African Cup Of Nations News: The show goes on

Internationals / Jonathan Wilson / 10 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

Business as usual for an Angolan flagseller; despite everything that has happened the Angolan people are excited about the start of the tournament

"Yet despite it all, there does seem to be a sense of excitement ahead
of this evening’s opening game between Angola and Mali. Even as dawn
was breaking, a number of cars could be see sporting the red, black
and gold flag of Angola."

Jonathan Wilson is delayed a mere 25 and a half hours before arriving in Angola, where despite the cloud of the terrorist attack hanging over the tournament and the apparent withdrawal of Togo, there is a sense of excitement that the football is about to start.

As the plane finally left the runway, spontaneous cheers broke out: we were only 25 and a half hours late. After Friday's farce there were worries again, first as the buses to take us from terminal to plane were delayed, and then when the tug to push the plane off to taxi suffered a malfunction. The mood was one of good-humoured anxiety: were those wings beginning to frost again? Were any of the inebriated oil-workers about to make an inappropriate joke about explosives in their underpants that would lead to the plane being grounded? It was all good acclimatisation for the chaos that is sure to follow.

Against all expectations, though, Luanda airport was remarkably efficient. The terminal is so new that it hadn't been in use a month ago when the Scottish oil-worker who'd been sitting next to me last came out, but we zipped through immigration and customs so quickly that we had to wait half an hour for our driver who, anticipating delays, we'd told to turn up at 5.30am. Even the luggage trolleys were gleaming, and seemed to drive straight. Here, immediately, was a palpable sign of the $1bn investment in infrastructure.

It was all very disconcerting. There'd been the usual waft of slightly foetid heat as we'd stepped from the plane, the trigger for the tingle of anticipation that signals the start of an African Nations. It's usually followed by hassle, fighting with porters for bags and
explaining in detail to customs officials exactly what your plans are; but primed for battle, it was rather a let-down.

Still, given the events of Friday, some anti-climax probably isn't a bad thing. The mood in Luanda this morning was one of confusion, with Angolan media reporting Togo were not going home, despite the international media's belief that they will set off this afternoon. Certainly games appear still to be going ahead in Cabinda, something to which Ghana and Ivory Coast are supposedly opposed.

Yet despite it all, there does seem to be a sense of excitement ahead of this evening's opening game between Angola and Mali. Even as dawn was breaking, a number of cars could be see sporting the red, black and gold flag of Angola, while around the accreditation centre a handful of locals sitting around outside - that most characteristic of
African pursuits - were decked out in national colours.

The main thing, though, is that I'm here.