{"id":1471,"date":"2019-04-22T12:49:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T11:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/?p=1471"},"modified":"2019-06-29T18:27:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T17:27:50","slug":"afcon-2019-diary-day-1-fly-on-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/afcon-2019-diary-day-1-fly-on-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0AFCON 2019 Daily Diary – Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t believe it myself, but I am not in<\/b>\u00a0Egypt for the 32nd <\/sup>edition of the African Cup of Nations championship that kicked off last night in Cairo.\u00a0I am unable to travel to Egypt because my international passport has been stuck in the US embassy for the past 6 weeks. I submitted it for the renewal of my expired US visa. What used to be a routine one-week affair (before the drop-box system was abolished on May 10) has become an agonizingly endless wait that threatens to keep me away entirely from AFCON 2019.<\/p>\n

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Yet, I have a promise to keep that I made to a growing army of readers of my columns in several social media platforms including the new website, of course,\u00a0www.mathematical7.com<\/a>– to publish a\u00a0daily diary of<\/b>\u00a0my experiences during the championship. These are bits and pieces of interesting and unusual things around the championship in general but around the\u00a0Super Eagles of <\/i><\/b>Nigeria<\/strong> in particular.\u00a0 The only way I can achieve that objective now without being physically in Egypt would require stretching creativity to the limit and do the\u00a0impossible –\u00a0<\/b>become\u00a0a fly on the wall in<\/b> Egypt. That will be a very exciting journalistic challenge that may either blow up in my face should anything go wrong, or make me a G should it succeed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I am so excited and inviting everyone to join me every day for the next 30 days on this page!!!<\/p>\n

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Day 1<\/b><\/h2>\n

Today is\u00a0Day 1\u00a0<\/b>of my diary but\u00a0Day 2 <\/b>of the championship.<\/p>\n

Osasu Obayiuwana, a man gradually becoming one of the best and most influential investigative sports journalists in Africa, was my guest at home yesterday morning. He provided me with my first \u2018drone\u2019 over Egypt.\u00a0\u00a0For the second time since we played against each other on the green turf of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, I re-connected with Leo Tenga through Osasu.<\/p>\n

Leo was a defender for Tanzania in 1980 when I played against him in the opening match of the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations<\/b>, a match of the magnitude of what the world saw last night in Cairo.\u00a0On that night in Lagos, before an audience of some 80,000 spectators, the\u00a0Green Eagles were<\/i><\/b> on fire. We knocked 3 goals passed Pondamali. I netted the third of those goals with a simple header that Leo still remembers and recalls in our short conversation.<\/p>\n

Since then, some 39 years ago, Leo and I never met. We did yesterday courtesy of technology. He is now one of my eyes in Egypt. A member of CAF\u2019s Executive Committee, a seat he occupies by virtue of his position as President of Tanzania Football Federation. He is one of only two members (the other is Kalusha Bwalya) that were ex-international footballers in their time.<\/p>\n

Leo brought me up to date on the political crisis in CAF that was going to be a distraction to the actual championship \u2013 the dangerous decision of the President of CAF to propose that FIFA comes to take over the day-to-day operations and financial activities of CAF for a period of 6 months (in the first instance) and help reform the African organization and put it on a sound administrative footing.\u00a0 He confirms that the Executive Committee has not approved Ahmad Ahmad\u2019s proposal and that there is no agreement with FIFA on the issue yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also in Egypt is another friend and international journalist, Satish Sekar, who summed up CAF this way: \u2018Organization is a complete joke. Hard to get to anyone. Massive delays everywhere. Accreditation late. No information, no food. Utterly shambolic\u2019<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0I really did not know what to make of that, but an organization that invites another to come and take over its operations must truly be in poor shape.\u00a0The big worry was the likely impact of the crisis on the Championship itself. The answer came last night in Cairo.<\/p>\n

So, like most others, I chose to shut my eyes to CAF with its problems and concentrate on what happens on the fields of play as well as around the\u00a0Super Eagles of<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Nigeria<\/strong>, in particular. The championship left the tarmac last night.\u00a0The opening ceremony on television was a blast, truly spectacular.<\/p>\n