ELEPHANTASTIC: FINAL VERDICT ON AFCON 2015: it was everything we expected, but not quite what we hoped for

The Elephant in the Room: Ivory Coast celebrate AFCON2015

AFCON 2015. The tournament that should never have taken place. The tournament that defied expectations. The tournament that defied Ebola. The tournament that defied logic, right down to that extraordinary penalty shoot-out after a drab final.

It’s only football. We know that. The Ivory Coast Elephants were always the heavyweights. But the ups and downs in Equatorial Guinea over the past three weeks have been even more knuckle whitening than normal, surely?

The lows? We’d have to start with South Africa’s own fortunes in Mongomo, ancestral home of the despot President Theodorin Obiang, in charge since 1979 and grinding his people in to the ground. Bafana Bafana couldn’t even conjure a win in Group A as they ground us into the ground.

They went out of the tournament with one point and a desperate record equalled in its awfulness only by Burkina Faso. Yet they led in all three games. Heart-breaking.

Still, as I said when the draw for this African Cup of Nations was made, the limited talents of Shakes Mashaba were never going to get us out of Group C once the dodgy hosts had got their hands on Issa Hayatou’s warmed balls. Pity Ephraim forgot to check who was actually in the Group of Death before he started laughing it off and – laughably – promising a repeat of our great 1996 triumph.

On Saturday, under thermo-nuclear levels of secrecy, Mashaba reported to the SAFA technical committee, dominated (unusually) by Natascha Tshichlas, Ria Ledwaba and Fran Hilton-Smith, Danny Jordaan’s three princesses.

I’m told Shakes was rapped over the knuckles for his treatment of young foreign stars Thulani Serero and Kamahelo Mokotjo and told the search for a modern, highly qualified Technical Director remained a priority. I bet he didn’t like that. Still, he wore a lot of nice shirts during the tournament, between goalkeeper changes.

While South Africans came back down to earth after that fabulous unbeaten qualifying success which left champions Nigeria in disarray, we have had to watch the knock-out stages dominated by Equatorial Guinea cheating, Africa’s No 1 Algeria under-performing and Tunisia sulking.

Weapons of destruction: missiles thrown by fans on Thursday

And then came that awful semi-final. I said on twitter Ghana looked reluctant to add a third goal against the hosts in last Thursday’s second semi-final and BOOM, when they went 3-0 up, we were treated to awful scenes from the home crowd in a nation where so many live beneath the bread line yet still throw plates when they’re angry.

Actually, we missed most of the nastiness which left 14 Ghanaian fans in hospital, the Dictatorial Guinea television producers wouldn’t allow us to see the crowd trouble, the missile throwing, the real nastiness.

And when the final came around on Sunday night, the host nation were denied live coverage of their own tournament at the death. Unbelievable. While commentators and analysts praised long-serving Presidents Obiang and Issa Hayatou, African football slipped to a new nadir with trouble exploding before Zamelek’s game in Egypt just as the final kicked off.

It's a mess. Tunisia have yet to apologise for their accusations of bias after Dictatorial Guinea’s dodgy late penalty in the quarter-final and Morocco, the hosts who pulled out over Ebola fears (but still hosted FIFA’s Club World Cup) are out for the next two AFCONS.

The host nation were given a mere slap on the wrist for their half-hour of mayhem. They were fined $100,000 while Tunisia and Morocco face bills of millions; and Equatoria Guinea played their 3^rd place play off WITH fans, losing to the DRC in an eminently missable consolation clash.

Sadly, much of the “dream final” between Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire was eminently missable too. The highlights? Ghana’s Christian Atsu, the Chelsea striker on loan with a cushion at Everton, hit the post, Ivory Coast coach Herve Renard wore a nice pink tabard and a clearly unfit Asamoah Gyan managed to stamp on an Elephant without punishment.

It was always going to go to penalties, and the drab 120 minutes was soon forgotten as Ghana took a 2-0 lead after four penalties, blew it… and the goalkeepers decided it with 35-year-old Boubacar 'Copa' Barry scoring where his counterpart Razak Braimah failed.

After 22 penalties Barry, a last-minute replacement, was the bemused hero. Asamoah Gyan, the Ghana captain who came off with a minute to play and missed the penalty shoot-out, may well turn out to be the scapegoat, as he was at the World Cup in 2010.

In essence, it was a repeat of the 1992 final, with the Ivory Coast ironically turning the Orange Africa Cup of Nations in to a feast of orange. Yaya Toure lifted the trophy while Andre Ayew wept inconsolably, remembering his father Abedi Pele’s upset when he missed out on the same final 23 years ago.

For Ghana coach Avram Grant, in his lucky blue polo shirt, barely a flicker of emotion. He lost the Champions League final with Chelsea when John Terry fluffed his penalty against Manchester United in Moscow. He’s used to heartbreak.

AFCON WINNER: goalkeeper Barry is carried aloft

Herve Renard, the first man to win AFCON with two different nations, said: “It’s coming from God, but you have to be strong. I believe in history and I’m a lucky coach.

“We are strong because everybody worked very hard. Didier Drogba didn’t win this cup with Ivory Coast, it’s a shame he’s not there. It’s a shame he’s not here. I’d like to give him part of this, dedicate it to him.

“You don’t achieve something in one month, the team spirit made the difference. I discovered (Ghana’s) Andre Ayew at a young age, I felt sorry for him but he’ll be back.”

Ghana coach Avram Grant groaned: “It’s painful to lose and be the better side on the pitch. When you win you can say anything, this is football. Penalties are painful. It’s not the first time this has happened to me.

“We have a good team for the present. In a short time we did a lot of good things. We are crying now, they gave good heart, good football. Good for the future.”

Former Arsenal veteran Kolo Toure, now with Liverpool, said: “Penalties are all about God to me. We waited a long time for this. My generation waited for 23 years. I’d like to dedicate this win to my brother who died during the World Cup.”

In summary, AFCON 2015 was exactly what we expected, though not quite what we might have hoped for. From the moment Morocco withdrew, we knew Equatorial Guinea would be hard-pressed to run the show without a hitch.

A pitch invasion and a drab final won’t spoil the memories for Ivorians. But for Ghanaians and South Africans, we move on. And hopefully for uapologetic Tunisia and 7 times winners Egypt – where 14 died in violence before a Zamalek game last night – there will be a brighter future too.

But to be honest what would really cheer me up: a free and fair election in Dictatorial Guinea. But I guess that's too much to ask.

Unbeaten coach of the year Shakes Mashaba continues to confound with Bafana Bafana Mark II

Unbeaten: Bafana boss Shakes Mashaba

ON the face of it, a man who took over in late July has to be pretty fortunate to win South Africa’s coach of the year award. But not this time.

Ephraim Shakes Mashaba is that man. On Sunday night in Sandton, he was rightly awarded the ultimate coaching accolade ahead of the minority sports and, with our Proteas and Springboks currently on the beaten track, the predictable bleating from those “jobs for life” journalists echoed across the social networks.

Danny Jordaan, the SAFA president who has ushered in an era where, for once, diski/soccer/football is emerging as the pride of the nation, rightly sums up: “This has been an incredible year, we hope awards for Shakes and Portia Modise will encourage the entire football family to do even better going forward.”

Sadly, the promised arrival of a Bafana technical director and the new Nike kit has not materialised. Match-fixing, shrouded attendance figures and Senzo Meyiwa’s unsolved killing still weight heavily on our game. And as David Isaacson points out, Mashaba won coach of the year for our AmaJita Under 20s qualifying success, his Bafana Bafana revival wasn't taken in to account.

But forget all that. On the field, Mashaba continues to confound.

Fielding an entirely new team for the Nelson Mandela Challenge at Mbombela on Sunday, his Bafana Bafana Mark II simply went out and played just like the first choice outfit did in AFCON qualifying.

That’s no small feat. South Africa saw off mighty Nigeria to win Group A during a turbulent six-match saga which saw Senzo Meyiwa murdered, an Ebola outbreak, May Mahlangu banned, suspended Equatorial Guinea handed the hosting rights and key players ruled out.

Qualification ahead of the African champion Super Eagles was a considerable upset. But what Shakes came up with on Sunday takes us one step further. The arch-motivator took a whole new squad and despite cancelled training sessions and late withdrawals, created a new “bunch of winners”, to paraphrase Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.

Chippa United’s Thami Sangweni, brother of Orlando Pirates towering defender Siya, took the captain’s armband. Chippa United’s five-goal David Zulu, much talked about as a future Kaizer Chiefs striker, took his place up front next to Polokwane City’s Puleng Tlolane, the PSL’s top scorer with seven goals.

Between them, those twelve goals dwarf the tally of Mzanzi’s big guns. Kermit Erasmus and Lehlohonolo Majoro have six between them. Bernard Parker and Kingston Nkhatha at unbeaten league leaders Kaizer Chiefs have erm... even less.

But it was the much-talked-about  Bongani Zungu from Mamelodi Sundowns who really impressed, scoring the first goal after Vuyisile Wana’s first-minute effort had been ruled out for off-side and generally getting ball to the right areas. Zulu added the richly-deserved second after half-time and it was job done for Shakes, who has now played seven, won four and drawn three.

With Mashaba in charge, the selection process appears to be secondary. The man himself confesses he is no tactical genius, “I put out 11 players and tell them to play for the nation” and boy, do they play.

This friendly, against an admittedly under-strength Ivory Coast (the Toure brothers and their big European stars had other things on their mind over the weekend), proves the point with some gusto.

Pitso Mosimane and Gordon Igesund are top South African coaches with five PSL titles between them. Last season Mosimane took Sundowns to the championship and this season Igesund has revived SuperSport United and on Saturday, he led them to that Telkom KO triumph.

But in truth, they failed to motivate the disparate band of men chosen to represent their nation. Never really got them to play for the shirt, much like the foreign millionaires before them.

I’m not sure how Shakes does it. I’m told his team-talks are the stuff of legend, invoking all kinds of semi-mythical imagery to fire up his charges.

After his seventh game without defeat, Mashaba glowed: "We needed this win to keep up the winning momentum for the nation.

"This was almost a new team, a good chance to give our fringe players an opportunity to prove themselves. We will try to get some friendlies. Really, some of these boys deserve to get a chance in Equatorial Guinea."

I have no idea how Mashaba achieves these things. But with the cricketing Proteas and rugby Springboks both failing of late, suddenly Bafana Bafana have become the reliable source of national pride in Mzanzi.

Herve Renard, the Ivory Coast coach who conquered Africa with Zambia, sums it up best: “I think 0-2 was a very good for us, the South African team was everywhere.

"I think we had two chances and it's not enough to expect something in football. It's a good lesson for our young players, who know they have a big job to do.

“Congratulations South Africa. It was too fast for us today.”

The usual suspects: Africa's World Cup hopefuls head for the last 90 minutes of qualification with the "Big Five" favourites for Brazil

Brace yourself: Nigeria's Emmanuel Emenike

Nearly four years and an Arab Spring or two after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it’s the usual suspects who are looking likely to qualify for Brazil 2014.

Nearly four years on, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Algeria – the five sides who qualified with hosts Bafana Bafana in the last global footballing saga – are once again the favourites to fill Africa’s ‘big five’ qualifying spots after the first legs of CAF’s unjust qualifiers.

Favourites Ghana don’t take on riot-ravaged Egypt until tomorrow night, when they play their first leg in Kumasi but Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast and African Nations Cup champions Nigeria cruised to their expected first leg victories over the weekend.

Former Chelsea veteran Drogba scored the opening goal for the Elephants against Senegal with Lamine Sane then providing an own goal before another Chelsea old boy Salomon Kalou made it three in the 50^th minute.

Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse pulled one back for Senegal but it was Arsenal’s unwanted Gervinho, now playing in Italy for Roma, who pulled the strings for the Ivory Coast, playing a part in all three goals and setting up Africa’s top-ranked nation for qualification with a two-goal cushion.

The Cote D’Ivoire have gone 20 games without defeat in World Cup qualifying – they’ve won 14 and drawn six since a 3-2 loss against Cameroon in September 2005.

Nigeria coped reasonably well in Addis Ababa against South Africa’s Group A nemesis Ethiopia. The loudly backed home side, desperate for a first World Cup finals appearance, dominated early on and – after a goalless first half - deserved to go ahead in the 57^th minute through Behailu Assefa.

 But it was that man Emmanuel Emenike – who played for two years in South Africa five years ago with Mpumalanga Blacks Aces and FC Cape Town – who silenced the Walya Antelopes with an equaliser followed by a last-gasp penalty to secure a narrow away advantage before the return to Nigeria.

Game of the weekend came in Ougadougou where Burkina Faso saw off Algeria but gave away what could be two decisive away goals in a 3-2 win over visiting Algeria. The Burkinabians, finalists at AFCON in South Africa earlier this year, went 2-0 up through Jonathan Pitroipa and Djakaridja Kone.

Sofiane Feghouli and Carl Medjani made it 2-2 before Fortunate Dusseldorf-based Aristide Bance, who had a first half penalty saved by Adi Mbolhi, scored the winner from the spot after a highly-controversial 86^th minute handball decision. Algeria remain in pole position despite defeat though Stallions coach Paul Put insists: “We will go to Algiers with every intention of qualifying.”

Tunisia, only in the play-offs because upstarts Cape Verde fell foul of the rules, gave Cameroon a tough ride in Rades but couldn’t find a way past the Indomitable Lions’ French-based goalkeeper Charles Itandj.

With Chelsea’s experienced on-loan striker Samuel Eto’o returning for the umpteenth time after international retirement, Cameroon nearly snatched it through Peirre Webo. This one might be the tightest second leg of the lot, but Yaounde should be celebrating when the second legs are played in mid-November.

And what of South Africa? Held 1-1 by fellow-non-qualifiers Morocco in Agadir on Friday night, this from Dean Furman on Twitter sums it up:  “Solid showing for Bafana last night against a strong Moroccan side. Congratulations to the young boys making their debut. Hopefully the start of big things in the future.”

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