The 2015 Glo/CAF awards have come and gone but the memory that lingers most is that of Cote D’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure, Africa’s most successful and probably most decorated football player, whining and weeping over not been awarded Africa’s best player for an unprecedented fifth time in a row.
After the event in Abuja, Nigeria, last week he had very harsh words to say to the press about CAF, Africans and the awards.
To start with I wondered what he was thinking by coming at all to the event. Was it a case of having won it four previous times and had become so used to winning it that he forgot someone else could win it too?
Or did CAF and the sponsors assure him that he would win before he agreed to attend?
In the very early days of the award that was the suspicion that raised some doubts about its integrity – that the winners were hinted who would win ahead of the ceremony.
That’s why a few times in the early days of the event only the eventual winners always showed up.
To change all of that and bring drama and authenticity to the event took massive financial and political muscling by Globacom.
Slowly and steadily the event grew and has now finally attained the anticipated international stature, credibility, transparency and respectability.
Suddenly, Yaya is threatening to derail all of that with his angry public outburst.
True, Yaya has been the most prominent and most consistent African player in Europe through most of the past decade. With the clubs he played for and the trophies they won he towers above every other player from Africa like a colossus. This is a clear reflection not only of his individual quality but also of a dearth of exceptional talent coming out of Africa particularly this past decade to challenge him.
The only other players who shared part of the space with him were Samuel Eto, Didier Drogba and Seidu Keita, his former compatriot in FC Barcelona where they were both members of the historic 6-trophy team.
Yaya has been lucky. He came to the forefront of African football at the right time, younger than Eto, Drogba and Keita. He also joined Manchester City in 2010 at a time when the club’s ambitions were matched with enormous resources to make the team a force in England.
So, as Eto and Drogba started to fade with age he started to rise and shine like a diamond in the sky, mercurially anchoring Manchester City’s central mid-field to win the EPL trophy in 2011/12 for the first time in the club’s history.
During the last season although Manchester City were second on the final EPL table, Yaya led Cote D’Ivoire to win the African Cup of Nations for the first in their history.
These are still very enviable achievements by all standards and Yaya must have thought enough to earn him the African award in 2015.
Meanwhile, at the same time, in the less visible and obviously less followed German Bundesliga Pierre Aubameyang, the young Gabonese striker, had also been playing well and consistently. He had indeed become a goal-scoring machine in the very difficult German league. The young striker had averaged 1 goal per match in all competitions in the past three years. No wonder he is being chased by some of Europe’s best clubs including Arsenal and, some even say, PSG and FC Barcelona.
Pierre had become as critical to Dortmund’s success as Yaya was to Manchester City’s, if not more.
In 2015, in Europe, Pierre definitely surpassed Yaya in individual performance with the consistency of his goal scoring. It is no mean feat to have scored 25 goals in 46 matches in 2015 in one of the most technically advanced leagues in the world!
Cote D’Ivoire may have won the African Cup and this achievement may rub off on Toure, but the choice of Africa’s best player transcends collective team achievement and narrows down to individual performance. That’s where Yaya missed the point.
The question to ask is this: does Yaya Toure deserve to have been crowned Africa’s best in 2015 following his individual performances during the year compared to that of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?
As much as I love Toure I do not think so. Apparently 143 other coaches and technical directors from across Africa agree with me and voted for Pierre.
So, for Yaya to accuse CAF of being ‘pathetic’, ‘indecent’ and to have ‘brought shame to Africa’ for not giving him the award a fifth time does him no credit. He is a bad loser. In 2014 that Yaya won ahead of the same Pierre what did he achieve for either club or country to have earned it? Nothing!
He won because it is not all the time about club or country’s achievements but about a player’s contribution and performances in both. Pierre was declared winner on the strength of his individual performances.
The reality is that a technical group made up of coaches and technical directors from all African countries are responsible for the final election. CAF guides them through the initial nominations and the entire process but the final choice is not CAF’s.
Yaya should have been noble and demonstrated maturity and sportsmanship by accepting his fate and congratulating a fellow African player instead of allowing his emotions to override decent conduct.
To have decided to cry foul, to have castigated and rebuked CAF and to have wept in front of cameras was cheap, uncalled for and poor sportsmanship.
A judge cannot preside over his own case, which is what he wanted to do. He lost in both the moral as well as physical courts of African football.
Yaya Toure should start to accept his reality very quickly. His best years are behind him now inevitably. His game has slowed down considerably and age is definitely taking its toll and blunting his sharpness and speed. Yet he continues to do well both for his club and country. His records, performances and achievements stand him out as probably the most successful African player ever. This should not be smeared with this unhealthy and unnecessary rebuke.
The GLO/CAF awards ceremony is doing a great job in focusing on the performances of African footballers and their coaches. The event continues to grow in stature, credibility, reputation and entertainment content.
It has become a truly beautiful show that brings together and celebrates the best African footballers from around the world. Yaya should not mess up with it!
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