Darkness over African hopes
2006-02-01 20:11
Cairo - The romantic story of Angola, Togo and Ghana reaching their first ever World Cup finals is now firmly in the past and instead there is a great sense of foreboding at what awaits them in Germany in June.
The African Nations Cup was meant to be a rubber stamp of their credentials to represent the continent in the global showpiece but instead it has turned into a horror story Edgar Allan Poe would have revelled in writing.
All three crashed out of the tournament in the first round - Togo without a point to their name, Angola failing narrowly on goal difference and Ghana similarly.
However Angola failed to beat a Democratic Republic of Congo side that played with 10 men for 70 minutes of their match (it finished 0-0) and Ghana, albeit with several key players injured, were outclassed by minnows Zimbabwe in their final match and were fortunate they only lost 2-1.
The two other qualifiers for the World Cup did progress, African Nations Cup champions Tunisia looked great in the opening two matches until they played their second string team and were trounced 3-0 by a Guinea reserve side.
Best five teams
Ivory Coast made it through on the back of narrow victories over Morocco and Libya but were then beaten by hosts Egypt and face the formidable Cameroon in Saturday's quarter-final here - something coach Henri Michel wanted to avoid.
Indeed there are many who would prefer that the qualifying matches for the African Nations Cup are not linked to the World Cup finals spots and that the best five teams from the former tournament are the ones who go to football's festival.
However despite the air of pessimism wafting around the African football community about the five countries' chances in June, their coaches remained defiant.
Ghana's canny Serbian manager Ratomir Djukovic didn't believe there was any reason for panicking.
"We did not play well but this has nothing to do with the World Cup as it is still a long way away," he said after the Zimbabwe defeat.
"We were missing several key players after all (including Chelsea's injured Michael Essien, key defender and captain Samuel Kuffour of AS Roma). We will now prepare for the World Cup."
Could have qualified
His Angolan counterpart Luis Oliveira Goncalves was equally dismissive of the relevance of the African Nations Cup to what happens in June.
"I am not ashamed of their performance," the Black Antelopes handler said.
"We got four points and could have qualified for the quarter-finals.
"We will have a month together prior to the World Cup to prepare," added Goncalves, who forbade his players to even say hello to their DRC counterparts despite sharing the same hotel.
Michel too believes that the African Nations Cup imposes different pressures on the teams.
"Unlike the World Cup finals we came here as one of the favourites," said the 57-year-old former France coach.
"I think that increased the pressure on the squad and made them a lot more tense and incapable of expressing themselves as they normally do on the pitch."
Had to be pulled apart
As for the Togolese, well to paraphrase the classic hit by English band the Clash it was a case of their tournament being over shadowed by Emmanuel 'Should I Stay or Should I Togo' Adebayor after he and coach Stephen Keshi had to be pulled apart before they hit each other.
With the Arsenal-bound striker sulking in his tent there was no way a team with such thin resources could perform but it is likely that Keshi will be the sacrificial lamb.
Michel acknowledged before the tournament that not all five of the coaches that succeeded in the World Cup qualifiers would be still in a job come June - indeed along with Keshi he is in the most precarious position.
Whether a change of coach will improve the African teams' chances looks like a desperate measure, because the teams simply don't look good enough to repeat the heroics of the 1990 Cameroon side or Senegal in 2002, who both reached the quarter-finals.