2010 CAN corner : The final wasn’t pretty but Egypt were worthy it

IT was a real cup final where each team could have won it but at the end of the day, only one team had to win and when you consider how both teams played throughout the tournament, Egypt were the worthy winners. I don’t think the Ghanaians will have too much to complain about although they have reason to feel bitterly disappointed for not winning the title they last won back in 1982. They were in the final and that fact alone would leave any team with a bitter taste in the mouth. However, in this particular case, Ghana were up against an overwhelming favourite, who was not only looking to win the competition for a record seventh time but most importantly for an unprecedented third successive time. Full credit to the Black Stars for sticking to their game plan. They could have scored on a couple of occasions in the second half when the Pharaohs looked a little bit jaded as they had played a game more than their opponents. However, having not lost a Nations Cup game since 2004, the champions went into the final wanting to extend their unbeaten record on the continent to 19 matches. They had also scored 14 goals before Sunday’s final and you could see that the longer the match stayed goalless, the more chances they had of getting a goal and it duly arrived right at the death. Once super-sub Mohamed Gedo scored the only goal five minutes from time, it was always going to be an uphill task for the less experienced Black Stars to get back into the game. It may not have been a classic cup final but after three weeks of action, if a team that scored 15 goals in the competition didn’t deserve the trophy, then in all honesty, one with three didn’t deserve to be in the final in the first place. nku78@yahoo.com

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2010 CAN corner : The final wasn’t pretty but Egypt were worthy it