If the Angola 2010 Africa Cup of Nations will be remembered for the cruel armed attack on the Togolese team on the eve of the start of the tournament, Beninois FIFA referee Kodjo Kodja will also have a piece of the history as the man who turned a highly anticipated semi final thriller into a farce.

Kodja was the man in the middle of the titanic struggle for supremacy between “warring factions” Algeria and Egypt and perhaps in his anxiety to bring sanity into the game, he strictly interpreted the laws of the game to a fault and in the end set a games record of showing three cards to the Algerian team.

The anticipated high profile semi final to determine who meets Ghana in the final thus turned into a funny spectacle with the highly handicapped Algerians unable to cope with the speed and strength  of the Egyptians  who rammed in four goals without reply. The Algerians had lost so much interest in the game offering such half hearted opposition that the tally could have been more if there was more time.

The recent acrimonious World Cup qualifier between Algeria and Egypt had put everybody on the alert that their semi final clash could produce a nasty confrontation. Perhaps it was with this in mind that referee Kodja decided to go strictly by the laws of the game but on hindsight and with the benefit of television footages, he would realize  that he went overboard and the penalty against Algeria was too harsh.

Even though it was a harsh decision, the Algerians being true professionals should have kept their cool and played to the whistle. As things stand out they will go into the history as unsporting and unable to accept defeat.

For Egypt, it was a big revenge and to some extent a sort of compensation for their World Cup loss. It is too bad that the match totally eclipsed the other semi final encounter between Ghana and Nigeria which produced a real 90 minute thriller. Nigeria did most  of the attacking but Ghana got the vital match winner once again through prolific scorer Asamoah Gyan whose powerful header from a well taken corner kick by his name sake Kwadwo Asamoah won the day for  the Black Stars who punters had tipped to be the best outsiders for the Cup.

The final on Sunday between Egypt and Ghana is a contest between the North Africans who are seeking a record hat-trick cup triumph and Ghana who last won the cup 28 years ago and aim at a fifth triumph.

It is definitely going to be cracker so look out for my forecast. I got my Ghana –Algeria cup final clash wrong but I hope to get it right this time.

Cheers and keep loving sports.

P.S. A friend phoned me just as I was about to finish writing this article with a remark that if referee Kodjo Kodja had handled the recent Manchester United – Manchester City Carling Cup second leg match at Old Trafford, he would probably have dismissed half of the players on the pitch.