What a luxury football is. It is only in times of peace that we can concentrate on the cod warfare of sport. So let us hope, after the atrocities last week that signalled the beginning of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, that we can have a weekend marked by nothing but great football.
There are four matches on offer, and the big guns of Cameroon and Nigeria are in action. All tournaments come down to momentum: it’s getting that mysterious thing operating in the context of the still greater mystery of the team who make the difference.
Nigeria play Benin on Saturday, Cameroon take on Zambia on Sunday. Naturally, as someone who left a piece of his heart in Zambia years ago, I am shouting for Chipolopolo, the Copper Bullets. It may not be as good a nickname as the Indomitable Lions, but they’re my boys. They beat Mozambique and South Korea in warm-up matches and they have Clifford Mulenga back after a year away from international football. Any headway by Zambia in a tough group would cheer me, but a weekend of football during which the only interest is football will do for me.
No more nearly-men. Well, nearly
Meanwhile, farther south on the same continent, South Africa and England contest the fourth and last Test of the series, with the touring team holding on to a 1-0 lead — for now — thanks to some glorious up-yours defending and the South Africans’ inability to take 20 wickets in a match.
There has been a fraught atmosphere after the half-baked accusations of cheating — and the referral controversies in this match — and there is a big prize to play for.
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But have England finally met their match? They have been very nearly really rather good up to now, each player intoxicated by the thought that the very-nearly part can be excised with a series victory.
However, when most teams — England teams in particular — go into a match in any sport looking merely for an expedient draw, they come unstuck, and as South Africa’s batsmen stormed past England’s pathetic first-innings total yesterday, they risk being crowned merely nearly-men once again.
Sunday date for Saturdays’ man
The rugby union boys dive back into the great ruck of the Heineken Cup this weekend, and no doubt most will do so from the side. The complications of qualification mean that few teams are in a comfortable place; it is a weekend that will shake out the also-rans. One of the tastiest matches on offer is Northampton’s meeting on Sunday with Perpignan, the French champions. But Perpignan aren’t looking so brilliant this season, and this is a clear opportunity for Northampton to do themselves a bit of good.
It is also a good opportunity at an individual level. Northampton have some terrific players among their backs, but Martin Johnson, the England team manager, insisted on not picking them until this week. Chris Ashton, out on the wing, is the leading tryscorer in the Guinness Premiership and England could certainly do with a try or two when the RBS Six Nations Championship comes around next month. Ben Foden is not only a highly talented full back, he also has a pop-star girlfriend, which I thought was enough to make his selection compulsory. She is Una Healy from The Saturdays — how could Johnno resist for so long? The man is made of iron.