African Cup of Nations: Matt Spiro watched the opening game in the Egyptian capital yesterday.

The eyes of the football world were on Cairo last night as the 25th African Cup of Nations got under way with a convincing 3-0 victory for the host nation Egypt against their North African neighbours Libya.

Around 70,000 fans poured into Cairo's International Stadium, the vast majority arriving some two hours before kick-off to witness a spectacular opening ceremony that included the descent of 16 parachutists - one from each competing nation - and a deafening firework display.

They were not to be disappointed once the football started either, as two early goals, one a header from Tottenham striker Mido, the other a sublime free kick from Mohamed Aboutrika of Al-Ahly, put paid to Libya's slim hopes. Mido should have scored a second 12 minutes from time but his penalty was saved and Ahmed Hassan of Besiktas scored the follow-up.

Just two days earlier Fifa president Sepp Blatter had made a public appearance in the Egyptian capital when he urged African teams to show their worth on the international stage. Five places will be taken up by African sides at the World Cup next summer, and Blatter hinted that figure could rise when South Africa host the first World Cup on African soil in 2010.

Blatter's condition, however, was that they earn that extra place by "working hard on the pitch". The quality of the football at the two previous Nations Cups has been decidedly mediocre, and opinion remains divided as to how much African football really has progressed in recent years.

There were signs in yesterday's game that times could be changing, even if the Libyan team, made up largely of amateurs, offered little resistance. Egyptian playmakers Mohamed Barakat and Hassan showed delightful touches, Aboutrika's free kick was as good as anything that can be seen in Europe, and fans' favourite Mido, who seems to have brought his Premiership form home with him, formed a potent attacking partnership with Amr Zaki.

If the main criterion for World Cup places were passion and a love of the game, then Africa would surely be the most heavily represented continent of all.

Egypt, like so many African countries, lives and breathes football, and the hype surrounding this tournament hits you as soon as you arrive at Cairo airport. A giant poster of the tournament mascot Croconile, a friendly-looking croc sporting a Pharaoh's crown, is plastered onto a wall in the main terminal and has been beaming down on the thousands of visitors that have poured into the capital this week.

On the crowded Cairo streets, meanwhile, adverts for the tournament's principal sponsors are everywhere, and the topics of conversation in the smoke-filled coffee shops invariably centre round the Pharaohs' chances of clinching a record fifth African crown, and a third on home soil.

Indeed, it has been nigh on impossible to order a cup of shai without first being asked if you know Mido. Answer in the affirmative and the waiter will soon be running through the rest of the Egypt line-up before hitting you with the obligatory reminder that Al-Ahly, the Cairo-based club, are the current champions of Africa.

On Fridays the traffic jams that usually clog Cairo's main thoroughfares tend to thin out as the most populated Muslim city in the world slows down for rest and prayers. Yesterday was different, though.

From midday the area surrounding the gigantic International Stadium was already buzzing with hundreds of supporters, almost as many military police and, of course, an awful lot of traffic.

The black-and-white tin-pot taxis were doing a roaring trade, the official buses transporting journalists from the media centre to the stadium (a distance of 200m that took more than one hour by road) barely moved, while a few hundred highly-charged locals added to the festivities by hooting car horns furiously.

With Egypt's president Gamal Mubarak watching proceedings, security measures at the ground could not have been stricter, and the local advice to arrive five hours before the game to be sure of getting in proved wise. The city was about to come to a standstill.

Egypt feel they have much to prove both on and off the pitch and the stakes will be high in the next three weeks.

Like Morocco, they were furious that Fifa ignored their bid to host the 2010 World Cup, and a smoothly run African Nations would strengthen their claims that North Africa is a better equipped and safer region to stage the tournament.