It was quite some war on the internet last week as Jamie Carragher labeled the AFCON(African Cup of Nations) as not being a "major tournament".
It was actually a discussion about his former club, Liverpool, and particularly the mercurial Mohammed Salah. He was saying Salah has to do well in major tournaments to stand a chance of winning the Balon d'Or and he said that the AFCON isn't a major tournament.
This provoked a huge backlash on the internet with prominent former African players and non-African ones saying Jamie has disrespected the AFCON and all that.
For me, I needed to hear context, the full thing not just the part of him "disrespecting" the AFCON.
When I got the full gist of the matter I noticed that Carragher was saying AFCON ain't a major tournament as it concernings boosting Salah's Balon D'Or chances.
He was spot on!
He wasn't saying AFCON ain't a major tournament just in insolation. It was a discussion, ones mouth can say certain things, which when taking in isolation would be a wrong statement.
It was a discussion on Salah and so it is simple to see that the word "major tournament" was used in the context of winning the Balon d'Or and not in general terms.
The above is what I said somewhere to douse the tension in a WhatsApp group in Africa. I requested they calm down
A few days later, Jamie Carragher came out to clarify his statement above.
It was not surprising to me, same thing I thought.
It confirms it that everybody missed the context in which he was talking at first and therefore making an issue out of a non-issue.
So yes, he corrects himself, saying his language was clumsy, which is absolutely correct; even so, THE TRUTH IS, THE POINT REMAINS VALID.
Voters don't hold the AFCON and even the Asian cup and Gold cup, in the same regard as a few others and it significantly affects their player's chances of winning the Balon D'or.
This is a statement of fact not hate or malice.
Infact we should thank him because he has inadvertently opened up a discussion that could turn Europe into taking tournaments like the AFCON more seriously.
For me:
1》 Like I said before elsewhere, hey AFCON you lacked quality from time immemorial, so upgrade and the world would come for you.
The last one was a huge upgrade that drew international attention and respect. Europe indeed needs to learn the use of VAR from this last edition. Keep improving that way.
2》Celeberate your men them. You don't celebrate your player of the year sufficiently. Maybe something like CAF(Confederation of African football) President issuing a statement, when Ademola Lookman was disrespected by his coach recently or giving a gift to the club/country your reigning best represents. Things like that, show more value to youir own.
Sometimes people look for relevance outside whereas there's no unity inside.
There's a way a community will so celebrate their king that other communities(who have their own kings) will be forced to take notice of and honour too.
I think the air is cleared now on this. Ofcourse, there are those who may still not accept it. Well we can all agree that Salah has been exceptional this season. He has won the EPL this season(my opinion) and his team is one of the favourites to lift the Champions league trophy.
Cheers