Editor,

Watching Monday’s African Cup of Nations game between Zambia and Cameroon, which ended 3-2 for the Indomitable Lions, I asked myself, "why wasn’t I as excited about these African games as I once was just a few years back”? I believe that there are many reasons.

But I think that the major reason is that all the teams play the same. Once, you’d know that a certain team plays with a certain style and if you supported the style, you’d support the team.

The Nigerians played with a lot of skill and flamboyancy (that was the team of JJ Okotcha), the Cameroonians played with physical power (Patrice Mboma and Mark Vivien Foe were the poster children of this team, the Egyptians played with efficiency (they were an African Germany) and the Ghanaian Black Stars played a wonderful passing game.
Today however, it seems that every team in the competition reads from the same notebook. There is nothing to stylistically diffreciate any of the teams.

The Gabonese play like the Zambians, the Tunisians play like the Algerians and sadly, it’s all becoming boring.

I blame the influence of the European club teams the players. We’ve lost the African ‘flavor’; we are now just playing neat European football. That’s why I’m not watching the games anymore.

Thomas Rudasingwa
Remera