Many football
buffs, and commentators who are not crazy about the beautiful game have
used all manners of adjectives to condemn the Confederation of African
Football’s decision to ban Togo team from participating in the next two
editions of African Nations Cup. How insensitive and ‘anti-people’ can
a body that administers what they call ‘the people game’ be.
The Togolese team,
which was in Angola for the African Nations Cup, had been attacked in
the northern province of Cabinda on January 8, a few days before the
championship began. Their bus was attacked by rebels linked to the
Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda. Two officials of
the team lost their life, the players were traumatised, while some were
injured, having been held at gun point for hours.
To honour the dead,
the government told the players and officials to fly home and bury
them. After the burial, the players asked CAF to reschedule their
matches so that they could participate in the Championship, but CAF
turned down their request.
After the Nations
Cup, CAF banned Togo from the next two editions of the championship
because ‘the Togolese government decided to call back their national
team’.
“The decision taken
by the political authorities is infringing CAF and CAN [Cup of Nations]
regulations. Therefore, a decision has been taken to suspend the Togo
national team for the next two editions of Africa Cup of Nations, with
a fine of $50,000.00 handed to the Togolese national football
association, in conformity with article 78 of Africa Cup of Nations
Angola 2010,” CAF had said, announcing the ban.”
Global condemnation greeted CAF’s decision.
Drogba over Eto’o
With the ban on
Togo still fresh in our memory, CAF got another red card from football
fans, this time over the African Footballer of the Year Award.
Unlike other
confederation, CAF remains the only confederation that still selects
its best players from players playing outside its continent.
And the award has
never been devoid of controversy. Between 2004 and 2006, Austin Okocha
who was then at the top of his game in England, winning accolades of
the global media and all manner of awards, was ignored by the CAF award
panel. The panel had preferred Benni McCarthy at one stage and Samuel
Eto’o at the other.
About three years
ago when the award took place in Lome, Togo, Didier Drogba was widely
tipped to win the award but the prize went to Mali’s Frederic Kanoute.
CAF and many
Africans were embarrassed when Drogba told the media after the ceremony
that officials of CAF had informed him that he won the award, but if he
is not present at the ceremony in Lome, the award will not be given to
him. Drogba missed the awards ceremony because he had a crucial
quarter-final match to play 48 hours later in the Africa Cup of
Nations, which was ongoing at the time of the ceremony.
CAF’s only defense
to Drogba’s allegation was, “Any player who is absent at the award
ceremony will not be taken into consideration in placements of African
footballer of the year.”
Accra 2010
As if CAF could not
fall lower, the choice of Drogba over Eto’o as the African Footballer
of the Year in Accra, Ghana last week took the organisation to a new –
lower – level.
No doubt, Drogba is
a world class player that deserves to win the award, if not the World
Football of the Year, but not for 2008/09 season.
It was a season the
Chelsea striker will love to forget in a hurry. Save for his goal in
the final of the English FA Cup against Everton, Drogba began the
season with injury. No sooner had he recover from injury that he had a
fight with then Chelsea coach Felipe Scolari. It was toward the end of
the season when Guus Hiddink came that Drogba played a part in
Chelsea’s season.
Eto’o on the other
hand was a pivotal member of the Barcelona team that won the Spanish
League, Spanish Cup and UEFA Champions League, in which he scored one
of Barca two goals against Manchester United; he thus became the second
player to achieve the feat of scoring in two Champions league finals.
In the national team, both players led their team to qualify for the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Champions League
Eto’s gave a good
reason why he is the uncrowned African footballer of the year, in the
clash between Chelsea and Inter at the Stamford Bridge on Wednesday
night with a five star performance for Inter by scoring the lone goal
that separated the men from the boys, while Drogba, who was expected to
do same for Chelsea left the stadium in disgrace after getting a red
card for the third successive season in Champions League; it dates back
to the 2008 Final, between Manchester United and Chelsea (United won
6-5 on pens after the game ended 1-1): Drogba was red-carded in the
extra time for slapping Nemanja Vidic. He was also red-carded in the
2009 Semi-final, Chelsea 1 Barcelona 1 (Barcelona won on away goals
rule).
CAF award or no CAF award, Eto’o has spoken with his legs, we all know who is the best in Africa, shame on CAF.
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