Adeola Aderounmu

Egypt won by a lone goal scored in the 85th minute. A deserved victory for the best team in Africa. For the first time in the tournament, Ghana played a good game but they lost to a better team.

Ghana, just like Nigeria, ordinarily do not even deserve to be in the final with the loads of negative football they played along the way to the final. Nigeria played better in the semis but lost by a lone goal to Ghana.

This tournament is a wake up call for the African teams that will play in 4 months time at the World Cup in SA. Surely they will not get enough rest. They will be tired to play when the games start in SA. 2 Big championships in a spate of 6 months is not childs’ play.

It is very sad that Egypt, the undisputed masters of African football will not be at the tournament in SA. How did they miss out? CAF and the organisers of football in Africa should put on their thinking caps-on how the best team on the continent missed out of the World Cup. Are there loop holes in the qualifiers that need to be plugged? Did Egypt play poorly in those qualifiers? Were they adversely affected by the home-away game syndrome?

Congratulations Egypt…enjoy your victory and reflect on your absence at the greatest football festival on earth.