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Weekend Football
25 January 2008
by Jerrad Peters

African Nations Cup
Both Morocco and Ghana entered the 2008 African Nations Cup as prohibitive favorites. The similarities end there, however. For while Ghana has delivered a pair of consistent, albeit tedious, performances, Morocco has been all over the map.

After trouncing Namibia to open the competition, the Lions of the Atlas proceeded to lose 3-2 to Guinea. The scoreline, it should be noted, quite flattered the losers. Guinea, meanwhile, had lost their opening fixture to Ghana. So when Syli Nationale greased Morocco for three points, it came with no shortage of raised eyebrows.

Henri Michel, for starters, clearly took the result for granted. Morocco’s complacency was punished after just 11-minutes when Guinea captain Pascal Feindouno scored from a set-piece. It was a superb strike. The 24-year-old St. Etienne midfielder arched the ball around the wall and beyond Khalid Fouhami in the goal.

Feindouno, whose performance was one of the most outstanding of the tournament to date, was at it again just prior to the hour-mark. This time, however, he was the provider as Ismael Bangura ran onto his through-ball on the edge of the box and calmly stroked Guinea’s second past Fouhami.

Down by a pair, Morocco finally came to life. Hicham Aboucherouane pulled his side to within a goal after unleashing a cannon from distance. From there, the match took on a frenzied pace. Just three minutes after Aboucheroune’s tally, Souleymane Youla was tripped inside the area and Feindouno successfully converted the resulting penalty.

Shortly thereafter, however, Feindouno was assessed a straight red card for kicking El-Armine Erbate below the knee. With a man-power advantage, Morocco pressed to narrow the lead once again. They were denied, however, until Abdesalam Ouaddou narrowed the gap to a single goal in stoppage time.

With the loss, Morocco now face a must-win scenario against Ghana on Monday. Guinea, meanwhile, can progress into the quarterfinals with a win over Namibia.

They could be forgiven for fancying their chances. After the 5-1 hammering to Morocco, Namibia were beaten 1-0 by Ghana on Thursday. They have little to play for as the group phase winds down; while Guinea can earn a surprising berth in the knockout stages with a win.

Ghana, meanwhile, have been steady and unspectacular. And in a competition which typically produces up-and-down performances such as Morocco’s, there’s something to be said for the Black Stars’ consistency.

Namibia switched goalkeepers at the outset of the match; and their defensive play was effective in the early going. Ghana mounted a handful of dangerous attacks; but each was scuppered by the efficient backline of the Brave Warriors.

Manager Arie Schans’ tactics nearly paid off when Brian Brendall broke free on a counter-attack in the 19th-minute. The 21-year-old FC Civics midfielder scuffed the shot, however; and Namibia would rue the missed opportunity.

On the other side of the ball, Michael Essien took complete control. From the centre of the park, the Chelsea midfielder placed pass after pass to his forwards and engineered everything that Ghana mustered. Finally, after nearly an entire period, he found Quincy Owusu-Abeyie on the edge of the area. The Celta Vigo forward quickly slotted the ball to Junior Agogo who tucked it into the goal for a 1-0 lead on the cup of half-time.

Namibia had several more chances after the restart. But once again, Brendell and Colin Benjamin missed clear chances in front of Richard Kingson. Benjamin, in particular, should have had an equalizer in the 75th-minute.

Even with a win against Guinea on Monday, Namibia’s goal-differential of -5 effectively rules them out of the knockout stages. Beyond that, anything is possible in Group A. If Morocco can summon the kind of form with which they began the competition, they might well beat Ghana and eliminate the hosts. A draw, assuming that Guinea beats Namibia, would see Ghana and Guinea go through. But, as has been demonstrated in this bracket, nothing should be assumed or taken for granted.