The African Cup
The African Cup of Nations 2015 concluded on Sunday in Equatorial Guinea with triumph for Ivory Coast in tie-breaker to make it two for themselves, the first one in 1992. On the other hand, four time Champions Ghana left the jam-packed stadium wailing. The stadium was teeming with crowds even after the crowd violence on last Thursday in the stadium.
My impression is that the African players are skillful and of high technique in footwork. They are good in ball control, pass, position sense and conviction. Ghana’s second goal against the hosts in the semifinal was simply marvellous. But they are weak in headwork The other deficiency is that they target the opponent players’ foot and legs more than showing brilliance on the pitch. If this trend continues, no nation from that continent will be able to break Latin-Europe suzerainty in the World Cup.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football has banned Morocco’s participation in the next two competitions and fined one million dollar for refusal to host the African Cup of Nations 2015 at the last moment, citing Ebola crisis.
The CAF has also fined Equatorial Guinea one lakh dollar for crowd violence in the stadium although this is the country that saved the continental tournament from uncertainty for years, becoming the hosts even after Morocco’s last minute illogical refusal to host.
We salute the champions and the runners-up teams, and also the host nation..
Abdul Hakim Miah
Dhaka
