adminSome years ago it was almost a foregone conclusion that nations like the once mighty Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal among other African big boys, were almost certain of going through to the continental showpiece with one of them going all the way to lift the top prize.
It is not clear exactly what happened but things suddenly took a dramatic shift with so-called small teams causing shock waves across the world.
Mighty and tournament favourites as they are, Senegal, ranked 43 in the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings, were the first side to fly out of the venue after similar 2-1 shock defeats to Zambia and co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, ranked 71 and a distant 151 on the world respectively.
World Cup quarter-finalists Ghana were just lucky to beat Nations Cup debutants Botswana 1-0 thanks to a John Mensah goal.
A simple look at the composition of the starting eleven in the Equatorial Guinea and Senegal match will reveal that not even one Senegalese player plies his trade on the African soil while for the hosts, the majority play on their home soil with those outside, like goalkeeper, Brazil born Danilo Silva and David Aguirre playing for lower league teams in Europe.
Silva plays in the Italian Serie B for Salgueiro while Aguirre is in Spain with Langreo in the Tercera Division, a league made up of 361 teams which are divided into four regions, all fighting for three places in the
Segunda Division B league, a third tie league in Spain before the more competitive La Liga where giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona play.
On Wednesday though, where Silva plays meant nothing as his injury time 28-metre pile driver sent the Teranga Lions back home after a 62nd minute opener from home based Randy.
Randy plays for Las Palmas in Equatorial Guniea.
“There is no more small teams in football, not even in club football,” says former Masvingo United and Hwange midfield enforcer, Oswald “Cargo” Sibanda, now based in the United Kingdom.
Some analysts have blamed big money payouts that these Europe-based stars are getting from their respective clubs as the major reasons why they tend to put up lethargic performances when on national duty.
During the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola, there were disturbing reports of infighting in the Cote d’Ivoire camp with players boasting about how much wealth they had amassed.
“Senegal got individual players and Equatorial Guinea played as a team, Demba played relaxed like someone who is on holiday, yet Guinea played for their nation,” reasoned Sibanda.
Senegal’s exit has surely caused uncertainty on the future of the remaining star-studded sides, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire especially looking at the fact that one of the two giant killers Zambia and Equatorial Guinea, will almost certainly clash with the Didier Drogba captained Ivorians in the quarter-finals.
For the Zimbabwe Warriors, the early exit of Senegal at the hands of minnows should save as a confidence booster when they face North African giants Egypt in the World Cup 2014 qualification race later in the year.
The other question that might be asked is: Is this shift only on national teams or even at club football level because it is perhaps only in Spain where two teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid, seem to be toying around with the rest of the teams, with the only thing unknown before the match being the number of scores which these two sides will score.
In the Barclays Premiership Soccer League, the times of giants seems to be vanishing with each passing week, as explained by the Blackburn/Manchester United results, Liverpool/Wigan results and Chelsea’s continued fall from grace despite being owned by a billionaire.
Online Reporter