Low attendance, upsets… AFCON week 1 wrap

The African Cup of Nations AFCON 2023 is well underway with upsets by less-fancied nations while Senegal and Morocco strolled to wins to confirm their favourites status.

The technical level of play has also improved drastically, especially by the fearless lowly-ranked nations, and big names are still trying to find their feet.

Daily Trust looks at three things that have stood out in the five days old tournament that has delivered 27 goals.

LOW ATTENDANCE

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Local Organizing Committee of the tournament should be sweating over the low turnout of fans to stadiums since the opening day. Only half of the stadium was filled for the opening ceremony and first match involving the hosts, a guaranteed full-house day in previous tournaments.

Economic realities are also biting and only 10,000 fans watched the Super Eagles fail to win against Equatorial Guinea the next day. A total of 166,924 fans have attended the 12 matches played so far, with an average attendance of 13,910. This should be a source of worry for the organizers especially as attendance is expected to dwindle as the number of matches reduce into the knockout stages. While CAF has claimed it has sold 60% of tickets online and also admitted “printing issues” as fans struggle to buy tickets, it is time to be creative.

VAR CORRECT

AFCON 2023 has 12 video assistant referees (VAR) and majority of the decisions have been without controversy bar Ghana’s disallowed goal. Egypt was awarded a penalty after fulltime, restored Morocco’s third goal in their 3-0 victory, and prevented minnows Namibia from further embarrassing Tunisia in their 1-0 loss to the Southern African nation. Another last-minute penalty was awarded to Burkina Faso in their win while Ghana was correctly denied a goal in their loss to Cape Verde.

Interestingly, the professionalism while taking the decisions have been laudable, with both on-field referee and VAR team in seamless conversation without trying to take centre stage to disrupt the matches. The EPL can learn a thing or two from the level of refereeing in this competition.

COMICAL ONANA

While African stars joined national team camps in readiness for AFCON, Cameroon were unsuccessful with the release of Andre Onana, the country’s best goalkeeper playing for Manchester United. The 27-year-old and his club went against FIFA regulations that says a player must join up with his national team before the start of the competition, with attendant penalties for violation but European powerhouses have become defiant to regulatory bodies. In this latest episode, the player’s sense of national pride should also be called into question, especially as he expected to be given the starting berth after arriving just hours before the first match. Coach Rigobert Song locked the goalkeeper who has conceded 48 goals for is club in just five months out of the team while Onana disgracefully fumed at the decision. It reportedly took the intervention of African legends including El-Hadj Diouf to calm Onana who used choice words on his team. It is hoped the former Ajax youngster shows remorse, else be ostracized for his show of shame.