Gloom Overshadows African Football in 2003

[MYMIND]

Culled from Nigeria Today.

Gloom overshadows glory in African football
Silence enveloped the Cameroon 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. Cameroon 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 Cameroon 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 an often 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 Cameroon 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 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 Ivory Coast 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. The Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup competitions were staged for the final time and will merge next year into the African Confederation Cup with prize money on offer. But if gloom overshadowed glory for Cameroon and Enyimba, minnows Benin and Rwanda and perennial underachievers Zimbabwe proved there is still room for football fairytales.

All reached the biennial African Nations Cup for the first time with Rwanda eliminating four-time champions Ghana, Benin toppling regular qualifiers Zambia and Zimbabwe squeezing through as the best second-placed team. Ivory Coast will be another notable absentee from the tournament in Tunisia between January 24 and February 14, losing 2-1 away to South Africa in a tense tussle that settled the Group of Death. At regional level, there were triumphs for Zimbabwe in the south, Uganda in the east and Cameroon in the centre while Villa of Uganda won the only club championship. Cameroon retained the All-Africa Games title, beating hosts Nigeria through two goals from Marcus Mokake, the star of the under-23 tournament, in another match spoilt by bad crowd behaviour. Cameroon also won the African junior championship, pipping Sierra Leone 1-0 after extra time, but both countries and Nigeria made first-round exits from the world tournament. Egypt won the youth title after a seven-goal thriller against Ivory Coast that also went to extra time. But Africa flopped at the world championship with none of the four representatives reaching the quarter-finals.