Crown is uneasy on Nigeria’s head as Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers continue

Gandze Cesai, left, and Congo surprised Mikel Obi and Nigeria at the Esuene Stadium, in Calabar. AFP Photo

Nigeria's Super Eagles find themselves down on the southern tip of Africa this evening with an alarming sensation of having plummeted rapidly.

Three months ago, they were Africa’s standard-bearers at a World Cup that seemed to endorse their status as the continent’s best-equipped national team after being narrowly denied a place in the quarter-finals by France.

A series of setbacks since have left them urgently needing to take points from their meeting with South Africa on Wednesday to maintain their defence of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Being No 1 in African international football carries fewer certainties than it used to. The qualifiers for the 2015 Cup of Nations, the Afcon, began at the weekend and left the past three holders of the trophy embarrassed.

Egypt, the free-falling owners of the prize between 2006 and 2012, lost in Senegal, and Zambia, champions in 2012, were held to a goalless draw at home by Mozambique.

Nigeria, meanwhile, lost their first competitive match on home soil for more than 14 years, beaten 3-2 by Congo at Calabar.

Stephen Keshi, the Nigeria coach, pointed to complacency.

“We scored first and thought it would be easy after that,” he said.

Keshi had watched Nigeria take a 1-0 lead and then fall 3-1 behind.

“We had enough chances to win even two goals down,” he said. “It means we now have to win in South Africa.”

Two teams from the group will go through to the finals at Morocco in January, but the condensed qualifying process – six matches between early September and mid-November – means momentum is established quickly.

Nigeria’s is shaky, thanks to events off the field as much as their poor start to the campaign on the pitch. Keshi’s position remains uncertain after he failed to sign the contract renewal put to him after the World Cup.

He was unhappy with the terms and agreed only to oversee the Congo and South Africa fixtures, and await an increased valuation of his capacities from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), a body in a state of crisis itself.

On Monday the Federation’s head, Chris Giwa, stood down, under pressure. Fifa had threatened to suspend the federation, amid claims Giwa had taken up the presidency illegitimately.

Keshi, who in Brazil became the first African to guide a team beyond the group stage of a World Cup, knows he would soon be offered a job elsewhere on the continent.

Indeed, South Africa, impatient to reverse a decade of steady decline – they are ranked 69th in the world by Fifa – had shortlisted Keshi for their coach’s position before appointing Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba, who began his third spell in charge of the national team with the win in Sudan.

Another victory today, in the grand setting of the modern Cape Town stadium, would be a coup for Mashaba, widely deemed an uninspired choice in the South African media.

He is among several coaches appointed in the close season. Algeria, who reached the last 16 in Brazil, are now led by Christian Gourcuff, who looks to follow up three points against Ethiopia at the weekend with another win over Mali today.

Gourcuff’s French compatriot, Herve Renard, who guided Zambia to their Afcon triumph two years ago, is in charge of Ivory Coast, who parted company with Sabri Lamouchi after their first-round exit from the World Cup.

Renard began with a 2-1 win over Sierra Leone on Saturday and tonight confronts Cameroon, who also made a winning start, 2-0 against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ivory Coast versus Cameroon ranks as a heavyweight fixture, even after a disappointing World Cup for both the West African nations.

But it will carry a distinct billing from most of their meetings over the past decade: Ivory Coast are no longer led on the pitch by Didier Drogba, who has retired from international football, while Cameroon no longer have Samuel Eto’o as their domineering figurehead. He too has called time on the international game.

Didier Zokora, winner of more than 100 Ivorian caps, did the same earlier this week. Ghana’s veteran midfielder Michael Essien has also bid farewell to the Black Stars.

The next Africa Cup of Nations will take place without several players who have defined the continent’s football in the 21st century.

That may be a good thing. The African game is overdue new global stars. Between them Eto’o, Drogba and Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure monopolised the African Footballer of the Year awards since 2002.

Toure, of Manchester City, remains African football’s top player, but the next Afcon can spotlight younger talents.

To the displeasure of Morocco, the hosts, it will not star Munir El Haddadi, the 19-year-old forward from Barcelona who on Monday made a competitive debut for Spain, having chosen to represent the land of his birth rather than the Morocco of his father’s nationality.

But perhaps a player like Thievy Bifouma, the former France Under 21 striker who this summer committed himself to Congo and on Saturday struck two of the goals that sank Nigeria, might shine there.

In Calabar, the pacey Thievy won only his second cap and made history. Nigeria had never lost an Afcon qualifier at home. Now they are playing catch-up.

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