Foe’s death, attack on Enyimba mar African futball End of Yr

[VINDAVE]

Enyimba fans celebrating

Foe’s death, attack on Enyimba mar African football •End of Year Special

An Extract from Punch Sports News morning

Silence enveloped the Camerounian dressing room as midfielder, Marc-Vivien Foe, made an impassioned plea to his fellow Indomitable Lions.

“We have to qualify for the Confederation Cup final. When we enter the field for the second half we have to give our all, even if it means giving our life,” he told those he fought beside so often.

Cameroun beat Colombia 1-0 to reach the decider, but Foe never had a chance to celebrate. He lay dead at the Gerland Stadium in the French city of Lyon after collapsing on the pitch.

Legend Roger Milla, whose 1990 World Cup goals catapulted Cameroun into the global limelight, was among the first to discover the awful truth. He did not speak, his tears said it all.

The death of Foe was the darkest moment in a black year for African football with violence once again marring the Champions League final, and poor results in international competitions.

President Paul Biya captured the mood of the stunned Central African nation when he addressed the Lions after they returned home to pay a final tribute to a midfielder who played for English Premiership club, Manchester City.

“Our fallen hero was serious, generous, loyal and appreciated by all. He was a great patriot and a vital element of our team,” the head of state told a gathering including the wife and children of Foe.

As he was laid to rest in Okoui, a township 10 kilometres from the centre of Yaounde, football fans found it hard to accept that Foe would no longer direct midfield operations for their beloved Lions.

“A Lion never dies” and “Foe will live forever” were but two of many banners held aloft as the funeral cortege crawled past masses of grief-stricken people to the cemetery. The cup final defeat by France was a distant memory.

Fittingly, the road leading to the home of Cameroun football, the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, will be renamed to honour Marc-Vivien Foe. Equally fitting, the decaying venue is being revamped.

But the dignitaries had barely said goodbye to Foe when a warning was sounded by Emmanuel Maradas, the doyen of African football writers and a Chadian with a sharp keyboard.

He told African Soccer magazine readers: “When someone perishes in the line of duty we shed gallons of tears, make pretty speeches and when it’s all over, throw them into the dustbin of oblivion.”

Maradas reminded Africa of Samuel Okwaraji, who died playing for Nigeria against Angola in a qualifier for the 1990 World Cup, and is remembered by a filthy, obscure statuette at the entrance to the national stadium in Lagos.

Perhaps lessons have been learnt because the 2004 Super Cup match between Enyimba of Nigeria and Etoile Sahel of Tunisia has been dedicated to Foe with all proceeds going to his family.

The success of Enyimba, the first Nigerian winners of the 40-year-old Champions League, should have been a joyous occasion, but the followers of Egyptian opponents Ismailia made sure it was not.

Unable to accept a 2-1 aggregate loss after a largely pedestrian two-leg final, Ismailia fans went berserk, resulting in 30 injuries and 150 arrests as the north-east Egyptian city became a battle zone.

Seats were broken, stones and bottles flung on the pitch, windows of cars and buses smashed, traffic lights damaged and trees set on fire. The 2002 final in Cairo had also been marred by violence.

The 20,000-capacity Ismailia Stadium was cleared of spectators before Enyimba from the south-east town of Aba could be presented with a trophy that an Egyptian official had tried to hide and a one-million-dollar cheque.

Simba of Tanzania were the Champions League revelations, stunning defending champions, Zamalek of Egypt, en route to the pool phase while ASEC of Cote d’Ivoire proved the major disappointment, winning just one of six group games.

Nigerian Okochukwu Obiakor scored a second-leg hat-trick to bring the Cup Winners Cup to Etoile Sahel and goalkeeper and captain, Mustapha Chadili, was equally heroic as Raja Casablanca of Morocco lifted the CAF Cup.