Ebuka
The Africa Cup of Nations or simply AFCON or CAN, is the main international men's association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years, switching to odd-numbered years in 2013. The current Edition of the tournament is scheduled to hold from 13th January, 2024 to 11th February, 2024 with the host nation being the Ivory Coast.
The defending champions, Senegal are amongst the favourites to win the current edition alongside World Cup Semifinalist Morocco, host nation Ivory Coast, serial winners of the tournament Egypt and three-time African Champions Nigeria. Dark Horses of the tournament include Cameroon, Mali and Angola while Underdogs with the potential of causing an upset include Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Namibia.
This edition of the tournament has been a huge success thus far and it has exceeded the expectations of not only Africans but the world at large. This surprising but exceptional remark of the tournament can be narrowed down to a few reason:
- Impeccable Officiating: AFCON over the years has always been associated with bizarre officiating and comical on-the-pitch decisions in the past but this edition has been without blemish with respect to the officiating. With the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR), one would have expected more drama from the referees and their decisions but the opposite has been the case. The foul calls are spot on, the penalty decisions are justified and the VAR analyses of a particular incident turned out to the right call and without question – it really is a thing to be proud of. This is a tournament that is used to having referees end matches five minutes before the final whistle or give a decision that even a toddler won’t think of giving let alone eventually give it. This goes to show the level of training and improvement to the officials of the match and how well the tournament is willing to be tagged one of the best in the world.
- Better Style of Play: Picture a chaotic match where a team can barely string together ten passes, the tackles are overly aggressive, there are barely any goals in the respective matches and the matches tend to be less entertaining than very entertaining – that is the typical AFCON fixture. Over the years, these characteristics of a match has what has been associated with most of the fixtures in the tournament, if not all and these is further made clear by the lack of goals at the tournament in previous years but the opposite has been the case this year. The teams are playing more entertaining football and team like Senegal and Morocco are stringing together passes like prime Barcelona. The defending and physical aspect of the games have been more conservative and the fixtures are looking more like what you expect from top level teams competing in a tournament. There are more goals being scored at the respective games with no goalless draw yet to be recorded at the tournament after Round 2 and the matches are more entertaining to watch, even the fixture involving two lesser ranked teams. This is a good remark for the credibility of the tournament.
- The Goals Catalogue: The fact that there has been no goalless draw at the tournament thus far goes to show that goals haven’t been hard to come by unlike the previous editions. What is more fascinating is the fact that a lot of the goals being scored have been odds defying goals or better still Puskas-worthy. Cape Verde’s Bebe, who formerly played for Manchester United scored a free kick from over 40 yards. Mohamed Konate of Burkina Faso scored a goal similar to Robin Van Persie’s “Flying Dutchman” header against Spain at the 2014 World Cup after flinging himself to attack a whipped in cross into the box from Abdoul Tapsoba. Mauritania’s Aboubakary Koita took possession of the ball in midfield, dazzled his way past three players and let fly from about 25 yards into the top corner in a manner no goalkeeper would have saved the attempt. These, to mention a few, are the caliber of the goals being scored in this year’s edition of the tournament. These are usually the type of goals you expect from top players and top team from Europe and around the World. Morocco and Senegal are constantly scoring proper team goals with intricate passing and precise finishing and these goes to tell the level of finishing being witnessed at this year’s edition of the tournament.
- Good Pitch Conditions: This should not really be a topic to be glorified but considering the conditions of the pitches fans were used to seeing in previous editions of the tournament, this is a worth applauding. In the years gone by, the pitches being used for the tournaments often times tend to be in abysmal shape and it could be visibly evident that the state of the pitch is affecting the players and the ball in a negative way. With that being said, the pitches being used for the tournament this year have been commendable and this can be said to be one of the reasons why the style of play has gotten better from the teams participating in the outcome. It might not necessarily be the main reason but a good pitch would make it easier for the players to express themselves better and perform at the level they are used to playing at their respective clubs and leagues.
From what has been observed and deduced from the tournament thus far, it is shaping up to be the best edition of the tournament in recent years. Fan all over the world are testifying to the major improvement of the style of play of the teams and the level they are performing at and this goes to show that the AFCON is up there with other continent’s major tournaments. We can only hope that there are less negatives to witness during the remaining course of the tournament and this year’s edition eventually lives up to the hype.
