The other big international championship of the year was the 13th African Cup of Nations. It took place before the World Cup and, as ever before, did not attract any attention outside Africa, perhaps even less then before. The championship went throw preliminary stages, somewhat better scheduled than in the earlier editions, and final tournament of 8 finalists, hosted by Libya. The hosts and the current holders of the title – Nigeria – qualified directly for the finals, so the rest of the continent played for 6 places. And as ever before earlier stages were not played completely, for teams withdrew up to the finals – Benin, Uganda, Gabon in the preliminary round; Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea in the first round; Egypt in the second round. Politics played bigger role than lack of money and the political factor was entirely unpredictable, often changing in the last minute, and hard to figure out, for there were domestic political factors and international hostilities both playing role. And on top of everything – football politics, which were even more mysterious. Upper Volta did not appear at all in the first round, but went directly to the second round, for instance – possibly, it was lucky draw, for the number of countries qualifying to the first round was uneven – 23. And only in the second round Upper Volta played football – they qualified in the preliminary round without playing, for Gabon withdrew, then they apparently got lucky buy and at last played their first match in the second round against Algeria, which utterly destroyed them – 0-7. Hosting the second leg, Upper Volta managed a 1-1 tie and was out – but if they had been lucky again in this round, having to meet Egypt, instead of Algeria, they would have reached the finals without playing a single match. But who knows… against Upper Volta, Egypt may have decided to play. Since African football had no consistency so far, plus having been unknown, there was pretty much no way to judge were there any major upsets: Zaire, seemingly strong football country, was eliminated in the second round, but by Ghana, another continental ‘powerhouse’, so it was not exactly a surprise elimination. This was perhaps the only traditionally strong team missing the finals. The final 8 were divided into two round-robin groups, which played in two coastal Libyan cities on stadiums surprisingly large for anyone paying attention: of 50 000 and 80 000 capacities. That was another thing – during the late 1960s and the 70s, many African nations built large stadiums. Larger than most European stadiums. The sport was popular, but the reason for erecting large facilities was difficult to explain: yes, there was consideration of future needs, but it was also something to boast about, an easy way ‘to solve’ social and economic problems, and also to have facilities for major public political events like parades. Libya had no strong football, even by African measures, but had plenty of oil money and a dictator – stadiums were built. Anyhow, the finals proceeded game after game and when the group stage was completed, it was mostly interesting as a compliment to African performance at the following World Cup.
Group A (Tripoli)
1.LIBYA 3 1 2 0 4- 2 4
2.GHANA 3 1 2 0 3- 2 4
3.Cameroon 3 0 3 0 1- 1 3
4.Tunisia 3 0 1 2 1- 4 1
Group B (Benghazi)
1.ALGERIA 3 2 1 0 3- 1 5
2.ZAMBIA 3 2 0 1 4- 1 4
3.Nigeria 3 1 0 2 4- 5 2
4.Ethiopia 3 0 1 2 0- 4 1
The top 2 of each group went to the semi-finals. Both matches were played on March 16. In Benghazi Ghana prevailed over Algeria in overtime 3-2. It was dramatic match – Algeria was leading 2-0 in the 62nd minute and Ghana equalized just before the final whistle in the 90th minute.
In Tripoli, the hosts won 2-1. Zambia was the first to score in the 29th minute, but eventually the Libyans scored 2 goals in the 38th and 84th minutes.
The match for the bronze, played in Tripoli, went for Zambia – they won 2-0. Algeria finished 4th.
The final, also played in Tripoli, was another drama – Libya and Ghana played to a tie in the group stage, in which Ghana equalized in the last moment – 89th minute. They were first to score a goal, though, and the pattern repeated in the final – Ghana scored in the 35th minute, thanks to Alhassan. Libya equalized in the 70th minute by Beshari. Neither team managed to score another goal – not in regular time and not in the overtime. The winner had to be decided by penalty shoot-out and only here Ghana prevailed 7-6.
Ghana won the championship, maintaining its status as the most successful African team – it was their 4th.
Libya achieved its biggest success, but was unable to win even when coming very close. Most likely it was incidental success, due to home turf, large supportive audience, and the usual help officials provide to hosting nations. Murkier details are not even important: Africa was full of dictators pulling their weight, so there was nothing strange if Qaddafi did as the others. Under-the-table money were part of the game everywhere too. Visiting teams hardly ever brought supporters wit them for the obvious reason: wide-spread African poverty and lack of convenient transportation. Hosts had the advantage by all accounts and no big deal.
Ghana was another story – first of all, its record was getting long: success in the 1960s (1963 and 1965), 1970s (1978), and now in the 1980s. Strong continuity, but the successes of the national team run against international club records and the fact that the country so far did not reach World Cup finals. Because of that the players were entirely unknown and the winning team had no European-based professionals. But there were two foreign-based players: George Alhassan played for FC 105 (Gabon) and the captain Emmanuel Quarshie for Zamalek (Egypt). Africa was technically amateur as a whole, but professionalism was beginning to creep in one way or another. There was no doubt that Alhassan and Quarshie were paid for their services in Gabon and Egypt – otherwise there was no reason at all to go there, especially to Gabon, which generally was in worse economic state than Ghana. There was one more interesting case in the winning team, but it brings the coach first of all to the light:
Charles Kumi Gyamfi was and perhaps still is Ghanaian football legend, but he was also more than just football hero. As a player, he was winner of the African Cup of Nations – this is the sporting part. He was also ‘king’, one of many tribal aristocrats, which provided him with funds to travel, meet, and watch the sport’s greats – as the picture shows, he went to see the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Thus, he gathered current knowledge of the development of the game, which few African coaches had even in the early 1980s. And he had enough political clout because of his status. To a point, he was better positioned than European and South American coaches in Africa, for it was difficult for politicians to tamper his choice of players, tactics, and preparation. Yet, some would say he favoured his own people at the expense of others, but this was a reality in Africa anyway – in his case, he was in position to easily defend himself: his team won the continental championship, he was success both as a player and as a coach. Among his chosen squad was the forward Ben Kayede, playing for Aurora, not a first division club. This was a problem, because it looked like Gyamfi favored second-rate talent and the inclusion of Kayede provoked a lot of criticism from all sides. The ‘unfriendly fire’ is easy to understand, but the ‘friendly fire’ needs explaianation: Aurora was not independent club, but the second team of Ghanaian big club Hearts of Oak. A B team, a farm club, the place those either too young or not good enough were sent to get experience. So, a player not good even for the bench of Hearts of Oak was suddenly in the national team – but the boy so well and Gyamfi was right. As for the age of the hero, it was hard to say how important it was – most likely he was very young, but African teams often included teenage players in their national teams and the future internationally recognized star Abedi Pele in the Ghanaian squad was only 17 years old at the moment. Anyhow, clout and keen eye surely helped Gyamfi in the building of the winning team and not only because of Kayede case – he relegated three ‘senior’ players to the bench – Seth Ampadu, Opoku Afriyie and Joe Carr – replacing them with Sampson Lamptey, George Alhassan and Owusu Mensah. After coming back with the continental cup nobody had the guts to protest and criticize – Gyamfi was right all the way.
But it was not just Ghana to focus on: this championship was particularly interesting after the World Cup. Cameroon and Algeria reached the African championship finals. Cameroon was eliminated at the first stage, but without losing a match. However, they won none too – three ties, which they repeated the Cameroonians repeated at the World Cup a few months later to the letter: even their scoring record was the same – 1-1. Algeria won their preliminary group and finished 4th in the African championship, but only the shameful scheming of West Germany and Austria prevented them from reaching the second round of the World Cup. Suddenly, there was more to African football then ever before: take out Libya, but Ghana and Zambia were seemingly at the same level as Cameroon and Algeria – that is, pretty much at par with the European and South American teams. At last Africa came strong – the best teams were not exactly running on occasional enthusiasm, but were actually close to the best: judging by the World Cup performance of the losers of the African championship. That meant further development, boosted by more African players getting professional contracts in Europe. May be , after years of empty prophesies, African football came of age in 1982 – ironically, at continental finals nobody cared for and almost completely forgotten right away.