The just concluded Total
AFCON 2019 had 52 matches played in total since this year’s showpiece had 24
teams for the first time in the tournament history. The tournament hosted by
Egypt had 943,053 attendances averaging 181,36 per match.
The AFCON has set a
benchmark for subsequent 24 teams AFCON. 102 goals were scored in total
averaging 1.96 goals per match. Odion Ighalo of Nigeria contributed 4.90% of
this 102 to emerge as the tournament’s top scorer with 5 goals. Nevertheless,
would this serve as an improvement? In 2013 AFCON, 69 goals were scored in
total averaging 2.15 goals per match. 2015 AFCON recorded total number of goals
equaling what was scored in the group phase of this year’s AFCON alone, 68
averaging 2.12 goals per match. In the 31st edition of the mundial
won by Cameroon, 66 goals were scored in total by all participating 16 teams
averaging 2.06 goals per match. Hence the past 3 editions of this tournament featuring
16 teams produce a mean average of 2.11 goals per match.
By statistical
analyses, the mean goals of 67.67 calculated for the past 3 editions would mean
33.83 goals are scored by each 8 teams in the tournament. Therefore, When the
tournament consists of 3 sets of 8 teams equaling 24 teams in total, it’s
expected that the total number of goals to be recorded will be in the figure of
101.49 goals, recording a negligible thus insignificant difference with the
real total of 102 recorded during the tournament. Apparently, we are still
where we were and the extension may have opened opportunity for newcomers
within the continent to have a feel of AFCON and probably increased IGR for
financial statisticians, but it failed in improving the flair of scoring technicality
in African football thereby exposing the lackluster and clinical deficiency in
front of goal of strikers within the shores, arguably induced by the general
style of play since these strikers could put up tasty performance outside the
shores. Consequently, it put to questioning the productivity of the known
African energetic style of football, an argument also buttressed by appalling
performances of African nations outside the shores of Africa and at the global
stage.
A breakdown of the total
number of goals scored in this tournament shows 68 goals were scored in total
at the group stage while the first ever round of 16 in an AFCON, quarter
finals, semi-finals, third place and final recorded 19, 9, 4, 1 and 1 goal
respectively. 2015 semi-finals of this tournament were however better since 7
goals were scored at the semis against the 4 goals recorded in this year’s
semis and 2017. Same could be argued for 2015 quarter finals who saw a total of
16 goals scored at this level but the 32nd edition’s quarter finals
recorded a drop to 9 goals and 6 goals were recorded for that of 2017.
In the end, Algeria emerged the 32nd winner of the trophy since its inception in 1957 beating Senegal at the final. Same Algeria also emerged as the highest scoring nation scoring a total of 13 goals but conceded just 2 (against Nigeria and Ivory coast) with 5 clean sheets. Nigeria, who won Bronze for a record 8 times emerged as the second highest scoring nation netting 9 goals in total although the 7 goals conceded by same nation could put that ranking to a debate. The country nevertheless, maintained 3 clean sheets throughout the tournament. 32nd runners up, Senegal finished with a total of 8 goals as they failed to increase their tally at the final which probably would have given them glimpse of taking the match to extra time while increasing their chances of winning the trophy. Nevertheless, Senegal kept 5 clean sheets in total. South Africa on their part left us with an amusing and maybe disappointing record to chew. The country who eliminated host nation and before touted heavy favorite, Egypt at the round of 16 needed just 3 goals in all to progressed to the quarter final, an average of 1 goal per stage (Group stage, Round of 16 and Quarter final). This means South Africa conceded one goal more than they scored in the entire tournament before their eventual elimination at the quarter final by Nigeria.
Senegal, another touted
heavy favorite to win the trophy before commencement of the tournament may have
their poor goal conversion rating to blame which may in some quarters justify
their second place finish. Surprisingly, Debutants Madagascar found themselves
in good record book after ranking second best team with good goal conversion of
19% behind champions Algeria who did 20% goal conversion and third will be
Ivory Coast with 15%. Egypt and Nigeria are the other two in the top five with
14% goal conversion rating each. Again, this could make a case against Tunisia
whose shadow could not be seen anywhere around this ranking but were in the
semis and finished fourth.
African football is said
to be played with energy, stamina and agility. Little wonder Algeria didn’t
just win the trophy alone but won also the nation with the highest number of
yellow cards, conceding 14 yellow cards in total as a team, 1 higher than
second placed Tunisia in the yellow card ranking but 2 higher than Benin and
South Africa tied at 11. In the end, CAF awarded fair play prize to Senegal
however one may be tempted to ask how a team who conceded 10 yellow cards in
total ranked fair ahead of Nigeria who played the same number of matches as did
Senegal but conceded only 6 yellows in total. A twist to the plot could be that
Senegal played in the final whereas Nigeria played at the apex of third place
match. Whatever the rationale, the yellow cards ranking per team should have
been factored in. In all, a total of 164 yellow cards were issued all-through
the tournament averaging 3.15 yellow cards per match. The group stage recorded
102 yellow cards issued and the knockout stages including the final recorded 62
yellow cards. Benin crowned themselves as the most undisciplined nation bagging
11 yellow cards and 2 red cards conceded by Khaled Adenon and Olivier Verdon.
Other red card victims were Christophe Nduwarugira of Burundi, John Boye of
Ghana and Philemon Otieno of Kenya summing up to 5 red cards issued in total.
The energy expended in
the tournament led to a total of 1994 fouls committed in total with 1298 of
this number recorded in the group stage alone. The final alone recorded 50
fouls in total, fourth highest in terms of total number of fouls committed per
match, third being the match involving same nations at the group stage that
produced 53 fouls, second being the match between Mali vs Ivory Coast that
produced 54 fouls and last and first will be the match between Madagascar vs DR
Congo who produced 56 fouls in total in this unwanted ranking. The final
complimented this number of fouls with 6 yellow cards which is joint highest
issued per match.
One flamboyant memory of
the AFCON will be the resilience of the debutant nations, Madagascar, Burundi
and Mauritania. While Burundi (alongside Guinea-Bissau) exited the tournament
without registering a single goal, their challenging performance against Nigeria
is something to remember. More so, Mauritania may have exited the tournament at
the group stage with just 1 goal recorded to their first ever AFCON appearance
however, they weren’t the poorest side at least judging by the number of goals
conceded as statistic shows that Tanzania whom Emmanuel Amunike of Nigeria
qualified for the show piece for the first time in 39 years (since 1980)
conceded the highest number of goals being 8 followed by Kenya with 7 tied with
three times winners Nigeria and Madagascar.
Remarkably, Madagascar set a
benchmark for any AFCON tournament as debuting nation as they progressed in a
fairy tale run from the group stage before seeing elimination at the quarter
final. The poor turn out of fans at the stands especially at the group stage
even in matches involving giant of the tournament like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria
etc. is a sad one to forget. No thanks to the host nation.
Reliable Reliance
Udoenyin
Twitter: @reliablerely