Ivory Coast beat Guinea Bissau 2-0 in the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations and it was refreshing to have football back in Africa.
However, in enjoying the game on television, there are five things we may have missed.
The Ivorien Generation is no longer golden
From the AFCON in 1984 heading to the one in 2010, the Ivorien sides have always headed towards their golden generation.
Abdoulaye Traore and Yousef Fofana between 1984 and 1992 leading the team out, Aka Kouame, Joel Tiehi, Michell Bassole and the Dominic Abou Group in most of the 90s, and of course culminating in the Didier Drogba, Didier Zokora, Kalou brothers set that was widely referred as the Golden Generation
But this group, just seem like players who do not come with large profiles, yet ready to work and bring glory to their nation. Golden Generation? Seko Fofana, Franck Kessie etc may just do the business.
Minnows can play, but they need to be treated as what they are
There is this old, tired statement that “There are no more minnows in African football.”
The thing about this statement that mostly comes from Nigeria is that it is only said when the country fails to win a must win match.
In the qualifiers, Nigeria beat Sao Tome 16:0 over two legs; Egypt beat Malawi 4:0 away from home, and a few others which shows that there are big and small teams.
There are minnows in football, but countries that fail to plan will plan to fail, and then give credit to small countries. Guinea Bissau gave a good account of themselves, but they are what they are and were treated as such. The Ivorian should have scored more.
The commentary was dull, very dull
Daniel Amokachi broke the internet by giving the worst colour commentary in recent times. That was not a commentary session, but two tired-sounding fellas who had no idea where they were or what they were doing, just telling stories, a lot of them of no interest to those watching.
Daniel Amokachi can be a good colour commentator but he needs to be trained for it. Afrosports must do better in subsequent games
Are we back to foreign coaches?
Judging on the strength of the opening game, it is looking like the big African countries are going back to European coaches after what happened at the World Cup where Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, and Cameroon all had home coaches.
Having coached St. Etiene and Bourdeax before joining up with the Ivory Coast, I will give Jean-Louis Gasset of the Ivory Coast a free pass for now.
Guinea Bissau had Baciro Candé, a home coach in their dug out.
Note that the nationality of a coach does not determine how well the country performs at the AFCON, but the quality of the coach.
The power of an opening day win
Many people underestimate the power of an opening day win at the AFCON or any group-stage tournament in sports.
With Ivory Coast winning their first game, they can breathe easy and watch Nigeria v Equatorial Guinea and know they will be under less pressure in their next two games as just one point will take them through.
No matter what you do, win your opening match in a group-stage tournament.
We await the games between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, Egypt and Mozambique, and then Ghana v Cape Verde.
Welcome to Africa’s biggest football tournament.
