AFRICA’S FOOTBALL KING: THE DEBATE BETWEEN ETO’O AND GYAN

Gyan...surprise loser of title

Cameroonian striker, Samuel Eto’o finally won the 2010 African Footballer of the year awards. That leaves me with the same question I asked before the awards, what are the criteria CAF adopts  in picking the African football king?

The winner of the award which seems is losing steam yearly was said to have been decided by votes from national coaches and captains of the continent’s 53 countries affiliated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). 

Asamoah Gyan is a debutant finalist. Samuel Eto’o has already won the award back-to-back (2003, 2004, 2005). Didier Drogba won it in 2006 and 2009. Before CAF’s Gyan was crowned BBC African Footballer of the Year for 2010. This is a bigger and truer reflection of my mind set.

Is it not true that Asamoah Gyan had a more memorable year internationally for the Black Stars of Ghana? Ghana got to the second place at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. He scored three of the four goals that helped the Black Stars reach a final in 18 years. 

He also churned out impressive performances at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa but will however be remembered for his penalty kick miss which denied Ghana the berth to be Africa’s first team to get to the semi finals of the World Cup. Yet, his contribution to that feat remains indelible and memorable.

For Eto’o, after the success in his Club World Cup with European champions, Inter Milan, his Most Valuable Player award further strengthens his case as a deserving winner of the African award. Eto’o won the triple with Inter earlier in the year and he scored the second goal against TP Mazembe in the Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi. The 29-year-old forward also broke the record for the most African Nations Cup finals goals with his national side at the start of the year among other achievements. This is where my colleagues, Nnamdi Okosieme and Collins Udoh stands.

OUTSTANDING ETO’O:

I stand on facts and records that Eto’o scored over 100 goals in five seasons with his previous club FC Barcelona, and is also the record holder in number of appearances by an African player in La Liga. In 2010, he became the first player to win two European Continental Trebles following his back-to-back achievements with Barcelona and Internazionale. He is the second player to have ever scored in two separate UEFA Champions League finals and the fourth player, after Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa and Gerard Piqué, to have won the UEFA Champions League two years in a row with different teams. He is also the most decorated African player of all time. He is the first ever player to win two trebles back-to-back.

Eto'O...holding undesired title?

Gyan, I staunchly believe should  have won the award on the strength of his contributions both at the club level and national team.  While Eto’o had all his diadems coming from club contributions. This, I INSIST is not enough for CAF to have awarded him the Africa player of the year title for 2010.  

CAF IS A SECRET FRENCH CLUB:

There certainly are some other secret values informing the choice of the African Footballer of the Year that CAF (a secret cult) is not telling us concerning methods they usually adopt in considering players for the award, at club level, at world cup level, which is more prestigious and mostly watched by all.

In my opinion, CAF should tell the African public what are these other considerations. There are certain interests involved when considering who takes the Africa player of the year award.  When Emmanuel Adebayo won it IN 2008 at the expense of Mohamed Aboutrika of Egypt, it was widely clear to those who know that the Togolese did not deserve it. The French connect became re-established. In the same token, in 2003 in Yaounde, the Camrounian capital, where previews had rated Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha ahead of others for the award, it was given to Samuel Eto’O Fils.

The other was either 2001 or 2002 when the same Okocha was so highly rated for the first time to  lift the title, it was ‘snatched’ and donated to Senegal’s Hadji Diouf. These well documented robbing Peter to pay French Paul is already rubbishing the integrity of the award.  Players from the Anglophone or Arab speaking countries of Africa are treated differently when the interest of the francophone countries are at stake. 

The recent CAF awards had lent credence to the fact that Francophone nations understand how and when to create all the necessary historical landmark in football as against their Anglophone counterparts. Eto’o 2010 emergence was to make him the fourth winner! QED.

Gyan’s three goals propelled Ghana to the final of the African Cup of Nations in Angola in January and six months later led the Black Stars to the quarter finals of the World Cup. 

Eto’o was an integral part of Inter’s success last term, scoring 16 goals during a highly successful campaign under then coach Jose Mourinho. However, his exploits with the

ROBBING GHANA’S HARDWORK:

 Before the award, Ghanaians were upbeat about the chances of their protégé, Gyan, winning their first African Footballer of the Year award after 17 years. Abedi Pele Ayew won the award in 1991, 1992 and 1993 with Michael Essien coming close in five record personal times in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

Ghana Football Association (GFA) President, Kwesi Nyantakyi said he will be surprised if Gyan fails to win the award this time giving his contributions in the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola and 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 

“Ghanaians are very hopeful and we at GFA think this is the year of Ghana having been nominated for three award categories.” Ghana clinched the National team of the Year award while young star, Kwadwo Asamoah of Udinese was nominated for Young Player of the Year. 

Supporting his claims in favour of the Sunderland of England forward, Nyantakyi said, “Looking at all three nominees, you’ll agree with me that Gyan made the most contributions to African football this year. He carried a weak Ghana team on his shoulders to the finals in Angola, scoring four goals and at the World Cup; he was the most outstanding African player left to me as an individual. 

Eto’O and Drogba made no significant contribution to their national teams like Gyan during the period under review. Even Eto’o in his inner mind played down suggestions that his latest award makes him the continent’s greatest ever player. It saw Eto’o surpass Abedi Pele and George Weah, who took the title three times each in the past.