By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan Luanda - When the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in Luanda on Sunday, it will be the first time in its history that Angola will be hosting the tournament. But the choice to grant the southern African country the right to host the showpiece of African football was somewhat controversial and with just a few days to go before the opening game many are saying that the scepticism was justified. The main areas of criticism that have been levelled against the organizing committee are accommodation, visa problems and lack of communication. The problems have been so great that many journalists who would normally cover the Africa Cup of Nations have this time around opted to not travel to Angola or to restrict their time in the country to a minimum. African football expert Ian Hawkey, whose book on African football Feet of the Chameleon was published last year, says that in all his years of covering the sport in Africa, he has never experienced the same kind of difficulties. 'You expect to run into problems when you go to Ouagadougou to cover a small event or an individual game, you would expect things not to run smoothly. 'But for a competition of the stature of the Africa Cup of Nations, in which some of the best footballers in the world compete, you simply want things to be organized.' Hawkey said that even though the competition was starting at the weekend, he was still unsure whether he would be travelling to Angola. 'I certainly will not be there for the entire duration, the costs are simply too high.' Another leading African football expert Frank Simon, who works for France Football, said that he too will not be in Angola for the entire tournament. 'There is a small chance that I will be going to cover the tournament from the quarter-finals.' The Frenchman, who has attended all eight Cup of Nations tournaments since Tunisia in 1994, said that his company, which has in previous years sent between five and eight journalists to cover the event, is only sending one this time. 'With all media houses having to tighten their belts, they are finding accommodation in Angola too expensive. It is very difficult to find something below 200 dollars a night.' A South African-based football journalist, who asked not to be named, said that he had been shocked at the way things had been handled. 'To get a visa for Angola, you had to have a letter of invitation, but to try to get this out of the African football confederation was a nightmare. 'They simply did not send it until shortly before Christmas, just as the Angola embassy closed for the festive season. Without the visa I could not book flights or accommodation, so I was in a Catch 22 situation that I did not know what to do.' He said that he sent several e-mails to the local organizing committee with accommodation requests, but was still awaiting a response. 'This has placed me in a situation that even though the competition starts on the weekend, I do not know where I will be staying. I can well imagine that many European journalists, who would otherwise come to Angola for the competition, will stay away. 'With the World Cup being hosted in South Africa for the first time this year, the Africa Cup of Nations would have been the ideal opportunity for the continent to showcase itself to the rest of the world. 'This opportunity is not being taken and that is a great pity. 'Nobody will think that South Africa is not in a position to host the World Cup because the organization in Angola is a shambles, but it still reflects very poorly on African football.' Source: www.monstersandcritics.com Credit: Deutsche Presse-Agentur