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Nigeria’s Sunday Mba scored a wonder-goal to give Nigeria their first African Cup of Nations title in 19 years.
However, credit must go to the coaches of both teams as they, for different reasons, endured severe criticism in the run-in to the tournament.
Nigeria’s coach, the larger than life Stephen Keshi, became the first black African coach to win the title since the Ivory Coast’s Yeo Martial back in 1992 – and remarkably only the second person to win the title as both player (as captain in 1994) and now as manager, Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary being the other.
He was widely criticised in advance for selecting the majority of his squad from the Nigerian leagues, spurning a plethora of eligible players plying their trade in Europe and the Middle East. Indeed, Sunday Mba, with his goal earlier in the tournament, became the first to score at the Cup of Nations from the Nigerian League since 1990!
To guide rank outsiders, Burkina Faso, this far in the tournament is a tremendous achievement and will put their coach, the Belgian Paul Put, back in the limelight, although the judicial system in Brussels will determine for how long! Accused of being involved in match-fixing, his defence appears to be that he was forced into it as his family was under threat from the Mafia.
To put this achievement into perspective, Burkina Faso had never won a match away from home at the Nations Cup, having only made it as far as the semi-finals in 1998 when they hosted the tournament. Excluding that tournament they had the shocking record of having drawn four and lost 16 of their previous 20 matches!
The long-awaited victory came in Nelspruit with a 4-0 win against Ethiopia with three goals coming after being reduced to 10 men.
They received a similar reduction in numbers in their semi-final victory on penalties against Ghana although, following a viral campaign backed by the public, had the red card shown to Jonathan Pitriopa overturned, allowing him to participate in the final.
With South Africa hosting the tournament instead of Libya, we have witnessed the return of passionate crowds and the vuvuzela! The pitches have also generally been of a terrible quality, impeding the passing football many like to witness.
Elsewhere the talking points surrounded the initial strong progress of the Ivory Coast with Manchester City’s Yaya Toure and Arsenal’s Gervinho among the early goals. However, their subsequent elimination in the quarter-finals, albeit to the eventual winners, led to the inevitable comments about this star-studded Elephant’s unit failure to deliver.
The aforementioned illustrious names, along with Didier Drogba (dropped for the first time during this tournament), are likely to now join the list of other global stars, such as George Weah and Michael Essien to have never won this medal.
Last season’s winners, Zambia, were also eliminated early, the Chipolopolo’s three successive draws in the group stage meaning they failed to secure enough points. It even took a penalty from the goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene, to secure a draw in the qualifiers against Nigeria while the star player from 2012, skipper Chris Katongo, was out-of-sorts all tournament.
After the persuasive intervention of Togo’s President in enticing him to the tournament, Emmanuel Adebayor was unable to secure progress beyond the last eight, losing to the minnows of Burkina Faso.
The final itself was a one-sided affair with the Super Eagles spurning a succession of gilt-edged opportunities that maintained a respectable score-line and always afforded the Stallions a possible route back into the match.
However, they looked nervous throughout and rarely threatened, thanks primarily to Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses, whose pace and direct running were a constant danger.
While it was Mba’s stunning solo strike that claimed the trophy, it was a triumph for their faith in coach Keshi’s commitment to blending youth and experience and the leadership of captain Joseph Yobo, who set a new record of six finals appearances during this tournament. This represents a remarkable turnaround for a side that surprisingly failed to qualify for the 2012 Finals.
Mali finished third for the second year running after beating Ghana, remarkably emulating exactly the same result as this play-off last year. Indeed, these teams are no strangers to each other having met four times in the last two tournaments. Goals from Samassa, Keita and Diarra sealed victory for the Eagles in a rain-sodden Port Elizabeth.
The Confederation of African Football flag will now be displayed in Morocco who will host the next competition in 2015.
