on penalties after a scoreless 120 minutes at the Orlando Stadium outside. Joha~mesburg in 1999. Winners of the tournament since the 2nd edition of the Games in Nigeria are present in the country for this 8~ edition. Nigeria, who won the 1973 tournament in Lagos after defeating Guinea 2-0 will play in group A with Zambia, Senegal and South Africa.
Algeria, who won the third edition at home in 1978, beating Nigeria 1-0, play in group B with Ghana -four-time African Nations Cup champions, Cameroon and Egypt – the two nations to have won the competition on different occasions.
Egypt won the 4th edition in Nairobi, Kenya in 1987 and the 6th edition in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1995, while Cameroon won the 5th edition in Cairo, Egypt in 1991 and the 7th edition in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1999.
Nigeria play Zambia in the opening football match of the tournament at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi at 2pm today, expecting to take three solid points to the next game against South Africa on Tuesday at the same venue.
The former Olympic champions, who have suffered at every level of the game this year, with monumental disasters at the FLEA U-17 Championship and FLEA Women’s World Cup, need a respite from poor results. And Coach Musa Abdullahi knows too well that the price for failure is forever instant, unforgiving and ultimately career-crushing.
Abdullahi has assisted many foreign coaches in Nigerian football, and he was one of those on the bench with Johannes Bonfrere when the Dutchman led Nigeria to Olympic gold in Atlanta seven Years ago. But as chief, he has found it difficult to convince, though leading the U-17 team to runners-up position at the world championship two years ago threw some respect in his path.
He guided the team to defeat of Namibia in the preliminary round of the Athens 2004 qualifying campaign and will be all too aware as the All-Africa Games go on, that the main qualifying race for the Olympic Games begin at the end of this month.
But the team has not prepared in the best way. Abdullahi’s wards lost to Lesotho and drew with
Swaziland in friendlies moths ago, and twice planned training tours os Egypt were cancelled. The squad made a belated trip to Abidjan for their final preparatory round. No match has been arranged after that to let Nigerians know how much the team has improved, from the side that wobbled and pulled punches in the fixture against Namibia in June.
« We realize the enormous expectations of our people and we cannot afford to fail », Abdullahi told Weekend Sports. « Yes, we could not make the trip to Egypt twice, but we went to Abidjan and had a serious camping and I am convinced that we’re ready to face Africa. Nigeria should support us and pray for the team-.
Zambia, which beat Zimbabwe in the qualifying campaign, may not be juggernauts at U-23 level. But they are poised to fire as this is the only big tournament that is country is left with for the next one year, after the senior team failed to qualify for January’s African Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.
The second match of today is between Senegal and South Africa, and that comes up at the Balewa Stadium just 30 minutes after the Nigeria! Zambia tie.
Senegal will unleash a young tiger by the name Daniel Bocande, who scored all their five goals in qualifying and has been a terrific hit with French club Metz, for which his legendary father Jules Francois also played in the 80s.
Cameroon will rely on physical strength and their aggressive hue to make impact while Egypt will set much store by wing play and live action from the middle. Both will play in Calabar.
Ghana are in distress after the national senior team, Black Stars failed to make the Nations Cup finals and top club Ashante Kotoko were ejected from the African Cup Winners Cup by a Rwandese side. The country also failed to reach the finals of the African U-17 Championship, a level where they have won two world title and retain tremendous respect.
Ademola Olajire
