Vuvuzela - African football is too colonised

South Africa 2010 World Cup symbol

I have been unfortunate not to see the beginning of the 2017 Russia Confederation Cup matches so far. I did not even witness the Opening Ceremony.

Please enlighten me if there was a minute of silence or an honour for Cheick Tiote, as has been the case especially for Marc-Vivian Foe.

Yesterday I watched both draws; Cameroon 1 -Australia 1 and Chile 1 - Germany 1. There was a huge element of disappointment for me.


The tournament has lost its shine somehow. Since the inception in the late 1990s when South Africa and Brazil among others, there was a clear crescendo in both quality and entertainment value.

It was a pale show of great shows put by the great Cameroonian side with the likes Samuel Eto'o, Patrick Mboma, Oman Biyik, Thomas Nkono; that Bafana Bafana side with David Nyathi, Sizwe Motaung, Doctor Khumalo and others.

The last night football fixtures proved otherwise. Germany did not help by bringing a development side to the tournament. It is a great initiative for their future but a great disservice to the game.

Fifa must must allow such to happen. Football results are not paramount when developing a team.Not that the young boys did not try. They gave their all, but at that top level of the game, we do not want novices.

This brings me to the point of today; Fifa double standards. The Fifa Fair Play Credo stipulates that players and teams must play to win. Yet, they allowed that clowning to happen.

We have seen that when non-Africans express themselves by fancy footwork, like Lionel Messi, they applaude and sing raises. If Africans execute such skills, faces change colour and the language too - showboating, grand standing.

That is what we do. The Cameroon match lacked that spark that makes football the beautiful game Pele talked about. This tournament has no 'Jogo e'bonito'. 

I am now concerned by the lack of African football growth. Is there any chance things will change? Look at the natural death of the vuvuzela. 

A vuvuzela was once a symbol of the South African game. During the South Africa 2010 Fifa World Cup, so much noise was made about the unsuitability of the decibels of the instrument. 

Of course, then Fifa President, Sepp Blatter refused to publicly condemn our culture, but there was undercover drive to nullify it. Two Fifa World Cups later, South Africans do not carry the vuvuzela to matches. 

African football is colonised.

Mexico beat New Zealand 2-1 in 2017 Confed Cup

(Photo by Tommy Smith)

New Zealand surprised Mexico with more attacking football. Most of their first half attacks were either completed or terminated in the final third.

The Kiwis controlled play in midfield and fluffed several goal scoring opportunities. The defending was decent, with All Whites, dressed in all black, trying to get numbers behind the ball.

Lack of maturity was visible in counter attacking as lapses of concentration proved to be their Achilles heel inside the penalty box. 

The goal did not come against the run of play, and just a single goal at the time was injustice to the efforts of the Kiwis. The football result would not do justice this fixture. 

Mexico came into the second half a changed side. They increased the match tempo and pressed high.

The South American champions, inter-passed and smothered a few counter-attacks squandered by New Zealand.

As fate would have it, All Whites paid for all their misses as they conceded 10 minutes into the second half.

As much as they tried to form a human curtain infront of the goal, only a spectacular could breach that defence, and what a strike it was.

A sucker punch came with barely 20 minutes of lay left. Swing movement from the back via the left wing, with play taken to the by-line and a cut back saw a near post short squeezed past a sprawling goalkeeper.

Mexico kept increasing the tempo and utilising all counter attacking opportunities to press for their course but failed to convert due to selfish tendencies.

New Zealand were still in business with 5 minutes to go as they struck the post with a ferocious shot past a bemused keeper.

The Video Referee Assistant took centre stage once more, as the referee, had to consult with the technology at the centre line, to assess the chaotic free-for-all shoving party, after a Mexican held back a counter-attacking Kiwi.

The moment resulted in a few brandished yellow cards for different offences during the commotion.

Mexico prevailed despite a decent show by the New Zealanders.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores for Portugal win over Russia - 2017 Fifa Confederation Cup

CR7 scored- Could he be heading back to Man U?

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal scored a decisive goal against Russia in the 2017 Fifa Confederation Cup.

The European champions overcame hosts by an odd goal.

Despite the football results tonight, Ronaldo proved leadership qualities in his play. Someone needs to ask what obsession with a century old argument of Ronaldo versus Messi is all about.

To begin with, I love individual brilliance of players like Ronaldinho, who I think is the best player ever in the world. I love fancy footwork.

The problem with that assessment is that his football achievements are lesser than those of Pele and Maradona. Zinedine Zidane for the same reason, sheer individual 'maestrocism'.

Lionel Messi is just brilliant, but I think that despite his eccentric ball manipulation artistry, Cristiano Ronaldo is a better player.

To qualify my point, Messi is still to win a continental title with his nation. He is not carrying the nation on his shoulder like Ronaldo does.

Messi has a lot to do to catch up in that regard. Until then, CR7 rules, although many want to believe comparing the two is like comparing oranges and stones. 

2017 Fifa Confederation Cup. The video assistant referee

The International Federation of Football Associations,(FIFA) finally considered the video referee assistant at the top level of the game.

I for one, advocated for this technology, but given what we have seen so far, it is not ayoba, unless of course, a few adjustments can be made.

For starters, one scored a goal and celebrated for lengthy periods and the ball is even centred. Suddenly, the decision to call the ball back comes and kills all that joy.

Equally, one scores a goal, thinks it is ruled unlawful and there is not even a celebration, then suddenly "You have scored". This is bizarre.

The technology must not be abused at any time. The human referee must be let to do his job. The VRA team must always have their story at their finger tips, just in case there is a query.

That is how it works in tennis with Hawk-eye and cricket's DRS. If no one complains and the decision is wrong, tough luck. 

And again, if the incident occurs and there is a complaint, the VRA team have enough time between the captain's approach to the referee and the consultation.

Indeed, we always see slow-motion almost instantly anyways.