Dakar — The Senegalese “Lions of Taranga” and South Africa’s “Bafana Bafana” will be the most prominent absentees from the forthcoming African Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament in Angola. This has emerged from the sixth round of elimination matches.
If Bafana can console themselves by hosting the 2010 World Cup – where their status as hosts guarantees them a place – the 2002 generation of Senegal will be leaving the continental football scene having won nothing.
Held to a one-all draw at home by neighbours Gambia, the Senegalese will not be among the 20 African nations taking part in the third round of Afcon-World Cup 2010 elimination matches – a tragedy felt which was felt throughout the country and led to riots in areas around Dakar after the game.
Their latest difficulties bring to three the number of seasons during which the Senegalese have been absent from the African stage. Their coach, Lamine Ndiaye, and his staff have been sacked amidst rising calls for the resignation of the Comité de Normalisation du Football (the Football Normalization Committee), a transitional structure governing Senegalese football.
Contrary to Senegal, most continental heavyweights picked up their ticket to the next round: notably Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Zambia, Togo, Guinea and Egypt.
Only 20 nations go into the draw for round three: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Togo, Tunisia, Sudan and Zambia.
Host Countries Excluded
One of the major outcomes of the second round of the joint Afcon-World Cup qualifiers was the under-performance of the 2010 host countries: just as South Africa will not go to Angola for Afcon 2010, so Angola will not take part in the World Cup in South Africa. Angola, hit by the departure of their coach, Gonçalves Oliveira, will not be able to participate in their second successive World Cup.
Gambia, A Pointless Exploit
The Gambian authorities were too quick in declaring Monday a holiday after the draw they achieved in Dakar which sealed the fate of the Senegalese in this competition. By beating Senegal, the Gambians thought their way to Angola was clear, but that was not to be – under the tournament rules, their draw served nothing more than to eliminate the Senegalese.
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This comes as a disappointment for a promising generation of Gambian footballers who have played together for many years, with extensive experience of the junior categories of World Cup and African Cup of Nations football.
New Outsiders: Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Benin
In the final rankings in the different groups, the presence of certain nations raises curiosity, even surprise, since no one foresaw that they would last this long in the competition.
Benin blocked Angola’s way to the next round, while Kenya gave Guinea the cold sweats. Morocco came back strongly to make it to the third round. Also, Mozambique and Malawi showed a lot of determination to achieve the status of new outsiders in this round.
Thus in the third round we will be hoping for more surprises to match the elimination of Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and South Africa.
