By Micheal Yaw Nkansah
It has been more than a week since the end of the 2022 edition of the African Nations Championship tournament hosted by Algeria and it was definitely a tournament to remember, one that ticked all the right boxes.
Pre-tournament drama, check, relatively slow start, check; underdogs stunning favorites, check; unexpected winners, check. This edition of the biennial continental football fiesta delivered all that was expected and more, and in this article, we take a look back at the tournament to review the good and the not-so-good.
To start off with the good, the hosts, Algeria, have to be commended for their organisation and hosting of the tournament. the mess over the non-participation of defending champions Morocco, cast a bit of a spell of gloom over the tournament with some pundits left wondering if it was going to be worth watching. As it turned out, it was definitely worth watching, slow start and questionable finishing aside, there was a lot to keep viewers invested in the progression of the tournament.
The four cities hosting the games for the tournament, Algiers, Oran, Constantine, and Annaba provided good facilities to host the participating nations as well as travelling fans who came to watch their countries play. The stadia used for the matches were top notch with all the necessary facilities to make spectating games enjoyable available. The spectator stands were full of raucous fans whenever the hosts played, which added a great amount of liveliness to the games, with at least 34,000 fans showing up to watch Algeria’s charge to the finals. The opening match of the tournament, played between the hosts, Algeria, and Libya, drew a crowd of 41,000 people to the Nelson Mandela stadium in Algiers.
The cities hosting the tournament, good, the stadia, good, and the games played? Slow start, but by the end of the tournament, definitely good. There were quite a number of dramatic upsets throughout the tournament, some teams tipped to reach the finals or at least, the latter stages underperformed while dark horses had a great time. Third and fourth placed sides, Madagascar and Niger were definitely not tipped to get as far as they did, but stunning and disciplined performances as well as a wee bit of good fortune propelled them to the semifinal stage, where their fairytale runs were halted. DR Congo, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast failed to make the impact expected of them at the tournament as they woefully underperformed and crashed out early, DR Congo and Cameroon in the group stages, while Ghana and Ivory Coast were knocked out in the quarterfinal stage. at least Ivory Coast got knocked out by the hosts, but Ghana’s abysmal performance against Niger in the quarterfinal was an absolute disgrace.
The officiating at the tournament was generally good, with not much in the way of massively controversial refereeing decisions. The officials had their acts together and played their role in ensuring that games went on smoothly to a tee, and they should be commended for the good work done.
To talk about the bad, while there was not really much to complain about, the most egregious event that to some extent, maybe minor, marred the tournament was the absence of defending champions Morocco. That absence was a result of political tensions between Morocco and Algeria, as Algeria unilaterally closed its airspace to Moroccan flights in 2021. With the two nations unable to reach a settlement and the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) inability to broker any sort of deal or at least provide suitable alternative arrangements to facilitate the participation of Morocco, the defending champions forfeited the tournament. Some might include the speech of Mandla Mandela, the grandson of South African political icon, Nelson Mandela, at the opening ceremony of the tournament to the list of negatives, and technically, they would not be wrong. Political advocacy at sporting events of this sort is generally not looked favourably upon, and his statements were, mildly put, incendiary. Morocco complained to CAF, and the federation opened investigations into those statements, but, in the grand scheme of things, his loose talk did not detract much from the entertainment value of the CHAN tournament.
The quality of football played falls into the middling category. There were some excellent matches, filled with goals, great tactical play, and excitement, as well as some drab games totally lacking in tactical quality or excitement, what some call, snooze-fests. 55 goals scored in 29 games with an average of 1.9 goals per match is, well, decent. There certainly could have, and should have been a lot more goals, but quality upfront in this tournament was generally lacking, not to detract from some of the great defending on display, but the lack of an abundance of goals was a bit disappointing.
All in all, it was a pretty fun tournament to watch, not a great experience for Ghanaian fans, but a good watch for the neutrals, an exciting affair for Senegalese viewers and a heartbreaking experience for Algerians. Congratulations to Senegal for their triumph, commiserations to Algeria, and hopefully the next edition turns out to be just as good, or even way better than Algeria 2022.
