All is well that ends well, goodbye Chan 2024

Goodbye Africa Nations Championship (Chan), welcome African Cup of Nations 2027.

All that is good must come to an end. And with the Chan 2024, it was no different.

After 44 matches of nothing but high octane football, it all came to a deserving end on Saturday night insight the magnificent Kasarani Stadium.

For a tournament that was meant to be held in January 2025, but later postponed to August 2-30 is over.

This was a championship like no other. Held across three countries; Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Chan 2024 saw a floodgate of goals scored; 90 in total, including five on the final day of this extravaganza.

There has been none like this. Arguably, there might be none like this for years to come. Quite splendid in every definition.

For a tournament meant for local-based players, it delivered as was expected. There was little room, if any, for mishaps.

Fans were here in their numbers. Men, women, children, boys and girls; couples, singles, all genres. They were here to witness yet another historic moment. All for the love of the most-loved sport; football.

They were on their feet for every save made. Their eyes nearly popped out, hands on their heads when not covering their agape mouths for every missed chance.

Cheering they did, for every goal scored. And the goals were in their doubles. That Kenya's Harambee Stars were eliminated at the quarterfinals by finalists Madagascar, didn't mattered much for their legion of fans.

They took it easy. And when the final match came calling, they responded like summoned ants. In their thousands, they streamed inside Kasarani Stadium.

It's as if they requested the crowned champions Morocco to take a revenge on their behalf when they faced the Malagasy side on Saturday night.

To the Kenyans, Deuteronomy 28:7 was their source of strength on this night...."The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you."

The Kenyans were partisan hours before kickoff. It was an open secret on whose side they were. They booed all the time the team in green surged forward, or when their players caressed the ball with their sleek feet.

The sting of that Friday 22 evening at Kasarani Stadium when they were eliminated 4-3 through postmatch penalties was still agonisingly fresh.

With the game square at 2-2 and evidently heading into the dreary extra time or even the dreaded penalty lotteries, a feeling of deja vu started to creep into the Kenyans' souls. Not again. This can't be happening.

There appeared to be no danger when Oussama Lamlaoui challenged his marker, just inside Madagascar's half. Few would have said there was a nudge from the Moroccan star – but the 29-year-old, the tournament's top scorer with six goals, let fly with an astonishing shot that seemed to hung in the air for ages. So high it was, one felt it could almost touch the skies.

What looked like a hit and miss moment, turned out to be something far more inspired. Soon, a panicky Madagascar goalkeeper Michel Ramandimbisoa (Toldo) was sprinting back towards his area.

There he was, running around in semi circles, like a child running from his own shadow, and the ball bounced high into the net. It took a moment to register what had happened.

The whole stadium froze for a few milliseconds before erupting into wild cheers. Just what was that?

It's a goal Manchester United legends Wayne Rooney or David Beckham would have nodded in utter admiration. Top draw goal. A gem to behold. One that any fan would frame for eternity, lock it in the box and throw away the key in the uttermost part of the Caribbean sea...

There can't be enough adjectives to describe this Moroccan talisman really.

Afterwards, the Madagascar squad wasn't ready to present themselves for cross-examination. They zoomed past the mixed zone, wondering if they had won the title, just how would it be.

This was not a team losing. It was a dream dying when they had dared to dream after taking the lead inside nine minutes through Felicite Manohantsoa.

Until this stage, Madagascar's matches had been a cacophony of celebration in colour and near whispers. Somehow, they were finding ways of conjuring up victories.

Yet now there was the eerie sound of silence and other noises, too, only that this time, it was coming from the stands and players in red and green.

At times it was something approaching fear, stage fright, or something close. A strange gargled feeling that could be heard every time Morocco exquisitely surged forward.

There they were, the Moroccans, threatening more humiliation. Searching for more glory. More pride. More history.

They were putting one of the all-time performance, these fellows. It was pure masterclass. Dainty and rare. All pleasing to the eye. Memorable moments.

No other words can summarise this night. One had the feeling this was the moment Morocco had been working towards since they set foot on Kenyan soil days before the tournament's kickoff. They were men on a mission.

This ego. This solidarity. This show. This teamwork, this togetherness, this sentiment, this hunger, this never-say-die spirit: it was all there under the floodlights, every last drop of it. Sheer passion. Unrivaled in every aspect of it.

What a performance this was. Morocco defeated Madagascar with no doubt, sleekness, in fairness, strategically, and in the end, purposely. They had the power, they had the strength. They had vowed not to relent.

At the final whistle of this sublime, inconceivable, whimsical game, Morocco head coach Tarik Sektioui knelt down at the touchline in supplication. His prayers had been answered, just like for thousands of Kenyans inside Kasarani Stadium.