Permit me to start by apologising to all Ghanaians.I concede that my prediction of the match between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Pharaohs of Egypt has made me look like a complete novice in football analysis.
Like most other football analysts I did not envisage what happened last Tuesday night in Ghana. It was the night that the Black Stars, assisted by the elements, made nonsense of all pre-match predictions and reduced the Egyptian national football team into a bungling bunch of school boys who could not put a foot right.
The Black Stars played like a team from another planet. That match, touted as the match-of-death when the draws were made, became one of the easiest and best matches the Ghanaian national team has ever played. Everything went right for them on a day that everything went wrong for the Egyptians.
The Ghanaians scored a very early goal, were gifted an own-goal by the Egyptians, were awarded a questionable penalty kick that closer examination revealed should not have been given and scored three other undisputable but beautiful goals that confirmed their ticket to Rio de Janeiro next summer.
The Black Stars have never played with such composure and confidence. Indeed, the match was not one-sided. It was still contested by the Egyptians. Against an inspired Ghanaian team their frustration turned to consternation. Every Egyptian must now think they had a nightmare and that they will soon wake up to different reality.
Unfortunately, Asamoah Gyan, Munthari, Michael Essien, and the rest of the Black Stars were real, a great mix of some old, some young but all vastly experienced players assembled from major leagues in Europe. The assembly put up an awesome virtuoso performance, a football exhibition that Ghanaians would celebrate for a long time to come.
There is no way back for the Pharaohs from this humiliating defeat They can now not stop the march of the Black Stars to Brazil when they meet in November in Cairo.
No one can explain what happened to them. They looked out of sorts, distracted and uncomfortable throughout the match. Was that a product of the on-going political upheavals in that country?
Personally, that match confirmed the total unpredictability of the game of football and showed why it is such a beautiful game. The Black Stars were simply a beauty to watch, a class act, a well-oiled machine, out-thinking, out-running and outsmarting one of the best teams in the history of African continent on a night when even the elements decided to be fully on their side.
At the end of 90 minutes the Black Stars booked their way to Brazil 2014 making the second leg in Cairo in November a mere formality. So, I humbly eat my pie on this match.
On to the other games.
A score of 4 out of 5 is a pass mark. That’s what I scored in my predictions.
The other 4 matches went according to my anticipated script, all closely fought and closely won or drawn. Tunisia and Cameroon could not be separated. Ivory Coast confirmed their mastery over Senegal. Burkina Faso narrowly managed to overpower Algeria in a 3-2 goal feast. The Algerians will now go into the second-leg encounter with the massive advantage of having scored two away goals and require the slimmest of wins in Algiers in November to confirm their ticket to Brazil. That match promises to be explosive if what we saw in the first match is anything to go by.
The greatest of the matches is the only away–win victory recorded by the team I have been lavishly describing as the only current football super-power in Africa. If Ghana can reproduce their performance against Egypt, playing with patience and supreme confidence, and capitalising on created or gifted chances, they could become Africa’s second super power. For me, Nigeria are the real thing.
For me, the Super Eagles became the first African country to book their ticket to Brazil when they defeated Ethiopia on their ground. Against the backdrop of massive criticism from several readers in East and Southern Africa, that I was heaping too much praises on the Super Eagles because I am a Nigerian, the Eagles turned on their act at the right time and vindicated me.
Their goal hunting and goal scoring capability simply could not be contained as they reduced the defense line of the Antelopes in a period of some 30 minutes to rubble. My prediction about how the match would go turned out to be a prophecy. Ethiopia, inspired by unprecedented support of the entire country, came out blazing, charging down the Eagles and playing at 1000 kilometres per hour in the rarified atmosphere of that region.
They put up all their fancy footwork, quick passing and slick movements off the ball (a delight to watch) that turned out to be a lot of bark and no bite, toothless and impotent, mastered by a patient Nigerian defense and a fast-running and powerful frontline that simply could not be stopped.
I hope that those readers who wished I would eat humble pie would now remove the wool from their eyes and start to see what I see in the present Super Eagles team, beyond the parochial consideration of nationality. The Eagles will be a handful for opposing teams in their group during the World Cup. Teams will pray to avoid being in the same group.
The second-leg match will be played in the ancient City of Calabar, the birthplace of football in Nigeria in the early part of the 20th Century when football was introduced by Christian missionaries. Football will be returning home!
Nigeria are already in Brazil. Like the Egyptians there is no way back for the Ethiopians. Think of it. What would have to happen for the Ethiopians to come to Nigeria and qualify ahead of the Super Eagles?
The first thing is that Nigeria must lose at home! Nigeria does not lose at home and has never lost a match in Calabar.
Secondly, should Nigeria score any goal the Ethiopians would have to score at least four goals after that to qualify. The chances of that happening are very slim. The Eagles have the hottest, fastest, and most potent and powerful striking force in African football at the moment. They are a nightmare for every team. The fact is that one has to dig very deep into ancient history and the archives to find out when Nigeria has failed to score a goal at home. The last time was in Kano eons ago against Angola; an Eagles team that may have been the weakest in the country’s history.
So, looking at the likelihood of what can happen, and the probabilities of what would happen, it is hard to even conceive how Ethiopia would come to Nigeria, and achieve anything. So, remote is the possibility that I will not even give it a thought. That does not mean it cannot happen.
If it does, it would be such a catastrophe that I would simply just retire from football and declare that it is evidence that things have turned upside down and the world is about to end.
So, without being arrogant I banish the thought. This is the end of the road and the fairytale for the Antelopes.
My bags are already packed for the journey to Brazil.
I congratulate the Black Stars and the Super Eagles!
