World Scene / Paddy Agnew: Italian coach Marcello Lippi turned up late last Friday when he went on a spying mission to watch Senegal play Ghana in a Group D African Cup of Nations tie played in Port Said, Egypt.
Lippi's driver lost himself on the way to the stadium but even if he arrived after Ghana's Matthew Amoah had scored the game's only goal in the 13th minute, the Italian coach still saw enough to let him know the side against which Italy start their World Cup campaign in Germany this summer will provide serious opposition in Hannover on June 12th.
In that sense, at least, the African Cup of Nations has thus far run true to form. Ten days into the tournament and already we have had some, not exactly unexpected verdicts. For a start when sides like Togo and Angola qualified for Germany 2006 at the expense of established African nations such as Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, many commentators expressed doubts about the "long term" value of their form.
The doubters have had their worst fears confirmed with Angola and Togo both already on their way home from the tournament. Togo registered a hat-trick of first-round defeats, beaten 2-0 by DR Congo, 2-0 by Cameroon and 3-2 by Angola. Not that it went much better for Angola since that 3-2 win over Togo came after a 3-1 defeat by Cameroon and a 0-0 draw with Congo.
Not for nothing, both Angola coach Luis Concalves and Togo coach Stephen Keshi are currently under pressure to hold onto their jobs. They could yet run the risk of being sacked even before the World Cup finals begin. In the meantime, the Germany 2006 first round group featuring Togo along with France, South Korea and Switzerland is looking every day less awesome. Admittedly, much the same could be said of Angola's first round group where their opponents are Iran, Mexico and Portugal.
Previewing this tournament, two weeks ago, we suggested it was unlikely to expect either Morocco or South Africa to do well. Both countries appointed new coaches in the run-up to the Nations Cup and it was always likely that Ted Dumitru of South Africa and Frenchman Philippe Troussier of Morocco would view the tournament more with an eye to the future than with the idea of actually winning it.
Morocco went goalless for three games, being beaten 1-0 by Ivory Coast and being held to 0-0 draws by host country Egypt and by Libya. Beaten 2-0 by both Guinea and Tunisia in their first round games, the South Africans were already out of the competition before they played yesterday's meaningless tie against another eliminated side, namely Zambia.
Whilst Troussier is likely to stay in place, Dumitru has already indicated he will step down after the tournament, pointing out he took the job for the Nations Cup only on a short-term basis in order to help them out of tight corner. Among those who may be applying for Dumitru's job are the former Tottenham, Barcelona and England coach Terry Venables and the former Republic of Ireland manager, Brian Kerr.
If the new man had any illusions about the pressures attached to the job, he would do well to reflect on the comments of state President Thabo Mbeki. In a speech on Sunday at an African National Congress Youth League event in Kroonstad, he said: "I say they did not try to ensure that our country becomes a winning nation. We cannot be a losing nation in a way that Bafana Bafana lost in Egypt."
The real significance of this African Cup will emerge in the next week. Two World Cup qualifiers who have lived up to their reputations are Tunisia and Ivory Coast, both into the quarter-finals whilst Egypt and two of the Nigeria-Ghana-Senegal trio will also go through.
These sides, not smaller countries like Togo and Angola, represent the real strength of African football. With home advantage, Egypt remain an obvious choice.
