The 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon got here to an thrilling denouement final Sunday because the Teranga Lions of Senegal, impressed by Sadio Mané and Édouard Mendy, defeated the Pharaohs of Egypt, led by Mohammed Salah. Coming after either side failed to attain within the 120 minutes of normal and additional time, a penalty shootout secured Senegal’s historic victory.
It was not solely the nation’s first-ever AFCON trophy, however it additionally marked a big triumph for African indigenous coaches having been tactically orchestrated by Aliou Cissé and his backroom employees. After failing as captain to guide Senegal to victory within the 2002 AFCON ultimate towards Cameroon, Cissé, who has been in command of the Senegalese workforce since 2015 and guided them to the 2018 World Cup in Russia as the one Black coach, lastly waltzed into an excellent redemption. Senegal’s historic success underscores the potential of African coaches to excel when given adequate time and sources to work – as is commonly the case with European coaches who work in Africa.
Pundits and commentators, together with Nigeria’s former captain and coach Sunday Oliseh, have famous how this 12 months’s AFCON turned probably the most qualitative prior to now 20 years particularly by way of ways, ardour, and surprises. The identical sentiment was expressed by Samuel Eto’o, present president of the Cameroonian Soccer Federation, who took to Twitter to laud the organisation of “a legendary match” in Cameroon.
However as we solid a retrospective look on the best moments from Cameroon 2021, the accomplishments of your entire match itself brings into view the ambivalent forces which might be generally entangled in sport. Understanding the import of Cameroon’s AFCON success is pertinent, contemplating the prevailing narratives of doom and crises that overshadowed this specific version of the African Cup of Nations.
With instances of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 surging worldwide by the start of 2022, the pandemic turned a pretext to excavate the colonial archive of adverse stereotypes that stubbornly reifies a tradition of disdain in media representations of Africa. Prematurely of the primary kick-off, The Solar newspaper within the UK wrote about how COVID-19 instances would depart the match “in tatters”, whereas the UK’s Every day Mail sneeringly headlined a narrative with warnings of “AFCON terror” primarily based on the escalation of separatist conflicts in Cameroon.
In the meantime, the European Membership Affiliation (ECA) went so far as writing to the world soccer governing physique FIFA to articulate useless anxieties concerning the potential endangerment of Europe-based gamers of African descent collaborating in AFCON.
It was clear even earlier than the match began that the troubling mode of writing and speaking about Africa as a hounded and helpless continent stays firmly embedded in a piece of Western media and soccer officialdom. This disturbing tendency goes hand-in-hand with the racist portrayal of African gamers whether or not in African tournaments or overseas.
The verbal assaults on AFCON prompted Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira to denounce the disrespectful perspective of some Western journalists to the sporting occasion. Vieira’s perception that the African Cup deserved extra respect was shared by a number of different public figures, together with former England striker Ian Wright, who argued in a video posted on Twitter that media protection of AFCON was racially tinged.
Regardless of these adverse tales and expectations – of terror, illness, and hazard – the African Cup of Nations was successful that’s price celebrating, particularly contemplating that it was a significant occasion that occurred amid a pandemic. To know why that is essential, we have to recall that different nations world wide have struggled with worldwide sporting occasions.
In 2020, for instance, as opinions remained divided about holding the Summer time Olympic Video games amid the worldwide pandemic, public well being considerations ultimately pressured the unprecedented postponement of the Tokyo Olympics by a 12 months. In contrast to the COVID-19 warnings previous Cameroon’s internet hosting of AFCON, these have been authentic considerations given Japan’s public well being disaster at the moment. When the Olympic Video games ultimately did happen, Tokyo needed to be put underneath lockdown, whereas spectators weren’t allowed into the venues.
Six months after the Summer time Olympics, China, the host of the winter iteration of the Video games, can also be fighting the pandemic. It has barred overseas guests and closed the sale of tickets to most of the people. Its zero-COVID draconian measures have resulted in confusion and condemnation by some athletes.
The pandemic was additionally a problem for Cameroon, however it didn’t lead to a significant public well being catastrophe, as was predicted earlier than the occasion. That mentioned, AFCON 2021 was not a totally easy journey. On January 24, eight individuals died throughout a stampede at Olembe stadium in Yaounde earlier than the Cameroon-Comoros match.
There have been different points as nicely that took the shine off Cameroon’s organisation of the match, together with the fallacious nationwide anthem being performed for Mauritania and the Zambian referee, Janny Sikazwe ending the match between Tunisia and Mali within the eighty fifth minute earlier than altering his thoughts. Stories later emerged that Sikazwe had suffered heatstroke and wanted medical consideration. And, after all, looming over your entire match itself was Cameroon’s imperious response to the calls for of its Anglophone residents.
These poignant moments apart, the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon was an enormous success, proving fallacious the refrain of critics that lined up within the run-up to the occasion. The match was a competition of tactical shows and charming performances that underpinned how a lot the sport has advanced on the continent. Wanting forward, it is very important construct upon these achievements by revitalising native leagues and growing the required infrastructures for extra expertise to thrive.
Africans additionally must proceed resisting racist, colonial representations in soccer and past. One approach to consolidate this undertaking of resistance is by empowering ourselves, decolonising our societies, and insisting on stable financial and infrastructural transformations that actually stem from and tackle native wants.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.