Elkann competitions: Will the football map in Africa change?
The main reason for this fun is the high competition, as the tournament witnesses the revolution of small and medium teams against the top of the continent, there are no big results, and most of the matches are decided in the last minutes.
Despite the difficult circumstances, the Comoros national team played a historic match against Cameroon, and was close to returning in the match. Malawi also succeeded in keeping up with the Moroccan team, in the match that ended with the victory of the Atlas Lions with two goals to one.
Senegal narrowly defeated Cape Verde with a clean double, and had it not been for the expulsion of players from “Cap Verde”, the fans might have followed a completely different scenario for the meeting.
The adventure of the Gambian team, led by the Belgian Tom Saintfet, continues in the championship after its victory over Guinea, to set a date with the owner of the land and the public, the Cameroonian team, in a historic first participation in the African Nations for the “Scorpions” team.
Simply put, all the teams are fighting to win, and the old and young rankings have faded away; The most important question remains: Do the “Nations of Africa” refer to changing the map of the game in the brown continent?
Warning alarm
Sports critic, Mohamed Tolba, says that “African Nations” represents a strong alarm bell for the continent’s top teams, “The major teams must rely on real projects to continue their strength, or the day will come when their ranking will decline in favor of other small teams, but they are trying to increase their strength through professional and ambitious plans. “.
Tolba added: “The major teams in Africa, especially the Arab ones, depend only on changing coaches and technical staff, and this of course affects the strength of the team, but the most important thing is that there is a real project that starts from the junior teams to the first team, which guarantees a successful system.”
He continues, “The number of European club academies in the continent is constantly increasing, and this is one of the reasons for the increase in the strength of some weak and medium teams. All teams now have distinguished professional players, in addition to short-term plans for continental competition, and at the same time, the major teams depend on their history and quality. Some of its exceptional stars, and the result is what we are seeing in the nations of Africa at the moment, and there is no room for expectations.”
Tolba refers to the experience of the Gambian team, saying: “In its first appearance in (Al-Kan), The Gambia is in the quarter-finals of the tournament, and succeeded in providing an exceptional performance during the qualifiers against strong teams such as: Gabon, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo… But this success is not the result of the moment. But as a result of a distinguished plan led by the Belgian Tom Saintvet, he persuaded a number of professionals to represent the (Scorpions) team, and then created the appropriate playing system for these names.
Tolba concludes his interview with “Sky News Arabia”: “The map of football in Africa is changing, and the leaders of the game in the continent must realize this early, before it is too late.”
The power of professionals
On the other hand, the former Al-Ahly captain, and one of the Pharaohs’ players crowned with the African Nations, Shadi Mohamed, believes that talking about changing the football competition map in the brown continent is very early.
Shadi Mohamed added to Sky News Arabia: “Despite the strong performance of some weak teams in the tournament, this performance is still within the framework of an honorable appearance, and in the end the title will not leave the treasury of one of the major African teams.”
Regarding the lack of great results in the tournament so far, Mohamed explains that the main reason behind this is that the professionals of the major teams provide only 50 percent of their usual level in the African Championship, noting that the public could have followed the broad results of the big teams had it not been for what he called “the power of professionals.” .
And he continues: “Of course, we hope to increase the number of teams competing for the African Championship, but the most important thing now is to organize (CAN) in a better future,” noting that the version of the African Nations currently held in Cameroon harms the game on the continent.
Muhammad concludes his interview with “Sky News Arabia”: “Despite all the disadvantages of the tournament, we still have great hope that an Arab team will win the title… provided that every official who caused the appearance of (Al-Kan) in this way after its end will be held accountable.”
