On Reflection: AFCON 2023
After a month of gripping footballing action, drama, and upsets, the 34th African Cup of Nations comes to a bittersweet end. This was by far and in my opinion the best AFCON in recent times, maybe ever. This tournament showed how far the Africa has come in terms of developing its football. The media coverage was brilliant as well, from the short videos profiling the participating teams, to the “Fans of the Game” segment showing the fans with the best regalia. The host nation deserve most of the credit; the vibrant cultural displays, the quality of the pitches, even crowd control and security. Best organised AFCON as far as I can remember.
The tournament where nothing made sense
If I could describe this tournament in a sentence it will be — “The tournament where nothing made sense”. AFCON 2023 had everything, teams arriving as royalty and leaving in tatters, the underdogs prevailing and the top dogs failing. My predictions went horribly wrong, except for a few teams. After the madness I just witnessed, I might just give up trying to predict an AFCON.
One thing that this tournament highlighted (and subsequent AFCONs continues to) was the ever-narrowing gap between the bigger footballing nations and the smaller nations (lower-ranked teams based on CAF and FIFA coefficients). While the giants went to sleep, the minnows were quietly working, and every AFCON we see the fruits of their hard labour. This is good for African football because the increasing competitiveness pushes every nation to be better, which in turn develops the quality of players, and the football. These upsets were not a fluke or mere coincedence.
There were many upsets and shock results in typical AFCON fashion — the host nation Ivory Coast losing to Equitoreal Guinea; Morocco losing to South Africa after starting their campaign with a bang; Mauritania beating Algeria; the list goes on. Africa knows no big names, any opponent is fair game and no wins are a given. Not even Opta’s supercomputer could make sense of this.
Another thing this tournament highlighted like it does every edition is that having a star-studded team or playing expansive football does not guarantee success. It all comes down to having a good structure on the pitch, fine margins, a bit of luck and who wants it more. Senegal, the defending champions despite their stacked team were knocked out by the hosts Ivory Coast; that game was down to the finest of margins. In a lot of the closely contested matches, all it took was a lapse in concentration or a mistake to sink a team. The most apt example highlighting this was Ghana’s 2–2 draw against Mozabique, I can write another article about the chaos of this match but I would highly recommend watching the highlights. All it took was for Ghana to take their foot off the pedal, and that sent them packing.
When you think it’s over, it never is.
Hosts and Winners
Ivory Coast were one of my favourites going into the tournament because they are one of the big teams, they are the hosts and therefore have home advantage. They started their campaign with a win and lost their remaining group games, putting their place in the tournament in jeopardy. Ivory Coast were 100% certain they were out of the tournament after their poor group stage performance; they sacked their head coach Jean-Louis Gasset and in the most miraculous manner, they qualified to the next round as one of the best 3rd placed teams. Fate or luck?
Suddenly there was a sparkle of hope in the eyes of millions of Ivorians as their dream of a “host and win” was resurrected. The team brought in the inexperienced coach Emerse Faé and he took them all the way to the final, a team fueled by the fire and passion of the nation. God handed this teama miracle and they had to make it count. They had to go all the way and they did.
Final Words
This AFCON was a massive win for African football. The football was excellent, the media coverage was top notch, the fans were loud and expressive as ever, and the memes were immaculate. This tournament made me even more proud to be African, it put a smile on my face and I bore my heritage with pride.
Africa showed that its football is not just a mere game but an extension of its colourful and vibrant culture. In a sport dominated by eurocentrism, this was a breath of fresh air.
In the words of a character from Ted Lasso — “football is life”. Football can breathe life to the worrisome, it brings people together despite their differences. For 90 minutes plus added time, everyone is together, with a common wish — to see their team win. There are not many sports that bring people together as much as the Beautiful Game does.
Football is a form of self-expression, on or off the pitch. Whether it’s players singing and dancing their way to matches, celebrating in unison after scoring, saying a prayer after a win. AFCON is not just a tournament, it life itself manifested in the Beautiful Game. The AFCON has always been ridiculed for it’s meme-worthy moments, and drama but this year we showed that our football is not just a spectacle or to feed the internet memes. Africa can play football too.
