Albion at the African Cup of Nations: Matchday One Round Up
Leon Balogun and Gaetan Bong both kicked off the African Cup of Nations with victories but there was disappointment for Percy Tau as South Africa lost their opening group game.
The Lion of Judah played the full 90 minutes in Bafana Bafana’s 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast in Cairo. Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia scored the only goal of the game just past the hour mark to give the Elephants victory in the tournament’s group of death.
This was the first time that many of us have been able to actually catch Tau in action and there were some promising signs.
South Africa were extremely limited in terms of ability and ambition, seemingly content to sit back and defend and try and nick a goal from set pieces.
Tau was the chief taker of these and his delivery was superb. Someone on Twitter described it as “Paul Watson-esque” and while that may have been over egging the pudding slightly, the Ivorians were definitely worried whenever the Lion of Judah was stood over a free kick or corner.
His pace also looked like it could unsettle Ivory Coast on the counter, not that South Africa ever really utilised it. Neither side were great as attacking forces in a turgid encounter that probably wasn’t helped by the stifling Egyptian heat.
Crystal Palace’s golden child Wilfried Zaha was only named among the substitutes for the Elephants but even he couldn’t really impact on proceedings, having just a couple of runs which surprisingly did not end with theatrical dives. Unfortunately, nobody in the crowd felt the need to lob a chicken and gammon pie at him either.
The result leaves Bafana Bafana in a difficult place at the bottom of Group C. Ivory Coast and Morocco will be the overwhelming favourites to escape it, but with the four best third-place teams progressing to the round of 16 then South Africa’s hopes of making it through aren’t over yet.
They face Namibia next on Friday in a must-win game. A good tournament for South Africa could push them towards the top 50 in the FIFA World Rankings, which is where they need to be for Tau to qualify for a British Work Permit.
Balogun meanwhile was an unused sub as Nigeria got their campaign underway with a 1-0 victory over Burundi. Substitute Odion Ighalo netted a late winner for the Super Eagles just four minutes after coming off the bench to send them top of Group B.
There is considerable doubt though about whether they will stay there. You can’t have a major international tournament featuring African nations without a pay dispute and the threat of a strike and this year, it’s Nigeria’s turn to do the honours.
Balogun and company are locked in a dispute with the Nigerian Football Federation over unpaid allowances and bonuses relating to the participation in Egypt.
As a result, the squad turned up over an hour late to training the day after their win against Burundi. They’ve also refused to do media interviews and are said to be considering going on strike for their next fixture against Guinea on Wednesday.
Balogun is probably already a pretty unhappy bunny, even before this pay dispute. As a result of his lack of game time for the Albion this season, he’s lost his place in the Nigeria starting line up for the tournament.
That could strengthen his apparent desire to the leave the Amex this summer in search of first team football – especially given the fact that he has probably fallen further down the pecking order following the £3.5m signing of Matt Clarke from Portsmouth.
One man who won’t be going anywhere from Brighton this summer is Bong. He too was an unused sub as Cameroon got their defence of the trophy underway with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau.
The wonderfully named Banana Yaya opened the scoring for the Indomitable Lions on 66 minutes with Stéphane Bahoken adding the second two minutes later. Bahoken has been strongly linked with a move to the Albion’s Premier League rivals Leicester City this summer.
Bong and Cameroon face their toughest test of the group stage next when they took Ghana on Saturday with a 6pm kick off in Ismailia.
