African Sports Monthly February 2013 Issue | Page 16

SPORTS TALK
BY AYODELE ODUMADE

NIGERIA WERE WORTHY WINNERS OF THE
AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS

Celebration of Victory

The African Cup of Nations has
come and gone and African Football fans have been spoilt with a
feast of football for the second time
within a year. This was largely due
to the fact that CAF have now
changed the tournament to an odd
number year so that it does not
clash with the world cup. This to
me is just another concession of
the birthright of African Football. It
is bad enough that most friendly
matches involving African teams
now take place mainly in Europe.

The tournament took a while to warm up and the early criticism that the games were
sterile were not without justification. The state of the some of the pitches did not exactly help at all. The likes of Cape Verde and Ethiopia won the hearts of the neutral
fans with their brand of football. Cape Verde could particularly feel outdone by some
poor refereeing decisions, which flattered Ghana in the quarter finals and did not tell
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