The curtain final comes down on the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament, which served enthralling entertainment as well as surprises, shocks and disappointments for some.
#2017AfconGabon with Kevin Mapasure
After tomorrow’s final the small country called Gabon vanishes from the spotlight.
Those who have followed this tournament with keen interest like myself would have found themselves stung by on-field activity or by Gabon itself.
For me, having been privileged to cover the tournament in Franceville and Libreville, what has stood out, bar the discoveries that monkey meat is a delicacy, that there are some who love their black mamba meat there and that to some in that country cats and dogs are not pets, but good meat, is the refusal or failure by Gabon to embrace its own tournament.
If the Gabonese wanted to sell themselves as a football-loving nation, the supporter apathy has told us the exact opposite.
This tournament was met with a lot of discontent from the locals who made sure their voice was heard by staying away from their four beautifully built stadiums that hosted this Afcon.
It was almost in unison with some in other parts of the continent who found it absurd that five years after hosting the same tournament, it was Gabon again organising this one.
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Not one match recorded a full house with most matches recording figures way below half of the sitting capacities in the four venues that hosted the continental showcase.
Not even free transport to the stadiums for some matches or free tickets could move the general populace to filling up empty seats.
Surely Zimbabwe could have done better. In fact, Zimbabwe could have done better at everything except the stadiums. You have to give that to the Gabonese, they have world-class facilities in that regard.
We do not have even one. Don’t be fooled, the National Sports Stadium and Barbourfields are not even close and if one day we harbour hopes or thoughts of hosting the Afcon finals, we need to start from zero.
Supporter apathy did not stop the tournament from producing entertainment value on the pitch.
Few Afcon tournaments would rival this one in producing shocks and surprises. You were better advised to expect the unexpected in any of the matches.
Not many, if any, would have predicted the final line-up of tomorrow prior to this tournament, but both Egypt and Cameroon slithered their way to claim the final berths.
Both have big profiles, but to many this was not the tournament that these two were expected to make the big impact.
How the pre-tournament favourites dropped one by one like flies will be one of the fond memories of this tournament.
Ivory Coast packing their bags before they had finished unpacking blown out of Group C where the Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco claimed the only available slots.
Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani arriving with a lot of expectation on their shoulders that they could this time carry Algeria to glory, but by now some might have even forgotten they were ever here. Their club Leicester City did not miss them much.
Sadio Mane missing a crucial spot kick against Cameroon which saw his side booted out in the quarter-finals, is a picture that will take long to erase from real African football enthusiasts watching on TV.
Gabon has a lot of fascinating things to offer, but sadly football is not one of them and if only we could borrow their stadiums we could host the best Afcon party.
Zimbabwe was one of seven countries that bid to fill up whose right to host the 2017 finals was withdrawn due to political unrest. Caf decided to go back to Gabon where there is no interest in football.
