Rwanda the real winners in African Cup of Nations

WORLDSCENE/Paddy Agnew: Rwanda's Hutus and Tutsis are praying together, Cameroon are causing problems with their playing kit and the Democratic Republic of Congo coach Mick Wadsworth cannot get to the stadium.

Two years on, it is African Cup of Nations time again, bringing with it the usual assorted tales of politics, polemics and hope.

Last Saturday, the 16-nation, 32-match tournament which concludes on February 14th, opened with host nation Tunisia beating debutants Rwanda 2-1.

One man who had hoped to see the game was Congo coach Wadsworth since his side is drawn in the same Group A (Guinea are the fourth team) as Rwanda and Tunisia. Unfortunately for him, Wadsworth had to settle for watching the match on TV given that tournament officials proved unhelpful when it came to tickets and transport: "The people who are supposed to be our liaison would not help us get to the stadium. They wouldn't even take us to the venue", a disconsolate Wadsworth told reporters last weekend.

Nor is the former Huddersfield Town coach happy with his team's training facilities, situated more than an hour's travel from the team hotel. In practice, if Congo are to train twice a day, then his side will be spending up to four hours in the team bus, on the road. To add to Wadsworth's woes, his side were beaten 2-1 by Guinea on Sunday.

Wadsworth is not alone in imagining that his logistical problems may have something to do with being drawn in the same group as the host nation. With a resigned but philosophic air, he commented last Saturday: "I suppose if you share the same group with the host nation these things can happen . The country (Tunisia) can't surely be that desperate to win." Can't it?

Cameroon, winners of the last two editions in 2000 (Ghana-Nigeria) and 2004 (Mali), are greatly fancied to pull it off again. With experienced European campaigners like Song (Lens), Geremi (Chelsea), Olembe (Leeds) and Eto'o (Majorca) in their ranks, Cameroon are entitled to be among the favourites.

Yet, even before their opening 1-1 draw with Algeria on Sunday, they had already grabbed the headlines. Two years ago in Mali, Cameroon incurred the displeasure of FIFA president Sepp Blatter by turning out to play in sleeveless basketball-style shirts which were subsequently banned.

This time they have done the same thing by turning out in a new one-piece "body" strip which apparently contravenes FIFA rules on the requirement for team kit to consist of a shirt and shorts. Even though Cameroon wore the controversial kit against Algeria, it seems that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have ordered them to use a regulation kit if and when they qualify for the next stage of the tournament.

With such as Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia present, this edition brings together just about the most powerful African nations, except perhaps Ghana and Ivory Coast. Inevitably, the vast majority of players are based in Europe with 80 playing club football in France, 27 in Germany, 25 in England, 19 in Italy and 10 in Spain.

Rwanda may have looked naive and disingenuous in their opening defeat by the host nation but the fact that the team is there at all, playing with both Hutus and Tutsis in its squad, is much more important.

Ten years ago, Rwanda was torn apart by Hutu-Tutsi tribal rivalry that degenerated into mass genocide and saw more than one million people killed in the space of 100 days. These days, Rwanda like to call themselves the "peace team", a side that represents hope for a desperately poor country where 60 per cent of its 8.2 million population live on less than one dollar a day.

Full back Jean Remy Bitana summed up the team philosophy last week, saying: "We all like to pray. We live together, we train together and we sing hymns to God together. There are Catholics and Muslims among us but we pray to the same God. We don't ask one another questions, we just try to stick together".

aleagnew@tin.it