"Sometimes a tournament's greatest strength can be its greatest weakness. In part because of the excellent playing conditions, this has been an Africa Cup of Nations devoid of shocks. The better teams keep winning. There has been a lot of good football, but not a huge amount of memorable football. And the consequence is that, in the final, we have the two best teams, or certainly the best team in north Africa against the best team in sub-Saharan Africa."
"You've got a nerve, turning up here expecting a goalfest. Major finals don't work like that; Afcon finals certainly don't. The last 10 have produced only 10 goals and that includes four periods of extra-time. The stakes are too high to worry about entertainment. Tonight, in Rabat, either Morocco or Senegal will become champions of Africa for only the second time. That's where the similarities end."
"Morocco are desperate to win for two reasons: they are the hosts, and it's 50 years since they last won the competition. Tonight's match is only their second final in that time, an unfathomably poor record for such a revered football nation. Senegal hope to make a different kind of history. This is their third Afcon final in the last four, and they lost on penalties to the eventual winners Ivory Coast in the other one."
Excellent playing conditions produced a largely shock-free Africa Cup of Nations in which the better teams kept advancing. The tournament featured much good football but relatively little that will be remembered as spectacular. The final pits hosts and World Cup semi-finalists Morocco against Senegal, who have reached three of the past four Afcon finals. Major finals at this tournament tend to be low-scoring affairs; the last ten produced only ten goals, including extra time. Morocco seek victory as hosts and to end a 50-year title drought, while Senegal aim to cement a legacy after multiple recent final appearances.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]