By Segun Odegbami
The Shame
……. FIFA President, Giovani Infantino, led a campaign to have AFCON 2021 cancelled. His reason was untenable and pure balderdash!
Can you believe that some national football federation presidents in Africa were part of the plot, behind the scenes, to have the Championship cancelled for no reason at all beyond obeying their ‘master’s’ bidding?
The success of the first week of AFCON 2021 must have been a big disappointment to them.
…it is a great shock and shame to learn of their clandestine role…… forgetting that Europe successfully hosted their own championship even at a worse time when Covid-19 was ravaging the region.
Why should Africa’s be treated differently now?
The names of all the presidents that backed that anti-African move should be made public, and every one of them made to face the music…….
The Pride
…… the campaigners could have succeeded but for the divinely inspired emergence of a powerful and ‘unpolluted’ figure, Eto Samuel Fils, as President of Cameroon’s national football federation.
He was not going to be a part of any shenanigans during his first assignment as President and host of Africa’s greatest football championship.
What did he do?
It was a thing of immense pride also to watch the spectacle of the opening ceremony of AFCON… the displays on the field of play…of African flair, spectacle, power and athleticism in full display.
So far, two countries have stood out for me in the championship….my prediction is that the two.. are likely to get to the finish line.