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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Collective savvy
The eight teams that survived the qualifying rounds in the African Cup of Nations (ACN) are all experienced sides that have been there before, know what they want and know how to go about getting it. Had they been lacking the know-how on the pitch, they would certainly not have moved on from a preliminary round that saw several brutal encounters and a few fancied squads fall from grace.
Group A, for instance, saw the rare occasion in which all four countries ended up with the same number of points -- four each. Goal difference rescued Cameroon and co-hosts Ghana after both lost their third-round games. Falling by the wayside was Togo which rightly deserved the black horse tag after the upstarts snatched a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Cameroon. Côte d'Ivoire also missed the boat after a terrible start against Togo and Cameroon, drawing 1-1 and losing 3-0 respectively. So embarrassing to their people and government was Côte d'Ivoire's ouster that following their return home, team members were forced to spend three days in a military camp where they were told their discipline and patriotism were doubted and needed some polishing up. The country's military ruler then threatened to call them up for military service in a further punitive measure.
Cameroon's stirring performance brought back memories of their heroics in the 1990 World Cup and made amends for their poor performances in the last three ACN finals. Their highlights included a 1-1 draw against Ghana in the opener and an empathic 3-0 thrashing of Côte d'Ivoire.
Group B witnessed few surprises except for the elimination of the Congo which showed few of the skills that propelled it to third place in the 1998 ACN championship in Burkina Faso. Against the odds, Algeria, absent from the African scene since it last captured the title in 1990, won its qualifying ticket behind 1998 runners-up South Africa. The North Africans played in this year's championship with renewed resolve and finished the preliminary round in second place, just two points behind South Africa which found little difficulty in topping the group with seven points.
Group C saw total Egyptian domination as the defending champions were the only team to collect the maximum nine points from three consecutive victories, the first time Egypt has achieved the feat since 1974. With four points, Senegal also progressed to the quarter-finals, at the expense of Burkina Faso which claimed fourth place in 1998. Zambia packed their bags early, failing to produce the form of past tournaments.
Nigeria finished the preliminary round in first place in Group D with seven points and as hot favourites to lift the trophy. Although nobody in their right mind expected the co-hosts to fail to qualify, no one imagined the Super Eagles would be forced to wait up until the final whistle of the final match against Morocco to book their ticket. The Nigerians began on an emotional high note, outclassing the fancied Tunisians 4-2. But a scoreless draw against the Republic of the Congo quickly brought them back to earth, not to mention the riots in Lagos that the score produced. Redemption came against Morocco and a relatively easy 2-0 victory. For Morocco, which had not lost a match in two years, it was a disappointing end, having come to the ACN ranked the top African team and 24th in the world. Tunisia squeezed into the last eight after edging the Republic of Congo 1-0 and a better goal average than Morocco, their traditional North African rivals.
For lovers of statistics, the first round had its share of trivia. Fifty-two goals were scored in 24 matches, an average of 2.16 goals a game, nothing to write home about. Egypt possessed the strongest attacking line in the preliminary round, scoring seven goals, while Congo's forwards proved their want of skill after finishing their three matches without netting a single goal.
Top scorer of the first round was Shaun Bartlett of South Africa, with four goals, followed by Egypt's veteran marksman Hossam Hassan with three. The best defence went to the Congo which conceded one goal in 270 minutes. The most porous defence belonged to Burkina Faso which let in eight goals in the same number of minutes.
Four penalty kicks were awarded in the preliminary round. All were translated into goals save for the shot taken by Tunisia's Emad Al-Mohathaby against the Republic of the Congo. The biggest results were Egypt's victory over Burkina Faso and Nigeria's win against Tunisia, both ending 4-2. The fastest goal, scored by Bartlett against Algeria, came just two minutes into the match.x
