Cairo — The curtains have been drawn on the 25th edition of the African Cup of Nations. The event lived up to its billing with an excellent Côte -d'Ivoire-Egypt final, filled stadiums, beautiful soccer and fair play.
The tournament highlights include the disappointing performance of the World Cup finalists (Togo, Angola, Ghana, Tunisia), the pleasant surprise from Guinea, lucky Senegal, and satisfactory play from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As always, officiating was not up to scratch. It is important to find ways of improving the performance of referees on the African continent.
The torch has now been passed on to Ghana, hosts of the 26th edition in two years in 2008.
Egypt makes it number five
Just like Brazil in the World Cup, Egypt has won a record five times (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2000), ahead of Ghana and Cameroon [who have won it four times each].
Exactly twenty years ago in 1986 at the same Cairo National Stadium, the Pharaohs of Egypt rewrote history by winning the CAN on penalties against Côte d'Ivoire (4-2).
The Egyptian coach, Hasan Shehata who has occupied a temporary position for a long time can now duly claim a permanent post.
The Elephants of Côte d'Ivoire achieved something similar to what Senegal did in 2002 - first-time qualification for the World Cup and a CAN final lost on penalties - and their performance could very well herald a beautiful Ivorian summer in June in Germany.
World Cup finalists in a wedge
With the exception of Côte d'Ivoire, who made it to the final, and Tunisia who were quarterfinalists, Africa's ambassadors to the World Cup had a pretty dull tournament. Togo, the surprise team from qualifying Group 1 ahead of Senegal, Zambia, and Mali, completely flopped in this CAN with three losses, giving up seven goals while only scoring two.
Ghana and Angola performed about equally in this competition with two defeats and one victory each.
Ghana's Black Stars could cite the absence of key players to justify their disappointing performance. Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari were injured, Samuel Kuffour was out after the first game, and Kingston Laryea was suspended for four matches after a confrontation with Senegal's Habib Bèye.
The Palancas Negras of Angola, participating in their second Nations Cup and having qualified for the World Cup, ought to have at least qualified for the second round. They need to be more creative in their attack and correct all lapses before facing the best at the World Cup.
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The stars
The stars in each team shone, though in different ways. Samuel Eto'o, goal king with five scores during the tournament, confirmed his in-form status. His good fortune was unfortunately dimmed by a missed penalty that eliminated Cameroon.
Francileudo Santos of Tunisia once again proved himself a true fox in the penalty box. Pascal Feindouno, Obafemi Martins, Tresor Lualua, and Diomansy Kamara also performed well.
Statistics
Best Player: Ahmed Hassan (Egypt)
Most Promising Player: John Mikel Obi (Nigeria)
Best Goalkeeper: Essam El Hadary (Egypt)
Fair-Play Award: Nigeria
Best Goal Scorers
Samuel Eto'o - Cameroon (5 goals)
Francileudo Santos - Tunisia (4 goals)
Ahmed Hassan - Egypt (4 goals)
Didier Drogba, (Côte d'Ivoire), Pascal Feindouno (Guinea) (3 goals)
