Mark Ssali
13 November 2009
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Cape Town and the World Cup draw await, but there are those who still haven't earned the right to join the party. The tragic death of German goalkeeper Robert Enke, who had been a sure bet to be in South Africa next June, has yet again brought forth the bitter irony that football shouldn't be a matter of life and death, a quite sobering perspective for me and you.
Still though, it is inevitable that millions of hearts are bound to stop this weekend, as desperate nations look to fill the last nine berths of a truly historic World Cup; the inescapable reality is that football is life for a big chunk of the globe, and even Enke's grieving wife has confessed that the game was his biggest escape as he battled a deadly condition.
For that I will always salute the man who stopped sobbing long enough to 'invent' the minute-silence and black armband (it has evolved into a minute's applause these days), because the best way to honour the memory of Enke is to play for him. It is what the English did for Sir Bobby Robson and the Spanish for fallen Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque, and what I would like to see Ugandans do for Fred Lukwago.
Ugandan club side SC Villa couldn't play just after Lukwago's demise and Germany will not face Chile soon after Enke's passing, but Fifa should ensure that the rest of the world pay their tributes this weekend.
Such is the nature of football that all the sorrow of a sad week will be replaced by drama and suspense, which in turn will be replaced by elation for some and, well, sorrow.
There are nations that the neutral would like to be involved in South Africa next year, and for Cameroon and Egypt only 90 minutes will do, while for Portugal and France there is double that time.
Cameroon, Egypt
They have been visited by tragedy before, and the Cameroonians will today have to summon the kind of will power they managed when they played the final of the Confederations Cup against France in 2003, hours after Marc Vivien Foe had collapsed and died on the pitch in the semis against Colombia. Will power not necessarily because of Enke, although a few of the current squad must have played with or against him at club level in Germany, Spain, Turkey or Portugal, but because the Indomitable Lions risk missing out on the World Cup, which in itself would be a tragedy.
Cameroon have played a starring role in the fact that Africa will not only have an all-time high six berths at the World Cup but will host the whole thing, and it would be a shame if they didn't make this particular one.
Ultimately, however well they might have served the continent with their previous exploits (especially Italia '90), they have to earn the right to grace 2010 and it would be gross disrespect for Gabon's efforts if they were taken for granted. Cameroon do however have their fate in their hands going into the weekend a point ahead of Gabon, but both play away from home against unpredictable opposition in Morocco and Togo. There was a time when facing Morocco in Rabat or Cassablanca meant losing, but not any more.
With a side well organised by Paul Le Guen and men like Idris Kameni in goal, Assou-Ekoto, Geremi and the improved Andre Bikey at the back (Sebastian Bassong is a doubt and would be a blow), Alexander Song, Jean Makoun, Stephane Mbia and Achille Emana in midfield as well as Samuel Eto'o and Achille Webo upfront, this Cameroon side can compete anywhere, never mind Morocco.
They will also hope for some help from Adebayor and co, and if after all that they still fail to make it then Gabon will have deserved their moment in the sun and more than a minute's applause from the rest of us. For Egypt, the task is even harder than Cameroon's even if the Pharaohs are at home. Having so impressed at the Confederations Cup last June, the African champions are many neutrals' pick for 2010, but beating Algeria by two goals or more could well be beyond them.
As surprising as their sudden rebirth as a football power is the fact that the bulk of their squad now plays in the UK rather than France (Nadir BelHadj, Madjid Boughera, HassanYebda, Hameur Bouazza, Kamel Ghilas etc), and I suspect the Algerians will be facing an Egyptian team that has passed its peak and is now on the wrong side of the curve. Hassan Shehata is a survival though, and in Zidan, Aboutrika, Abd Rabou, Shawky, Wael Gomaal and El Hadari they've still got winners. The hope above all else however is that the authorities control the crowds, their passions and emotions, for there is potential there for a bigger tragedy there if they lost control.
Portugal, France
There has not been a bigger hint of desperation anywhere ahead of World Cup playoff than Portugal's inclusion of the injured Crisitano Ronaldo in their squad for the two-legged tie against Bosnia. This tie has the potential to be the toughest and most fiercely contested of the playoffs, and yet Carlos Quieroz and his men have got to come up with the goods to arrest any impending cardiac arrests all the way from Madeira to the Fifa corridors in Zurich.
Portugal's weaknesses are Bosnia's strengths, with the latter bursting with goals from the terror pair of Vedad Ibisevic and Edin Dzeko supported by scoring midfielders Miralem Pjanic of Lyon and Zvjezdan Misimovic of German champions Wolfsburg. Portugal have drafted in Liedson to solve their goal-scoring issues, but they can't stand around and wait for the Brazilian-born forward to produce or they will be slain in sudden death. Simao, Nani and Miguel Veloso seemed to realise this in the last few games, and yet there are more goals in the team from veterans Deco and Hugo Almeida to youngsters Edinho and Joao Moutinho.
Devoid of time and tactical superiority over veteran opposite number Blazevic, Quieroz should just preach belief and patience (Portugal always seem to be in a hurry), and the goals should come against a team with an organised defence but no outstanding individuals. Hopefully for them, tried and tested men like Carvalho, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Ferreira and Miguel can keep some lethal forwards quiet.
If they can't, it will be disaster for Portugal, Ronaldo, Fifa, neutrals and romantics, and it will be a final triumph for Bosnia, a country that has known so much tragedy in the past. For France, a team far superior in individual quality to Ireland, lies a challenge in overcoming organisation and spirit. The answer to Henry, Benzema, Anelka, Gignac and Gomis is Robbie Keane (no laughing matter), and names like John O'Shea, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne pale alongside those of Patrice Evra, Toulalan and William Gallas.
But the Irish do have Shay Given and Giovanni Trappatoni, and while the French can counter with Hugo Lloris, Raymond Domenech doesn't inspire as much confidence. Like with Ronaldo, Franck Ribery will be watching heart in mouth as he can't contribute. Those who will play should all do it for Enke; if illness couldn't allow him to wait for 2010, at least the World Cup should honour his memory.
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