The Pharaohs of Egypt secured a record-breaking sixth Africa Cup of Nations’ title with a 1-0 win over Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in the Accra final. The defending champions ensured the win when Mohamed Zidan forced an error from Cameroon veteran captain Rigobert Song to set up playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika for the only goal of the game. It was dreadfully ironic - not least for Rigobert Song - that in a tournament so laden with brilliant strikes and wonder-goals, that the most decisive clash of all would be settled not by attacking genius, but by opportunism and an absolute howler from the Cameroon stopper. The dreadlocked Galatasaray defender will never be forgiven (by whoever took the trouble to rally behind the Indomitable Lions) for the mistake that probably denied his country a chance win a record equaling fifth African crown. After beating Cameroon in their opening group game, Hassan Shehata’s men recorded victories over Sudan, Angola and then Ivory Coast in the semi-finals. The only minor blemish on an otherwise perfect passage to the continental trophy was the 1-1 draw with Zambia. The Egyptians were adding the 2008 trophy to their wins in 1957, 1959, 1986 (on penalties against Cameroon), 1998 and 2006. Cameroon showed a lot of heart but full credit to Egypt who proved to any doubters out there why they are the best team on the African soil and they deserved to win. It is no surprise that they were champions of Africa two years ago. The one major factor that drove Egypt to the title was their tremendous team spirit that shone through the three-week tournament and also they have a team based on local players, which means that they know each other very well than any of the other 15 teams. Many predicted the battle for the 26th Africa Cup of Nations would be between the stars who play in Europe and the foreign coaches in charge of the most-fancied teams. Fans across the continent including many in Rwanda had pinned their hopes on teams with European-based players such as Ivory Coast, Ghana(yours truly), Nigeria and Cameroon to win the title but the Egyptians were not ready to take any of that crap! I was lucky to be among the packed stadium during the final thanks to MTN Rwanda and MTN Ghana who made my trip and a few other privileged Rwandans possible. Nothing hurts like supporting a team while well aware that it is actually going to lose—that’s the situation if found myself in, but I never allowed it spoil my good time in Kufour’s court yard. Back to the tournament, 12 of the 16 coaches tasked with leading their sides to the African crown were from outside the African continent, with all but one of the favourites led by European bosses. Some irony then that Egypt secured a defence of their 2006 title, and extended their haul of silverware as Africa’s most successful side, with a squad largely consisting of domestic-based players led by Egyptian coach in Hassan Shehata. Egypt’s two Premier League stars, Middlesbrough’s Mido and Derby County’s Hossam Ghaly, were scratched from the plans when they missed the start of preparations because of injury and transfer complications. Instead Shehata relied on talent playing in Egypt, with only two of the eleven players that started the final against Cameroon are based outside the country, so this was the key part of the Egyptians’ success story. The fact that many of Egypt’s players do not play abroad meant that they were off-the-radar to many of the coaches who were in charge of opposition teams in Ghana. Shehata also benefited from many of best players playing together at club level. Players like Mohamed Aboutrika (the goal hero in the final), Hassam al Hadary (the goalkeeper) and Emad Moteab all play for Al-Ahly every week. When you take a closer look at this Egyptian team you realize it is even stronger than many thought because not only did they play well throughout the tournament, but they are stronger as a team than they are as individuals. That makes them very hard to beat. Egypt showed that they have the strongest team on the continent. They know how to fight and how to work for each other. They believed in themselves and that helped them achieved a dream. On and off the field, the Egyptians built an incomparable bound, which I believe was a major driving factor to their success, you could see that during their free time at the hotel. I was lucky to share a hotel with them and had the chance to talk, one-on-one with some of their stars and I must tell you, most if not all of them are down to earth guys—they don’t have this feel-good factor in them. However, it will (for ever) remain questionable whether other African nations can loosen Egypt’s stranglehold on the African title by providing enough enticement to keep their top stars playing on home soil. And further still, Shehata’s success may offer some encouragement to those who argue that the respective nations should put trust in home-based coaches instead of being fooled into employing what I’d never be afraid to describe as sub-standard Europeans. It may not be as easy to realize than it actually sounds but the truth of the matter is that other African countries learnt a lot from the way Egypt descended on Accra to win the tournament from day one. Their courage, determination, preparation for each game and hunger of their coach to win trophies has been a lesson to the rest of the continent and possibly beyond. While our continent gears towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Egypt’s example is a reminder to us all that rather than twigging out, success may yet come from staying closer to home. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com
