Tunisia first

Tunisia won their first African Nations Cup football title. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab reports on an original Valentine's Day gift

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(Top) Tunisia's Dos Santos celebrates his first goal; (above) Moroccan goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami weeps after their defeat

It was V-day in Tunisia in more ways than one. On Saturday, the country celebrated Valentine's Day and victory, for the first time winning the African Nations Cup championship.

Tunisia, which had reached the final twice but had ended up bridesmaid each time, finally broke through, beating Morocco 2-1 in an enthralling all-north African final.

Some observers described it as the best African final since Nigeria ousted Zambia a decade ago. While Tunisia's time-wasting tactics almost spoiled the game, no one can deny that both teams played some good entertaining football.

It was an error from Morocco keeper Khalid Fouhami that gifted Tunisia their first continental title. Striker Ziad Jaziri poked home the winner six minutes after the break when Fouhami fumbled Jose Clayton's low cross into the penalty area.

The keeper had shone throughout the tournament for Morocco having conceded just two goals before the final, but his blunder for Tunisia's second is what he will be remembered for in this tournament. Of course, had Fouhami not fumbled, it may have been a different story.

Tunisia took the lead after just four minutes when Francileudo dos Santos finished off Mehdi Nafti's cross. Morocco bounced back just before half-time when Youssef Mokhtari headed in Youssef Hadji's clipped centre.

Defeat for Morocco, the 1976 winner of the event, was hard even on the unfancied side. Its young attack, which included Mokhtari, Hadji and Marouane Chamakh dazzled defences during the three weeks of competition. In the final though, that trio and the rest of Morocco's attacking force was well shackled by a tough Tunisia defence, marshalled by Ajax's Hatem Trabelsi.

Morocco's backline, too, proved stubborn resistance in a match which produced few clear-cut scoring opportunities.

Tunisia's triumphant coach Roger Lemerre insisted that winning the cup had not been his priority when he took charge of the Carthage Eagles. It marks a reversal in fortune for Lemerre who only 15 months ago was sacked as French coach after their dismal World Cup performance. The Frenchman can now add the African title to the one he won with France at Euro 2000.

"I'd like to say thanks to all the players," Lemerre said after the win. "They respected my position since the start and now they've made history for themselves."

But the Frenchman admitted after the hard- fought victory, that winning the top prize in African football had not been the first thing on his mind. Lemerre has brought discipline and solidity to the Tunisian team.

"I have only asked for one thing -- the right to work," the Frenchman said. "When I came here, it wasn't necessarily to win the Cup of Nations. It was to teach and to help Tunisia. Winning the tournament was the main priority of the people who hired me, but it wasn't mine. Winning is only a peripheral thing. It is more important that this is the joy of a whole nation. I'm very satisfied."

Morocco coach Badou Zaki was full of praise for his young side following their defeat.

Zaki, a former international goalkeeper for Morocco, said his side had played well. "I want to say well done to my players. They have done well throughout this tournament," he said.

But Zaki admitted his side were the authors of their own downfall. "We committed too many errors and Tunisia exploited them to score two goals," he added. "There has to be a winner and a loser and today luck was not on our side. Despite that, I still congratulate the players for their efforts since our first qualifying match which was against Gabon up to today."

Zaki, whose team finished as top scorers in the tournament with 14 goals, predicted that they would bounce back from the defeat. "We are proud to have finished second. We are a young side and need more time and encouragement to be able to do better than today," he said. "I congratulate Tunisia. They put in a great effort but the real winner today is Arab football."

"Our young team failed to stay above the pressure in the last and most important game of the tournament and so Tunisia won," defender Abdeslam Ouaddou said. "But we will get our pound of flesh when we play against them in the qualifying series of the World Cup. It's a bigger competition and that would be a great way to pay them back."

Morocco, which last starred at the World Cup finals in 1998 in France, are drawn in Group Five of the 2006 qualifying series alongside Malawi, Kenya, Botswana and the newly crowned African champions.

Morocco will get their chance to exact revenge on the Carthage Eagles in September at home, with the return leg in Tunis in October 2005.

"Playing in the World Cup again is our most immediate target and I believe we have a team that should be ready to challenge the best in the world in two years," said Ouaddou.

Nigeria secured third place in the Cup of Nations for the second time in successive tournaments after beating Mali 2-1. Nigerian captain Jay-Jay Okocha opened the scoring with a deflected free kick early in the first half. The Bolton midfielder then created the second with a well-placed cross which Osaze Odemwingie headed home.

Mali dragged one back through Janvier Abouta whose left-footed volley flashed past Vincent Enyeama for one of the goals of the tournament.

Yet it was too little too late from the Eagles, and just as they did in 2002 the Malians finished fourth in the tournament behind their west African rivals. The win gave the Super Eagles their fifth third place finish in the history of the event to add to their two titles and four runners-up spots.

Okocha said he enjoyed the ANC finals experience more this time than he did 10 years ago when Nigeria won the tournament in Tunisia.

Okocha, who ended the 2004 edition with four goals and a bronze medal, was appreciative of the support his side had received. He joined Frederic Kanoute of Mali and Cameroon's Patrick Mboma on four goals at the top of the tournament's goalscoring charts. He also won the tournament's best player's award.

While the ANC was relatively trouble-free, some players were taken to task for varying degrees of unsportsmanlike behaviour. Senegalese player El-Hadji Diouf was suspended for three matches for violent conduct during the quarter- final against Tunisia. The suspension will take effect starting from the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

Three Senegalese officials who entered the field of play are suspended from sitting on the bench for one year for all African-related matches. And the Tunisian FA was fined $500 as result of a foul language used by Tunisian player Jaziri against an African football coordinator.