Imagine Unlimited

Admittedly, this is more a wish for the Nations Cup Final than a rational guess. Ghana's defence against Nigeria today did give a good account of itself, and for a team as decimated of its top talents as The youthful Black Stars, getting this far is in itself no small feat.

This steely display, in a match that could turn a footballing fanatic into a devotee of curling, does not take away from the fact that Ghana's opponents in the final are the only team playing anything near world class football at this dreary tournament. With one dimensional wrestling/hoofing contests that bear more in common with the Kenya's Nationwide League than a Segunda match, this tournament is anything but a great advertisement for African football.

The Pharaohs are ancient, and it is a pity that this great generation, now in their sixth unbeaten year at the Africa Cup of Nations  will never play at a World Cup. Their 4-0 destruction today of Algeria, the team that denied them a berth at the World Cup in South Africa, underlines their superiority, just as their 3-1 demolition of powerhouses Nigeria and Cameroon highlighted that the Egyptians are not, in Angola, playing in their league.

While the majority of the other giants (Algeria excepted) prefer to play like a Sam Allardyce outfit, Egypt revel in the fast paced, high intelligence football that the musclemen from West Africa seem unable to muster, and that sharply cuts through the brawn and violence they put up in resistance. It also happens to be the footballing style which football fans around the world are now demanding of their teams, and that which pays back the long hours spent waiting for late evening football matches.  

A friend in Kenya reports overhearing from a silenced crowd gathered to watch Egypt versus Cameroon before a set of display screens at a major Kenyan supermarket,

we may not support these Arabs, but Mgalla muue na haki umpe. Egypt can play football.

But back to the pitch then. The excuses doing the rounds for the failure to turn up, not just by big teams like Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, but also by such superstars as Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Alexander Song, etc are legion, but the most interesting are the temperature and the new ball.

The new ball, which some are calling a beach ball, is said to be too light to control. It is however, the same ball that will be used in South Africa, so the African teams may have an advantage then having experienced it at CAN. The temperature excuse will also not be available at the World Cup as the tournament will be held in the Southern winter.

From among lesser known, or less-feared teams, the Zambians have also had a very good tournament. So good in fact that we must expect that a few of them will have their names on fan tshirts in the world's biggest leagues soon.They and Egypt seem unaffected by the ball, or the temperature, which fact suggests the other teams are just indolent and disorganised.

To redeem this tournament then, in the public imagination and memory, something special needs to come out of the remainder of it. Following Ghana's almost complete absence in attack against Nigeria today, only the promise of a large score by the Pharaohs against the Black Stars will make this match worth watching. Egypt 4, Ghana 0. I hope.