Seven-time Africa Cup of Nations champions, Egypt limped into the knockout stages following a four-goal thrilling stalemate against group winners, Cape Verde. The Egyptians drew all three games with identical scorelines, scoring six goals and conceding six goals to amass three points and finish as runners-up in Group B. The loss of influential captain and forward, Mohammed Salah is a big blow to the title aspirations of the North Africans, who have their work cut out in the knockout stages concerning their defensive frailties.
Meanwhile, four-time champions, Ghana’s forty-two-year wait for Africa Cup of Nations glory continues following a dismal group stage outing where the Black Stars earned a paltry two points from three games to stare down at yet another group stage exit. A miserable record of one win in their last 10 matches across three editions of the tournament has once again put Ghana in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. They will need results from several contests to go their way to stand a chance to qualify as one of the third-best placed teams.
The Black Stars preparations – training camp, friendlies – for the continental showpiece was poor following a laboured goalless stalemate against African minnows, Namibia in Kumasi. The lethargic performance against Namibia was backed up by a more disastrous showing in their opening game of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations against Cape Verde; the Black Stars were outplayed for the vast majority of the match and deservedly lost. The team’s lack of playing style and performance was so appalling that an angry Ghanaian supporter confronted coach, Chris Hughton at the team’s lobby after the match, an incident that required the intervention of Ivorian security officials.
Apparently, the confrontation by that angry supporter was a preamble to a grand confrontation by Ghanaian journalists who accosted the team bus after the Black Stars squandered a two-goal lead against Mozambique. Some of them verbally insulted the coach as seen in viral clips online. This obvious meltdown is reflective of the mood of Ghanaians, who are extremely disappointed at the team’s overall performance, especially the squandering of a two-goal lead within three minutes of added time.
For a team that reached the semifinal of every AFCON from 2008 to 2017 as well as qualify for three successive World Cups – 2006, 2010 and 2014 – the Black stars have become unrecognizable by so many Ghanaians with several low moments over the past seven years. Two points from three games in a group that has Mozambique and Cape Verde can hardly be adjudged as an improvement from the disastrous 2021 AFCON outing where Ghana registered a solitary point to finish bottom of a group that had Gabon and Comoros. Although the chunk of the blame will stop at the manager’s desk, the players are to be blamed as well; some of them are decent at clubside but perform very poorly when they get to the national team.
It has been over four decades Ghana won the Africa Cup of Nations, a time when the tournament had just eight teams participating. With the diverse challenges of the team left unsolved, Ghanaians will have to endure further misery before the much desired title triumph will be achieved at the Africa Cup of Nations.
