AFCON 1996: doubtful Masinga waltzing, confident Yeboah volleying

Shortly after scoring the mildly unnecessary fourth goal for Leeds in the last minute of the FA Cup third round against Derby, in characteristically emphatic style, the Financial Times reported that Tony Yeboah, in the corner of a hotel in the South African city then known as Port Elizabeth, was speaking to 'a little cluster of boyish footballers' who hung on the striker's every word.

Perhaps he was describing that goal to them, or one of the other fourteen he'd wellied in for Leeds that season. Whatever he was saying, 'Occasionally one (of the youngsters) would say something but mostly they listened'. Were they autograph hunters? A school team granted an audience? Local kids who had staked out the hotel for a glimpse of Premier League glamour?

No. They were other members of the Ghana national team, there to compete alongside Yeboah in the African Cup of Nations. The coach, Ismael Kurtz, had selected a deliberately young squad to make the most of the nation's strong showings in the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups in the first half of the 1990s. Most of them were 22 at most, but had nonetheless been snapped up by European clubs, and nonetheless had great respect for 29-year-old Yeboah, who had moved from Ghana to West Germany in 1988.

Presumably, to keep the peace, the youngsters showed the same respect for their captain, Abedi Pele of Torino, two years older than Yeboah and with two years more experience in Europe, mostly in France. He'd been part of Marseille's Champions League winning side in 1993 and won African Footballer of the Year three times in a row. He'd also been involved in rows with Yeboah during the 1992 African Cup of Nations, when Ghana lost on penalties to Ivory Coast in the final and Yeboah felt slighted at not being named captain in Pele's absence through suspension. Their teammate Mallam Yahaya has more recently described the tension behind the scenes. "Some of the Kumasi-based players and the Accra-based players would go to Abedi Pele (from Accra) or Tony Yeboah (from Kumasi) and try to seek their sympathy, fuelling the tension between them."

Both downplayed talk of a rift, and were united by a bigger opponent than divided them: Ivory Coast. The two sides met again in the 1994 Afcon, Ghana losing again, in the quarter-final. Now, in 1996, the two sides were together in the group stage, and paired in their opening match. The result was expected to go a long way towards determining the winner of the tournament.

With only Abedi Pele and the youth of his teammates to worry about, Yeboah arguably had things easy compared to his Leeds United teammate Philemon Masinga. Despite being a key forward for the host nation, 'Waltzing' Masinga was doubtful about playing in the opening match for South Africa against Cameroon.