Salut Ô terred’espérance;
Pays de l’hospitalité.
Teslégionsremplies de vaillance
Ontrelevé ta dignité
“L’Abidjanaise” (English: “The Song of Abidjan”) is the national anthem of Ivory Coast, adopted under law number 60–207 on 27 July 1960.
Felicitation (Congratulations); Bravo (Bravo); Bien fait (Well done), and I’ve used these expressions to say “Congratulations” to the Ivorian football team, the “Elephants”which have won the AFCON three times: 1992, 2015, 2023.
“On dit quoi” is a French slang popular in Cote d’Ivoire. In English, literally, it means; “what are we saying?” but the expression is used as a slang to means: “How are you doing?” and our friends, Amichia, and others should be chilling in Treichville, Youpougong, Koumassi, Adjame, Bobo Diolosso, Yamousoukro, Daloa, Noe, Lateraba, Pogo and be beaming with smiles and enjoying du vin (wine) most likely Bordeaux or biere (beer) most likely Solibra.
Forget about Ghana’s 11-10 loss to Cote d’Ivoire in Senegal in 1992. We are all one people, so if you see an Ivorian you can talk about fufu (le foufou or foutou) and palm nut soup. And when you are asked to conjugate “aller” (to go), you may wonder why it should be “je vais”, (I go, or I’m going) “tu vas” (you go or you are going – singular) “il va” (he goes or he is going); “elle va” (she goes or she is going); “on va” (we go, informal); “nous allons” (we go or we are going); “vous allez” (you go or you are going – plural); “ils vont” (they go, masculine) “elle vont” (they go, feminine). Beg pardon – “je vous prie de m’excuser”. It is the “teacher” in us that wants or seeks to interfere with your enjoyment of a story in football.
Then, on the flip-side, that is, across the border, beyond Togo and Benin, the Nigerians were head over heels to welcome home the arrival of their darling team, the Green Eagles, named after the colour of the country (green) and the eagle that adorns the country’s coat of arms. They are not called the ‘Giants of Africa’ for nothing. The appellation derives from the vastness of the land, the large population, their large appetite, their huge taste for formalities … and the team used to be called “The Red Devils” owing to their red-topped kits.
The Green Eagles had won the 1980, 1994 and 2013 editions of the AFCON competitions, and they wanted to annex this year’s in order to chase Egypt, the Pharaohs champions in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2008 and 2010 (seven times).
The Super Eagles team was honoured by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: Member of the Order of the Niger, a flat in the capital Abuja and a piece of land, around.
All that we want to say is that the two teams, Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and Super Eagles of Nigeria locked horns on Sunday 11/02/24 in a titanic final clash in AFCON 2023 at Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire. Nigeria scored Cote d’Ivoire in the early first half, and all thought it was going to be an annihilation of Cote d’Ivoire who had suffered a 4-0 defeat by Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan (Immediately after this humiliation, the Ivorian Coach, Jean-Louis Gasser was removed.) Then Cote d’Ivoire marched on by beating Guinea 2-0, and the reins were handed to Emerse Fae. In the quarter finals, Cote d’Ivoire beat Mali on penalties. Nigeria, with a population of 213 million and sporting a team that included the African Footballer of the Year, Osimhen, with his ‘kaakaa-motobi’ face-shield was athletic, strong and youthful.
The Nigerian presented a solid back-line, and this tactic did not seem to have paid off. Nigerian defender, Kenneth Omeruo disclosed after the final; “We should have pressed harder but we didn’t. We conceded a goal for the Ivoirians to level up, and that’s where things went wrong.”
Talk less about Ghana’s Black Stars: no more unconditional support for them, if you do not want to suffer heart-break. The President had said when the squad met him before emplaning for Cote d’Ivoire: “We are Ghanaians, the first nation south of the Sahara to be free of colonization and imperialism. We always lead the way, and we do not sit back and watch others … We have a skilled, determined squad. Let us not put brakes on them and let us not park the bus.”
After failing to advance from the group stage of the competition, 64 – year old Chris Houghton got the sack as coach by the Ghana Football Association. Ghana had bagged only 2 points, and what pains Ghanaians most is the loss of 1-2 to Cabo Verde. Our hopes were re-lit after holding Egypt 2-2, and Jordan Ayew’s two penalty goals against Mozambique got the atmosphere charged, until just some five minutes to full time, we allowed Mozambique to level up 2-2! Houghton himself acknowledge: “Our performances have not been good… We played three games, conceded two goals in each game and have ourselves in a difficult situation. My assessment of my results is that they haven’t been good enough.”
Now, the GFA has a task of defending the $8m it had spent on AFCON 2023. Then, there is this demo by football lovers in Accra on Wednesday, 14th February, 2023, throwing away the chances of Valentine’s Day and the Ash Wednesday beginning of the Lent season. It is dubbed “Save Ghana Football”: more revelations are expected.
So, it is All hail, Cote d’Ivoire (with akyeke-na-paya), kudos, Nigeria (with eba and enyo). Oh, South Africa third and DR Congo fourth. Ghana came 18th in the 24-nation bout!
By Africanus Owusu-Ansah