Day three of the World Cup just showed that the referees are not done yet with their dirty games.
In the last World Cup in Germany we saw a referee give a penalty to Italy against Australia in the 90th minute when an Italian tripped and fell on a static Australian on the ground.
We saw another referee issue three yellow cards to the same player but allowed him to play on.
In fact we saw a lot of horrible refereeing decisions which we thought would be improved on this time around but were they?
Come on, I watched the game between Germany and Australia and I thought the Germans got too many favours from the referee.
And that red card to Tim Cahill was as harsh as they come, wasn’t it?
But aside the help the Germans got from the referees, it turned out to be the highest score line yet at the World Cup though no hat trick yet.
I had to give kudos to the Germans. They took a young squad to the World Cup for the first time in ages and again after losing influential captain, Michel Ballack and first choice keeper, Rene Adler, they picked up the pieces easily to rout Australia, the highest scoreline in the World cup yet.
There are still more surprises to come.
Ghana show Nigeria how to do it
Ghana’s win against Serbia just showed that some African countries actually know why they are in the world Cup.
At least there was no argument over if the team played well, if they were expected to concede many goals or other things the Nigerians argued about.
The Ghanaians just did what serious teams going to the World Cup do- Win Matches.
While fans from my country, Nigeria are arguing that their tem played well, the Ghanaians already have three points in the bag.
Stadium protests, grenades and gun wielding policemen
My friend of 20 years, Colin Udoh is there in SA covering the World Cup and he sent a disturbing message yesterday while watching a game.
According to him there was a loud sound like and explosion outside the stadium and immediately angry looking police men barricaded the place and refused to let journalists out of the media center.
He said he eventually found his way out to discover that there was a protest outside the stadium by security workers, I think and the police used stun grenades to scare them.
Well, even blogging about it gives me the creeps so I wonder how they felt about it.
But its the World Cup. Hardly have a World Cup or Olympic Games gone by without one protest or the other and I would have been shocked if this one went protest free.
Well, its Day 3 gone... Many more days to go.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Did Nigeria play well or not?
The jury is still out on the game between Nigeria and Argentina.
Though Nigeria lost the game by 1-0, Nigerians, most of them that is feel the country played very well.
I watched the game over and over again and I do not exactly agree that our own country played well in that game.
How do you judge a side that plays well? Ball possession, shots at goal, shots on target and finally goals scored, right?
We were behind the argentines on every single one of these yet we rejoice that we played well.
Yes some people say they are speaking relatively as we haven’t played this well in ages but is that really true?
Nigeria have hardly had a record of playing pretty against African opposition but all that changes at the World stage.
I can go back as far as you may want me to but it is true.
Even the evil playing Shaibu Amodu did pretty well in games against France and Ireland.
Having said that I believe that Nigerians only thought we played well because they expected a whitewash from the Argentines but we were eventually able to reduce the damage to just one goal.
The Super Eagles have all it takes to play in the quarter finals if we can come out of our group but the players must not get ahead of themselves.
It has been one loss to Argentina and another against Greece means we are on our way back home.
No two games are the same and the fact we played “well” against Argentina in no way means we will play well and win against Greece but we as Nigerians are hopeful.
Vincent Enyeama showed as usual that he is the best goalkeeper Nigeria has and one of the best in the World.
I hope his performances at the World Cup will guarantee him a move to frontline Europe.
I also still do not agree that we do not miss John Mikel Obi.
Just because Lukeman Haruna had a decent game against Argentina does not mean we should tie Obi to the stake and shoot him, does it?
We will just sit back and see how other games go.
Though Nigeria lost the game by 1-0, Nigerians, most of them that is feel the country played very well.
I watched the game over and over again and I do not exactly agree that our own country played well in that game.
How do you judge a side that plays well? Ball possession, shots at goal, shots on target and finally goals scored, right?
We were behind the argentines on every single one of these yet we rejoice that we played well.
Yes some people say they are speaking relatively as we haven’t played this well in ages but is that really true?
Nigeria have hardly had a record of playing pretty against African opposition but all that changes at the World stage.
I can go back as far as you may want me to but it is true.
Even the evil playing Shaibu Amodu did pretty well in games against France and Ireland.
Having said that I believe that Nigerians only thought we played well because they expected a whitewash from the Argentines but we were eventually able to reduce the damage to just one goal.
The Super Eagles have all it takes to play in the quarter finals if we can come out of our group but the players must not get ahead of themselves.
It has been one loss to Argentina and another against Greece means we are on our way back home.
No two games are the same and the fact we played “well” against Argentina in no way means we will play well and win against Greece but we as Nigerians are hopeful.
Vincent Enyeama showed as usual that he is the best goalkeeper Nigeria has and one of the best in the World.
I hope his performances at the World Cup will guarantee him a move to frontline Europe.
I also still do not agree that we do not miss John Mikel Obi.
Just because Lukeman Haruna had a decent game against Argentina does not mean we should tie Obi to the stake and shoot him, does it?
We will just sit back and see how other games go.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
So we survived the first blast of Vuvuzelas
So the first day of the African World Cup is finally over?
I am yet to hear medical reports of deafness amongst the close to 90000 people at the Soccer City in Soweto but I sincerely did not envy the Mexicans.
Playing in the middle of close to 90000 vuvuzelas can never be easy for anybody except maybe the South Africans but after 1-1, the Mexicans must feel like they won the game.
A bit of sad news for the Patriarch, Nelson Mandela as he lost his great granddaughter on the eve of the opening ceremony as she was involved in an accident on her way home from the concert.
That will most definitely bring more sadness than joy in some homes.
Now back to the opening game, I believe the South Africans have finally shown that they can play football, just that they simply do not know how to score.
We saw then outplay their opponents at the Cup of Nations in Ghana two years ago but returned home early.
We also saw them out play all their opponents in the Cup of Nations qualifiers yet fail to qualify.
But the South Africans played some pretty football against Mexico (with the help of the noisy vuvuzelas though) and must not fancy their chances of making it to the next stage of the competition.
I really like this South African team. Inexperienced, green horns and not spoiled by Europe.
I hope they get to the quarter finals.
The game between France and Uruguay was a real bore.
In fact like they say, watching wet paint dry would have been more interesting than the football on display.
But at least we lived through it and really tried not to fall asleep hoping we will at least see a goal or two.
Ooops, I slept off. How did it end? Goaless? I’m certainly not surprised about it.
What cant FIFA just ban these two sides? Why?
I am yet to hear medical reports of deafness amongst the close to 90000 people at the Soccer City in Soweto but I sincerely did not envy the Mexicans.
Playing in the middle of close to 90000 vuvuzelas can never be easy for anybody except maybe the South Africans but after 1-1, the Mexicans must feel like they won the game.
A bit of sad news for the Patriarch, Nelson Mandela as he lost his great granddaughter on the eve of the opening ceremony as she was involved in an accident on her way home from the concert.
That will most definitely bring more sadness than joy in some homes.
Now back to the opening game, I believe the South Africans have finally shown that they can play football, just that they simply do not know how to score.
We saw then outplay their opponents at the Cup of Nations in Ghana two years ago but returned home early.
We also saw them out play all their opponents in the Cup of Nations qualifiers yet fail to qualify.
But the South Africans played some pretty football against Mexico (with the help of the noisy vuvuzelas though) and must not fancy their chances of making it to the next stage of the competition.
I really like this South African team. Inexperienced, green horns and not spoiled by Europe.
I hope they get to the quarter finals.
The game between France and Uruguay was a real bore.
In fact like they say, watching wet paint dry would have been more interesting than the football on display.
But at least we lived through it and really tried not to fall asleep hoping we will at least see a goal or two.
Ooops, I slept off. How did it end? Goaless? I’m certainly not surprised about it.
What cant FIFA just ban these two sides? Why?
One Billion condoms
There was a time, and really there was when the World Cup was strictly about the football being played and not much else.
Those were the days when you looked forward to the World Cup and wondered who will be top scorer or who would win the Golden Boot for best player.
And after the competition you discuss the goals scored by your favourite or most hated player.
Like in the 50s people wondered about Ferenc Puskas, 17 year old Edson Arantes Do Nascimiento also known as Pele or even Moroccan born French international Just Fontaine.
Then in 1962 the talk was on Pele’s injury and whether he would make the World Cup. He did but did not play much; rather Amarildo replaced him and became the star of the World Cup for Brazil.
In 1966 it had to be Eusebio and the Portuguese team coming from 3-0 down to beat the Koreans 6-3 but eventually England who won the Cup on home soil with a controversial goal from Georf Hurst was the major talking point.
The 70s saw the Dutch as a major attacking force but they never won the Cup despite playing in 2 finals and the 80s was the Brazilians who were clearly the best team but did not win.
Then again, Paolo Rossi made history being the first man (maybe only) to score a hat trick against Brazil.
The Danish side in 1986 also introduced the contra system to the world.
But in the 90s things changed and the World Cup started being more about other things but the football.
I remember the Nigerian team having a fight with their coach Clemens Westahof in 1994 over if their wives and girl friends should stay with them in the hotel.
Was that a football related matter? Maybe if we just faced the assignment at hand we may have gone all the way and you bet that made even more news than Rashidi Yekini failing to score against the Italians in that second round match.
Argentine idol, Diego Maradona also made the news for his drug addiction at the World Cup in the same year.
In 1998, David Beckham got a red card against Argentina and England were knocked out of the World Cup but it made more news that he flew to the USA from France to seek solace in the bosom of his wife, Victoria Posh Spice.
All the newspaper headlines and paparazzi photographs made it seem like the World Cup had ended and the spice Girls tour was the next big thing in the world.
There was also the sex as incentive issue in 2006 when Ukraine playing in their first World made more news than Ronaldo who became the top scorer ever in world Cup history.
The Ukrainian coach, Oleg Blokhin really wanted his players to go all the way at the World Cup and gave them an extra incentive to win.
He told them that if they got to the semi finals, he would lift the law on celibacy and allow the players have sex with their wives and girlfriends. But intriguing thing about it was that he said the players did not have a choice- they must have the sex even if it meant him forcing their wives and girlfriends on them. Did they get to the semi finals? No! But the sex as incentive story was bigger than whatever the Ukrainians did at that World Cup.
Wow! Football is fast turning to show biz these days.
I can go on and on but the point is that these days, the World Cup is hardly about the football being played on the pitch because other stories make the event more and most interesting.
One billion condoms, 40,000 sex workers
The 2010 World Cup seriously does not want to be left behind on the table of recent championships that had football as last news on the page.
Recently there was a story making the rounds on the internet that the prostitution capital of the world was going to move from wherever it is now to South Africa.
That report said that one billion condoms are expected in South Africa and must be used up as 40 000 commercial sex workers engage in brisk business.
And the report continues that most of these 40,000 will come from as far as Russia, Congo and guess where? Nigeria!
We are talking about the football World Cup here and not a script from an x rated movie... except maybe I am still old fashioned into thinking the world Cup was still about football.
Now because of the lure of expensively paid for sex with diseases to add to the bargain, the South Africans are more interested in telling visitors that the sex will be free from diseases (though expensive) than to talk about how ready the facilities are to host the event or even the high quality of play we should expect.
But who cares about football when it is the football World Cup we are talking about?
Someone please tell me it is the football World Cup we are about to watch?
I even hear that the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, himself a polygamist with 20 children has been going round the world begging countries to supply more condoms to South Africa.
Naked truth about Maradona
Then there is the other matter of Argentina’s manager, who I think is the worst coach amongst the 32 at the World Cup.
He probably knows that despite his superstar team, Argentina may not win the World Cup so he has taken the attention once again off the football.
He has promised to run the streets of Buenos Aires stark naked if Argentina wins the World Cup.
Who wants to see that ugly sight? Certainly not me and certainly not the Argentine people so I thank God He the good Lord will not permit us to have nightmares so I guess He will ensure Argentina do not go anywhere near lifting the trophy but once again, some news outside the football on the pitch.
Be warned! You may catch something
In June this year, According to a new study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, visitors travelling to South Africa will need to worry less about 'exotic' tropical diseases such as malaria, and concentrate on protecting themselves from a wide range of more common travel-related diseases, such as acute diarrheal illness, sexually transmitted diseases, febrile illnesses, insect and tick bites, and vaccine-preventable infections, especially influenza and measles.
Can we please talk about football?
At the World Cup, I want to read about the number of goals Messi, Tevez, Higuan and Rooney will score; I want to read about the beautiful football that will be on display and I also want to update my factfile by taking records as the games progress.
Football is about football so let us keep it at that.
Let us enjoy the beautiful game.
Those were the days when you looked forward to the World Cup and wondered who will be top scorer or who would win the Golden Boot for best player.
And after the competition you discuss the goals scored by your favourite or most hated player.
Like in the 50s people wondered about Ferenc Puskas, 17 year old Edson Arantes Do Nascimiento also known as Pele or even Moroccan born French international Just Fontaine.
Then in 1962 the talk was on Pele’s injury and whether he would make the World Cup. He did but did not play much; rather Amarildo replaced him and became the star of the World Cup for Brazil.
In 1966 it had to be Eusebio and the Portuguese team coming from 3-0 down to beat the Koreans 6-3 but eventually England who won the Cup on home soil with a controversial goal from Georf Hurst was the major talking point.
The 70s saw the Dutch as a major attacking force but they never won the Cup despite playing in 2 finals and the 80s was the Brazilians who were clearly the best team but did not win.
Then again, Paolo Rossi made history being the first man (maybe only) to score a hat trick against Brazil.
The Danish side in 1986 also introduced the contra system to the world.
But in the 90s things changed and the World Cup started being more about other things but the football.
I remember the Nigerian team having a fight with their coach Clemens Westahof in 1994 over if their wives and girl friends should stay with them in the hotel.
Was that a football related matter? Maybe if we just faced the assignment at hand we may have gone all the way and you bet that made even more news than Rashidi Yekini failing to score against the Italians in that second round match.
Argentine idol, Diego Maradona also made the news for his drug addiction at the World Cup in the same year.
In 1998, David Beckham got a red card against Argentina and England were knocked out of the World Cup but it made more news that he flew to the USA from France to seek solace in the bosom of his wife, Victoria Posh Spice.
All the newspaper headlines and paparazzi photographs made it seem like the World Cup had ended and the spice Girls tour was the next big thing in the world.
There was also the sex as incentive issue in 2006 when Ukraine playing in their first World made more news than Ronaldo who became the top scorer ever in world Cup history.
The Ukrainian coach, Oleg Blokhin really wanted his players to go all the way at the World Cup and gave them an extra incentive to win.
He told them that if they got to the semi finals, he would lift the law on celibacy and allow the players have sex with their wives and girlfriends. But intriguing thing about it was that he said the players did not have a choice- they must have the sex even if it meant him forcing their wives and girlfriends on them. Did they get to the semi finals? No! But the sex as incentive story was bigger than whatever the Ukrainians did at that World Cup.
Wow! Football is fast turning to show biz these days.
I can go on and on but the point is that these days, the World Cup is hardly about the football being played on the pitch because other stories make the event more and most interesting.
One billion condoms, 40,000 sex workers
The 2010 World Cup seriously does not want to be left behind on the table of recent championships that had football as last news on the page.
Recently there was a story making the rounds on the internet that the prostitution capital of the world was going to move from wherever it is now to South Africa.
That report said that one billion condoms are expected in South Africa and must be used up as 40 000 commercial sex workers engage in brisk business.
And the report continues that most of these 40,000 will come from as far as Russia, Congo and guess where? Nigeria!
We are talking about the football World Cup here and not a script from an x rated movie... except maybe I am still old fashioned into thinking the world Cup was still about football.
Now because of the lure of expensively paid for sex with diseases to add to the bargain, the South Africans are more interested in telling visitors that the sex will be free from diseases (though expensive) than to talk about how ready the facilities are to host the event or even the high quality of play we should expect.
But who cares about football when it is the football World Cup we are talking about?
Someone please tell me it is the football World Cup we are about to watch?
I even hear that the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, himself a polygamist with 20 children has been going round the world begging countries to supply more condoms to South Africa.
Naked truth about Maradona
Then there is the other matter of Argentina’s manager, who I think is the worst coach amongst the 32 at the World Cup.
He probably knows that despite his superstar team, Argentina may not win the World Cup so he has taken the attention once again off the football.
He has promised to run the streets of Buenos Aires stark naked if Argentina wins the World Cup.
Who wants to see that ugly sight? Certainly not me and certainly not the Argentine people so I thank God He the good Lord will not permit us to have nightmares so I guess He will ensure Argentina do not go anywhere near lifting the trophy but once again, some news outside the football on the pitch.
Be warned! You may catch something
In June this year, According to a new study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, visitors travelling to South Africa will need to worry less about 'exotic' tropical diseases such as malaria, and concentrate on protecting themselves from a wide range of more common travel-related diseases, such as acute diarrheal illness, sexually transmitted diseases, febrile illnesses, insect and tick bites, and vaccine-preventable infections, especially influenza and measles.
Can we please talk about football?
At the World Cup, I want to read about the number of goals Messi, Tevez, Higuan and Rooney will score; I want to read about the beautiful football that will be on display and I also want to update my factfile by taking records as the games progress.
Football is about football so let us keep it at that.
Let us enjoy the beautiful game.
Our continent, Our trophy?
Our Continent, Our Trophy
This slogan started gaining the airwaves since South Africa hosted the Confederation Cup last year.
The South Africans actually thought they would win the Cup and picked up that slogan.
Then Ghana went one better and won the World Youth Championships in Egypt. Yeah, it was really Our Continent, Our Trophy.
At the U-17 championships hosted by Nigeria, the slogan came up again and though the Nigerian team tried they could only get to the final and lose.
And we have not stopped ever since. We have continued to talk about how this is an African World Cup and how it will all make sense if an African side can win it but nobody has told us which of the African sides they think can win it.
Ever since the great football sage, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, also known as Pele “prophesied” that an African country will win the World Cup before the turn of the 21st century, the whole continent have been under pressure.
Even though Pele has since come out to either say he was misquoted or his words were taken out of context, the hunger for an African country to win the World Cup has become more insatiable than ever before.
In 1990 a lot of fans actually thought the Roger Milla team would do the continent proud (didn’t they?)
When they met their real match in the quarter finals they crumbled like a pack of cards even though they could have easily beaten the English.
In 1994 we all thought Nigeria would be that team but a lethargic Italy with half fit players sent us packing the second round.
1998 should have surely been Africa’s year but that has been our worst performance in recent times and in 2002 when the Teranga Lions of Senegal seemed on a roll they got their reality check in the quarters against Turkey.
The whole of Africa still probably remember the 2006 World Cup and how only Ghana made it to the second round and what the rampaging Brazilians did to them.
Now why can’t Africa win the World Cup in 2010 or anytime soon?
African countries are yet to understand that football is not all about 90 minutes on the pitch.
They have also failed to understand that people do not win matches simply because they have quality players.
Greece would never have won the European championships the year they did if it was simply about players.
So can Africa win the World Cup finally in 2010? NEVER! The continent is simply not ready yet and this is a fact whether we like it or whether we admit it or not.
There is more to winning a World Cup than simply just thinking, “Our continent, our trophy”.
First a country must have the quality in terms of man power or playing personel. It is not enough to just have a John Mikel Obi playing at Chelsea, a Micheal Essien playing at the same Chelsea, a Samuel Eto’o at Inter Milan or a Benni McCarthy playing at West Ham. You must have a lot of quality in one team to be able to carry the others along. When it comes to quality in playing personnel, the Ivoriens are closest to it.
The likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Zezeto, Romaric, Emmanuel Eboue and Gervinho certainly is enough quality to having a shouting chance at the trophy but having quality players is just one of many qualities a team must have.
After having quality players which no doubt the Ivoriens do have, there are other factors.
Organisation: This is where a lot of African countries err. Apart from maybe the North Africans, most are not organised.
Travel arrangements for players is like rocket science to them; coordinating a friendly match seems like something that will bother Albert Einstein and it is no wonder why players find it difficult reporting to camp for games or tournaments because things seem so different especially for the Europe based players who are used to better organisation.
To organise simply means to establish, institute, set up, construct, put together, arrange and coordinate.
Are those of us in africa close to any of these? Most of the FAs in africa are in total shambles and the situations does not look like changing any time soon.
Planning: This is another criteria for winning where the Africans fail woefully. Why do Africans fail to plan? Somebody said a man who fails to plan is planning to fail.
Nobody just wakes up in the morning and plans to win the next World Cup without putting things in proper perspective.
I remember as a kid watching tha video of “The history of the World Cup” and i still have vivid memories of myself crying with th Brazilians after they lost the 1950 final to Uruguay. Why did a 12 year old start crying for something his father even knew nothing about? The passion around the Brazilan game? Maybe. Put most of all, the Brazilians picked the pieces up and won the Cup 8 years later; eight years after losing a bitter final on home soil. Is that planning? I do not know what else is.
In 1998 the Americans performed woefully at the World Cup and they set up a committee to win the World Cup in 2010, a whole 12 years later. Midway into their planning they realised winning the Cup would not be realistic as a target so they modified it to “Being a threat at the 2010 World Cup”
Did anybody watch the Confederations Cup last year?
Nobody achieves anything that did not plan for that thing. Do africans plan? Not that i know of.
Winning mentality: Nobody goes to battle planning to lose or not thinking of winning. Ask any Ivorien player, nigerian, ghanaian, Camerounian or Algerian player if their countries can win the World Cup and hear their responses.
Then ask any Brazilian, Spanish, Argentine, English or Spanish player the same questions and see how different these responses will be.
No african player playing in the World Cup this year thinks he will be kissing the trophy in July as compared to their counterparts from Europe and America.
Those in Africa still feel inferior to the Europeans and South Americans so talking about winning the World Cup is just dream talk.
World Class manager: Has any African country ever had a World Class manager on her bench? Not too many.
Can average journey men coaches that Europe and South America have exported to Africa over the years cannot not and will never win anything with the average and below average African sides.
A quality coach like Otto Renaghel can win with an average side like the Greek team in 2004.
The same way and average coach like Clemence Westahof could win with the Super Nigerian team of 1992-94.
But average coach + average team is certainly equal to average performance and that has been the lot of African sides in the past.
Amongst five countries representing Africa at the World Cup, perhaps only the South Africans have a real coach but he has to face a very poor team in training every day.
Consistency: This is the major problem of footballing in Africa. No consistency especially with coaches. We sack them at every bad turn and football can hardly ever grow that way.
Nigerians are the biggest culprits here.
Since Clemence Westahof left in 1994 (remember he stayed five years) we have sacked coaches every two years and that has hardly helped football in Nigeria grow.
Just in February, two weeks after leading the Nigerian side to winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerian manager, Shaibu Amodu was sacked because Nigerians thought he was a bad coach and will disgrace the country at the World Cup.
One month later, the Swede, Lars Lagerback was appointed in his place. He had no FIFA window to meet the players and only had his first session with the team in May after the European Leagues ended, yet he said Nigeria had the potentials to play in the semi finals, LIAR!
The Ivoriens did the same thing, sacking their coach on the last day of February and he would have the same problem with the Nigerian coach because there was really no time to look at the players.
Discipline: Most African players do not see returning home to their countries to play football as serious business. Rather they see it as a time to burst loose from their rigid and disciplined European clubs.
Time to sow wild oats, binge drink and generally indulge; and all this is done during competition time.
In Nigeria, players report home for one off matches and go see their friends and parents for at least a day or two before reporting for the games. Discipline? We certainly do not have it in Africa.
At the Cup of Nations in 2004, three Nigerian players were sent home because they were caught with ladies in their hotel; at the Cup of Nations in Ghana which i attended there were similar but unreported sex scandals.
At the World Cup in 2002 when we watched Senegal play good football we thought they would go past the Turks and play in the semi final but were shocked the Teranga Lions players were so immobile through out the match.
Unconfirmed reports had it that most of them slept late in the night on the eve of the match, partying in celebration of their outstanding feat of reaching the World Cup quarter finals.
That is the lot of Africa.
Can Africa win the World Cup in 2010? NEVER! Can Africa win it any time soon? A lot of things have to change. Our attitude to games, organisation, mentality, consistency and discipline.
Without these we would postpone winning the World Cup to 2014 and then 2018 and then 2022 yet we still would not win it.
Our continent, our trophy! How possible?
This slogan started gaining the airwaves since South Africa hosted the Confederation Cup last year.
The South Africans actually thought they would win the Cup and picked up that slogan.
Then Ghana went one better and won the World Youth Championships in Egypt. Yeah, it was really Our Continent, Our Trophy.
At the U-17 championships hosted by Nigeria, the slogan came up again and though the Nigerian team tried they could only get to the final and lose.
And we have not stopped ever since. We have continued to talk about how this is an African World Cup and how it will all make sense if an African side can win it but nobody has told us which of the African sides they think can win it.
Ever since the great football sage, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, also known as Pele “prophesied” that an African country will win the World Cup before the turn of the 21st century, the whole continent have been under pressure.
Even though Pele has since come out to either say he was misquoted or his words were taken out of context, the hunger for an African country to win the World Cup has become more insatiable than ever before.
In 1990 a lot of fans actually thought the Roger Milla team would do the continent proud (didn’t they?)
When they met their real match in the quarter finals they crumbled like a pack of cards even though they could have easily beaten the English.
In 1994 we all thought Nigeria would be that team but a lethargic Italy with half fit players sent us packing the second round.
1998 should have surely been Africa’s year but that has been our worst performance in recent times and in 2002 when the Teranga Lions of Senegal seemed on a roll they got their reality check in the quarters against Turkey.
The whole of Africa still probably remember the 2006 World Cup and how only Ghana made it to the second round and what the rampaging Brazilians did to them.
Now why can’t Africa win the World Cup in 2010 or anytime soon?
African countries are yet to understand that football is not all about 90 minutes on the pitch.
They have also failed to understand that people do not win matches simply because they have quality players.
Greece would never have won the European championships the year they did if it was simply about players.
So can Africa win the World Cup finally in 2010? NEVER! The continent is simply not ready yet and this is a fact whether we like it or whether we admit it or not.
There is more to winning a World Cup than simply just thinking, “Our continent, our trophy”.
First a country must have the quality in terms of man power or playing personel. It is not enough to just have a John Mikel Obi playing at Chelsea, a Micheal Essien playing at the same Chelsea, a Samuel Eto’o at Inter Milan or a Benni McCarthy playing at West Ham. You must have a lot of quality in one team to be able to carry the others along. When it comes to quality in playing personnel, the Ivoriens are closest to it.
The likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Zezeto, Romaric, Emmanuel Eboue and Gervinho certainly is enough quality to having a shouting chance at the trophy but having quality players is just one of many qualities a team must have.
After having quality players which no doubt the Ivoriens do have, there are other factors.
Organisation: This is where a lot of African countries err. Apart from maybe the North Africans, most are not organised.
Travel arrangements for players is like rocket science to them; coordinating a friendly match seems like something that will bother Albert Einstein and it is no wonder why players find it difficult reporting to camp for games or tournaments because things seem so different especially for the Europe based players who are used to better organisation.
To organise simply means to establish, institute, set up, construct, put together, arrange and coordinate.
Are those of us in africa close to any of these? Most of the FAs in africa are in total shambles and the situations does not look like changing any time soon.
Planning: This is another criteria for winning where the Africans fail woefully. Why do Africans fail to plan? Somebody said a man who fails to plan is planning to fail.
Nobody just wakes up in the morning and plans to win the next World Cup without putting things in proper perspective.
I remember as a kid watching tha video of “The history of the World Cup” and i still have vivid memories of myself crying with th Brazilians after they lost the 1950 final to Uruguay. Why did a 12 year old start crying for something his father even knew nothing about? The passion around the Brazilan game? Maybe. Put most of all, the Brazilians picked the pieces up and won the Cup 8 years later; eight years after losing a bitter final on home soil. Is that planning? I do not know what else is.
In 1998 the Americans performed woefully at the World Cup and they set up a committee to win the World Cup in 2010, a whole 12 years later. Midway into their planning they realised winning the Cup would not be realistic as a target so they modified it to “Being a threat at the 2010 World Cup”
Did anybody watch the Confederations Cup last year?
Nobody achieves anything that did not plan for that thing. Do africans plan? Not that i know of.
Winning mentality: Nobody goes to battle planning to lose or not thinking of winning. Ask any Ivorien player, nigerian, ghanaian, Camerounian or Algerian player if their countries can win the World Cup and hear their responses.
Then ask any Brazilian, Spanish, Argentine, English or Spanish player the same questions and see how different these responses will be.
No african player playing in the World Cup this year thinks he will be kissing the trophy in July as compared to their counterparts from Europe and America.
Those in Africa still feel inferior to the Europeans and South Americans so talking about winning the World Cup is just dream talk.
World Class manager: Has any African country ever had a World Class manager on her bench? Not too many.
Can average journey men coaches that Europe and South America have exported to Africa over the years cannot not and will never win anything with the average and below average African sides.
A quality coach like Otto Renaghel can win with an average side like the Greek team in 2004.
The same way and average coach like Clemence Westahof could win with the Super Nigerian team of 1992-94.
But average coach + average team is certainly equal to average performance and that has been the lot of African sides in the past.
Amongst five countries representing Africa at the World Cup, perhaps only the South Africans have a real coach but he has to face a very poor team in training every day.
Consistency: This is the major problem of footballing in Africa. No consistency especially with coaches. We sack them at every bad turn and football can hardly ever grow that way.
Nigerians are the biggest culprits here.
Since Clemence Westahof left in 1994 (remember he stayed five years) we have sacked coaches every two years and that has hardly helped football in Nigeria grow.
Just in February, two weeks after leading the Nigerian side to winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerian manager, Shaibu Amodu was sacked because Nigerians thought he was a bad coach and will disgrace the country at the World Cup.
One month later, the Swede, Lars Lagerback was appointed in his place. He had no FIFA window to meet the players and only had his first session with the team in May after the European Leagues ended, yet he said Nigeria had the potentials to play in the semi finals, LIAR!
The Ivoriens did the same thing, sacking their coach on the last day of February and he would have the same problem with the Nigerian coach because there was really no time to look at the players.
Discipline: Most African players do not see returning home to their countries to play football as serious business. Rather they see it as a time to burst loose from their rigid and disciplined European clubs.
Time to sow wild oats, binge drink and generally indulge; and all this is done during competition time.
In Nigeria, players report home for one off matches and go see their friends and parents for at least a day or two before reporting for the games. Discipline? We certainly do not have it in Africa.
At the Cup of Nations in 2004, three Nigerian players were sent home because they were caught with ladies in their hotel; at the Cup of Nations in Ghana which i attended there were similar but unreported sex scandals.
At the World Cup in 2002 when we watched Senegal play good football we thought they would go past the Turks and play in the semi final but were shocked the Teranga Lions players were so immobile through out the match.
Unconfirmed reports had it that most of them slept late in the night on the eve of the match, partying in celebration of their outstanding feat of reaching the World Cup quarter finals.
That is the lot of Africa.
Can Africa win the World Cup in 2010? NEVER! Can Africa win it any time soon? A lot of things have to change. Our attitude to games, organisation, mentality, consistency and discipline.
Without these we would postpone winning the World Cup to 2014 and then 2018 and then 2022 yet we still would not win it.
Our continent, our trophy! How possible?
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