THE FOOTBALL wheel is turning and teams that used to be African powerhouses are now becoming ordinary, while so-called small teams are ascending the ladder, holding their own against tough opposition.
This is the view of SuperSport’s Africa correspondent, Thomas “TK” Kwenaite, after teams such as Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Zimbabwe and Mali showed a lot of improvement at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, which runs until 5 February.
The main concern as the tournament progresses is goal-scoring, with 17 goals scored by the end of the first round of matches, two fewer than the 19 scored in the same round in Equatorial Guinea in 2015.
Kwenaite agrees that scoring continues to be a big problem, but heaped praise on developing football countries.
“Remember when people said this tournament would be boring without Zambia, Nigeria and South Africa,” he asked.
“But now look at how teams like Guinea-Bissau are holding their own. They were unfortunate to lose (2-1) to Cameroon on Wednesday.
“We must give credit to all the small teams who have improved by such big strides.
“The so-called giants must be aware because their days are numbered. Smaller teams are on the rise. Look at Egypt and Cameroon who are struggling, while the small teams are having a great day at the office.”
He added that the gap in competitiveness had narrowed considerably, which is good for African football.
“In the PSL in the past, in any match where a team faced Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates it was obvious who would win, but not any more. Things have changed completely.”
He took a swipe at the Confederation of African Football (Caf) for its system of assistance to Afcon host countries. “The Caf system does not work,” he suggested.
“They offer no financial help to local organising committees of host nations. Fifa helped Safa financially during the 2010 World Cup to build Safa House. But from a small country like Gabon, Caf expects a miracle – amid political challenges and a complete lack of medical equipment in hospitals.
“Small countries won’t be able to host Afcon in future if it continues like this.”
