CHAN 2020: a beneficial edition in Cameroon
The Cameroon team, during the CHAN 2020 at home.
© RFI / Pierre René-Worms
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
3 min
Morocco won the sixth African Nations Championship (CHAN 2020), this February 7, 2021 in Yaoundé.
This CHAN 2020 was a beneficial edition for the next African Cup of Nations (CAN 2021).
Balance sheet.
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This sixth African Nations Championship (CHAN 2020) will not go down in the annals of the competition in terms of goals scored, with 62 achievements in 32 games.
The 2016 CHAN had indeed been much more prolific with 80 goals scored, for example.
In terms of play, it is also difficult to compare it to past editions, as the players who participated in the event experienced a very disturbed 2020 season, sometimes even virgin, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Useful for CAN 2021
Organization level, this “CHAN 2020”
[1]
was on the other hand beneficial as Cameroon must also host the next African Cup of Nations (CAN 2021), in January / February 2022.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Cameroonians have managed to host one of the first major international football competitions of 2021.
Prevention, checks and barrier gestures on arrival in the country and in the four stadiums (two in Douala, one in Yaoundé and one in Limbé) were the watchwords, even if they were not always respected and that the local authorities had to call spectators to order.
Some hiccups
The restrictions and precautions will undoubtedly still be relevant in a year, for "CAN 2021"
[1]
.
Until then, the organizers may have an interest in further improving their screening tests.
Some controversies, including the very many positive cases noted within the DR Congo team, have thus created tensions.
What also about the security issue when separatists in the English-speaking regions threatened the CHAN 2020?
Stadiums and an audience up to the task
However, all the meetings were able to be disputed and the public was present at each meeting, despite the Covid-19 and an imbroglio about tickets for the Cameroon-DRC meeting.
This is perhaps the great positive point of this final phase.
Despite the health situation and the restrictions on access to the stands, Cameroonians have shown their hunger for football.
As for the stadiums and lawns, they corresponded to the specifications of a major competition on the continent.
Bodes well for a CAN 2021 during which the Indomitable Lions hope, on the ground, to do much better than their 4th place, behind Morocco (1st), Mali (2nd) and Guinea (3rd).
[1] The African Football Confederation has decided that the competitions will continue to be called TOTAL African Nations Championship Cameroon 2020 and TOTAL African Nations Cup Cameroon 2021, despite the fact that these tournaments have been postponed to 2021 respectively. and 2022 because of the Covid-19.
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CHAN 2020
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