The African football debacle

Maybe South Africa, Mali, Zambia, Burkina Faso or Zimbabwe could have won the 2014 Brazil FifaWorld Cup, had they hired Joachim Loew, Alejandro Pasella or Louis van Gaal. I am certain The Super Eagles of Nigeria or The Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire could have been champions if they stayed, played and worked in Germany under Joachim Leow since, at least, 2002.

You can take to the bank the fact that Phillip Lahm, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer and crew could have delayed their flight to Brazil for the World Cup and fought on the pitch, had they been under the banner and authority of Cameroon Football Association.

 

Lionel Messi, Higuain, Mascherano, Lavezzi and the squad could have received their money sent from Accra by plane, had they been under the control of Ghana. I am under no illusion that Stephen Keshi, John Appiah, Gordon Igusand or even Keutsepilemang Ndebele for that matter, could have reached the final of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil with Die Mannschaft under the Germany administration.

 

Where lays the African football problem?  Regardless, all African coaches lose their jobs in preference to the knowledgeable and expensive expatriate coaches. The African football system is sinking. One learns from the best, the champions.

Germany today rules the world football today because of a class of players they manufactured. I handed over a programme to identify and nurture some talent for the 2006 and 2010 Fifa World Cup to some country’s association as a thirty year old some years back. I still have copies, but as you as well know, they are now as useful and cryptic scrolls with the language of the aliens.

All countries claim to have developmental structures and programmes; South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia included. Mzansi have a fair share of structures in place, but these are very much mediocre and unproductive. The funding is satisfactory but it could be better. The problem is that not many people who need to be hands-on are involved. The other issue is that the programme promotes events than processes. Information dissemination is really bad.

In Zimbabwe, the structures are solid and one can easily put their fingers on the pulse, from schools to the clubs. Organised school programmes cater for all according to their abilities to deliver. Clubs depend on these development sides they call juniors to usher new talent. Few lazy teams get to the market every now and then while their products are supped by the other teams who cannot afford to splash cash.

Some clubs find themselves answering calls from suitors each year. Potential superstars are known and their ripe date gets eagerly waited. The weekly fixtures, results and logs are available for the public at the Notice Boards at the offices, in the print media, electronic media and social networks. Hence, the influx of players to the ABSA Premier League, and most of the imports from there have dominated the league.

The story is almost similar in Namibia and the common factor with Zimbabwe is limited funding. One walks into the national office and requests the database with regional players in all age groups.

The regional structures have a direction to follow, although few still need further persuasion. Lack of implementation is one thing, and availability another. The structures are there, and the people have access to what they need. People on the ground may lack the motivation to work, but they are aware what to do and where to seek help. Above all, that help is available. The availability of information in South Africa is a cause for concern.

Players identified in tournaments the previous year fade into oblivion the following year. Few privileged ones, not necessarily the best, due to the geographical or social proximity, will always be in the limelight. These get to centres of excellence or the High Performance Centre. There is no class of players expected to be the ‘real Bafana Bafana’ of tomorrow. This system causes players get discovered at 23, 25 and even 27.

At 17, it is too late to be ‘discovered’. Players must be identified and grilled at 6, 8 or 10. The only way to keep track of them is to have a useful database and keep following until they are national team material and keep coaching the national philosophy, that is, how they are expected to play as national team players. The national game gets a brand and identity style of play from that early age.

In this context, as all clubs around the world know, there is an understanding of the general change of heart and lack of interest by the youth as they pass through adolescence. Some decide against pursuing football and prefer other sports, other stop sports altogether and specialise in academics to be doctors, lawyers and the like. The associations and clubs incur expenses for a lost cause in such cases, but weighing the pros and cons, they are better expecting the best in each case.

All said and done, the data information should ever be available to the public, parents and coaches for case studies, for developmental use, for training relevant personnel, sourcing of sponsorship and many other reasons. The future superstars get used to being popular and abosb the pressure of playing in the big stage early. They tend to be better hometown heroes and locals eagerly await their arrival and watch them in stadia.

As it is, many top league teams in South Africa play in empty stadia. Nobody ever knows the involved players, as they are not part of the known community. DJs are more popular than players are. Yet the country claims football is a religion.

Someone elsewhere is happy with the calamity and debacle of the African game. Few will celebrate a true African champion. The plastic smiles will hide the resentment of the coming of age of the sleeping giant. It can be confirmed that this is one sleeping giant that will never wake up, thanks to its own people.

2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup: Africans are failure magnets.

Cameroon boarded the plane to the 2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup late due to the issue of bonuses. Ghana bonuses were airlifted to South America late. Nigeria met over the bonuses until late and skipped training as a result. The Ghanaians hoped to be better than Cameroon in the way they handled the players and their grievances. The Nigerians are hoping to be way better than Cameroon and a little better than Ghana. What is the difference here, really? The administrations of these associations would argue that theirs would either be appearance fees and not bonuses, or allowances and the like. If that is where the difference lies, then we expect different results.

Cameroon were a disaster as they even fought amongst themselves on the field of play. Ghanaians fought at training and in the hotels. Nigerians fought in the bus as they failed to attend the scheduled training. Who is better here? Will the results differ? Ok, forget about about this World Cup. African administrators are skilled in this kind of behaviour. Give me one nation that has never been hit by the players’ strike and over and over again. We thrive in failure. We smell failure and get attracted to it. We are failure magnets. I am not even sure what the word Africa means. It could be something to do with folly. You may think this is being heartless but ‘who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?’ Moreover, how many hearts can one have only to be broken? I am just fed up about celebrating mediocrity and then nursing heartbreak after heartbreak. Leaders of our football just suck and big time. After that, they fire coaches and hire expats.

Let me change the subject. Twenty years ago, Italia ’90, many thought African football has come of age when Cameroon bamboozled the reigning world champions, Argentina, at the prime of one Diego Maradona. The performance led to the famous prophesy by Pele, that Africa will win the World Cup by the turn of the millennium. He had good reason and man of us believed. That team reached the quarterfinals and were in the semis until one referee decided that African participation was enough. England was the recipient of two penalties converted by Gary Lieneker for their 2-1 lead. From an African point of view, there was a cry of conspiracy.

In 1994, Nigeria had Africa’s greatest team of all time. Under the tutelage of Clemens Westerhof, they progressed through the USA ’94 tournament with authority. They attracted the world with their beautiful football. In the quarterfinal against Italy, they fell to a late penalty that took the match to extra time, which they eventually lost. The conspiracy theories flew everywhere, albeit a bit subdued to the excitement the Africans brought.

France ’98 went fairly well, but Nigeria could have had a case to cry foul. Senegal rose to the occasion in Korea/Japan ’02. Germany ’06 was modest and then came South Africa 2010. Ghana went all the way to face Uruguay in the quarterfinals. Before that point, there was already much cry about how Luis Suarez’s Uruguay beat South Africa. That was a huge glaring home-made victory over the hosts. Suarez blocked a last second goal by had to force the match into a penalty shoot-out. Ghana lost.

This is Brazil 2014 and the game has evolved since, with Goal Line Technology ad all. The African demise is static. The continent has leant nothing over time about the game and officiating. This is despite the fact that the motherland saw the rise of its son to be the best player in the world since those days. George Weah remains the only player to win that accolade. However, the French triumph has since been dubbed Pele’s prophesy but I will not go there for now.

At this moment is time, we have the best players in the world as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. It would be unfair to actually compare anyone with the two. Do not mention Neymar yet. He is a new kid on the block and he still needs to show the world and Europe what he is made of. So far, he has given us an idea of football player ideality. Besides that, the best players in the world in the past five years are African. The best teams in the world over the past ten years depended on the African contingent. They grace the palaces and all high places representing their paymasters. They dine and wine with the kings and queens. Many have adopted countries that feed their families.

Playing in the elite leagues for these great clubs has a distinct advantage of plying their trade with the best and against the best in the world. It exposed them to the live the world envies. They win a lot of respect from peers and foes, referees and coaches. Their statuses remain a beacon of hope for many, but becomes their downfall at the World Cup when they come home to their national teams.

Referees will respect and protect Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o as long as they play for Manchester City, Chelsea or Barcelona respectively. As soon as they don the Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana or Cameroon shirts, they are on their own. The problem is that they do not see that. They carry their superstar tag on wrong ground. It may not be the will of the officials to act that way. African teams look strong and act robust when in tussles and duels. Their combats are physical and no matter how fair, they attract the wrath of the officials. Some of the referees feel like blowing the whistle just by looking at the muscles. The assistant referees find their hands up for offside even if the ball has not been played or is behind the centre line.

How do players deal with this? Common sense is not common. The referees compensate for these either before or after match-changing decisions. The officials drag the carrots by awarding questionable decisions lie throw-ins and free-kicks at points of the field and of the game where there is no advantage or benefit. They will caution useless opposition players to massage the minds of African players. After receiving those fringe benefits that do not count, they come with the big one. They will award a penalty against the teams where there is minimum contact; give a red-card without merit, well with little but no reasonable doubt.

Basically, the African players from the big leagues get frustrated when they cannot get away with what they normally get away with in European leagues. That naivety leads to basic errors, both in attack and in defence. In attack, a shove at the back when one plays for Chelsea, a penalty is awarded by the officials. In the World Cup, when representing the nation, one may have to be amputated by a tackle to get one. In defence, the speedy and strong tackle to clear the ball will see the officials set the ball on the whitewash, and a bonus red-card of course. It must be remembered that many African strikers have strength and try to stay on their feet despite heavy and brute tackling. Penalties are not awarded for falling, but for committed fouls. Non-Africans commit these fouls against Africans but the officials take it like, ‘You are an African, that shouldn’t hurt, no penalty for you. Play on’.

The conceived violence of these players make referees ignore protecting them. The African players never get the doubt of the benefit from officials. They seem not to appreciate that officials will never give favours in productive areas unless in glaring cases, and even then, once in a while usually before the centre line or in areas that do not threaten the opposition sensitive areas.

All said and done, in the Fifa World Cup, if you are an African, never play the ball square at the back. Short passes should be prohibited, cover and balance at the back are mandatory. It is always fatal to play without support. There is no defending nicely. The ball should stay as far away from the goalkeeper as possible, not some of the time, but all of the time. Iran parked the bus and maybe it is high time African teams parked one and let the world complain. Too much respect of non-African teams because one solicits for the jersey after the match does not work. Africans need to prove that under any coach, and anywhere in the universe, they are the master of the game. They should deliver without with African or European teammates.

As for the leadership of the game, the involved people mess up the spirit of the people, waste the money and hire white European expatriate whom they pay huge salaries to come and fail. For the record, all World Cup winners did so with indigenous coaches. Many African countries qualified or won continental success with local coaches, but none earned as much as the expats. There is still hope in Nigeria and Algeria, but otherwise Africa deserves to shed the tears of their own making at this 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 as Africans put in a good shift

Neymar scored twice in the first 45 minutes of their encounter with Cameroon. The African team that turned up for this encounter surprised all by their spirit for go forward without giving any respect to the 5-time Fifa World Cup champions. So were they, that they were denied by the post before scoring what many could term a miracle goal, but it was such quality.

Both teams wasted early chances and stretched each other’s defences to the limit. The Cameroon backline limit was reached when Brazil kept a cool tempo and breached it with a lot of easy. After starting at a high pace with less control of the proceedings, Cameroon lost the ball very easily on their right in midfield. Moukandjo was dispossessed and the ball fell to Luis Gustavo who found Neymar with a pass inside the penalty area. The Brazilian talisman scored with a passing shot.

Besides the poor midfield play, Cameroon central defence played too far apart. They let Neymar have all the space he needed. The covering was inadequate and they paid the price. Going forward, Cameroon kept paving the way and utilising the available spaces in the middle of the field. They tried to attack through the wings and crossed the balls that troubled the Brazilian central defence. They won a few corner kicks in succession. The first was headed against the corner of the right upright and the cross bar after a slight deflection. The resultant kick from the right was cleared to the left where it was played back to Moukandjo who roasted Dani Alves twice and squared the ball to Matip to tap in.

The suspect Brazilian defence could not clear the ball away, just as they were guilty of conceding too many easy corner kicks. Dani Alves was set on his bums by the Cameroonian winger and the entire backline remained static as the ball travelled to Matip. However, Cameroon lost concentration in midfield again, and gave away another cheap goal. Neymar received a ball from Marcelo and scored from the edge of the box with a directed shot.

The beginning of the second half started just as interesting and entertaining. After conceding a corner kick, Cameroon failed to clear their lines. The ball went wide but not long enough. It was played to the wing to Marcelo who crossed and found a reasonably offside Fred to head home from close range to increase the score line to 3-1.

Each of the Cameroonians who took to the pitch were value for money as they put in a good shift. Their overzealous tendency to bid farewell the 2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup undid the otherwise respectable job done on the night. It was their over-confidence that handed the Brazilians the fourth goal. A poorly taken free-kick outside the box by the Cameroon defence backfired as that haste turned out to be a goal for the hosts. The ball was intercepted by Oscar, and then played to Fred who returned it to Oscar. Oscar set up Ferdinandinho who toe-poke the ball into the net to close the show at 4-1.

After their crazy antics of the fixture against Croatia, the Africans made amends despite a large score-line. They gained much respect in the absence of Samuel Eto’o and Alex Song.

Cameroon decapitated by Croatia (0-4) in 2014 World Cup

The Indomitable Lions were slaughtered by Croatia by 4-0. Strong and fast off the starting blocks, Cameroon flattered to deceive, at least for a moment with forays on the right wing where Benjamin Moukandjo had a field day skinning his marker at will. Croatia put their bodies on the line in midfield and defence and began to take control of the game. Benoit Assou-Ekotto failed to prevent a cross being delivered from the right wing. The central defence messed up a clearance and Perisic fed Olic who was making a run on the blind side behind Mbia.

Cameroon ran like headless chickens, not knowing whether they were coming or going. Aboubakar was full of energy and tried to combine with Moukandjo on the right to run at the Croatian defence. The defending by the Africans became worse as Mandzukic rang rings with his menacing play.

The Indomitable Lions clawed their way into the match pressing Croatia, forcing the midfield errors, and bullying the Europeans in midfield. In that positive spell, Croatia picked a loose ball in a collision of Aboubakar and Moukandjo and counter-attacked. Barcelona’s Alex Song shoved Mandzukic with his arm and followed it with a hammering elbow. He was red-carded with six minutes of the first half to play.

There was extremely poor decision-making by Cameroon, bad choice of passing, wrong angles support and incorrect distances of support at the back. Charles Itandje, in goals for Cameroon, played a long ball to Perisic at the corner of the centre and touch lines. The Croatian set himself up with his first touch, got into the box with his second and scored with his third after a fine sprint.

Moukandjo fought a lone losing battle with his energetic runs and excellent technique of running with the ball and dribbling. Croatia were relentless with their bid to tear the Africans to pieces and achieved that with a lot of ease. They surprised themselves with a goal from a cheap corner. Mandzukic out jumped the entire defence to head down a powerful ball past Itandje. They could have buried a few more chances with some clinical finish as they ran rings around the bemused and dazzled Cameroon.

The Aboubakar-Moukandjo combination created few true chances, but Cameroon incredibly missed them. For each of the missed chances, Croatia scored an easy goal. The crushing score line was extended when Eduardo received a pass from the right wing after fine play, and his attempted curler was parried into the path of Mandzukic to tap in.

It became a stroll in the park, Croatia choosing when and how to enter into the box. They seemed to choose when Cameroon could enter their box too. With a clear sight on goal, Cameroon still missed the target in an embarrassing way. True circus, What a disgrace!!  

How Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0: 2014 Fifa World Cup

Mexico faced and beat Cameroon 1-0 in a match played under dreadful conditions. The bodies took a beating in the rain and the heavy clothing usually designed to be lightweight under extreme conditions. The ball naturally sucks some water and becomes heavy, skids off the surface and becomes tricky to manipulate. The socks get wet and water fills the boots and the feet are slippery inside the socks and boots. The vision would be greatly affected, as well as judgement of the speed and flight of the ball.

As for the actual match, the atrocious decision-making by Cameroon on going forward, especially the attacking third, was a glaring disappointment. The Africans played a 1-5-3-1-1 while Mexico were on a fluid 1-3-5-2. The Mexico midfield brushed aside the Cameroonians, who were outnumbered and generally very weak in midfield, with some relative ease.

There was the obvious lack communication, the bad decision-making, poor concentration, exposure at the wings and overall bad defensive behaviour by Cameroon. They played too flat and very square, surviving many scares by the swift-moving Mexico forwards who were passing precisely and moving fluently to good attacking positions. With a few ounces of luck, patience and clinical finishing, they could have wrapped the match earlier in the first half. Their transition was swifter and relevant to keep Cameroon at bay.  

The goal came from the right midfield after, again, a series of errors. Quick inter-passing founded on the acres of spaces and lack of pressure on the ball and poor marking were complimented the long distances of support and wrong angles of support at the defence of Cameroon. There was not much compactness in the midfield either. The slow defending and central defenders playing miles apart, allowing a free shot, lack of follow-up on the rebound made the poor midfield job look innocent.

The goalkeeper could have punched the ball wide, even though, it must be understood that the parry was a reflex action in itself. He did enough to get down and have his powerful hand behind the ball. His efforts to get up and try to deal with the second ball was a sign of great agility and concentration.  

North Arab Africa failed at the AFOCN 2013, why?

Ghana and Cameroon won the Afcon four times each, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo twice, while the Egyptians had it seven times, including that incredible popular hat-trick.

Other champions since 1957 are Tunisia, Congo, Zambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan, Algeria and Ivory Coast.

Let us remember the losing finalists as well for a change. Ghana and Nigeria lead the pack by having been there four times each, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Sudan, Cameroon and Tunisia lost the finals twice each.

Egypt lost the final once in 1962. They were third thrice. Nigeria were seven times number three while Ivory Coast and Zambia achieved that four and three times respectively.

Ten times did the north Arab Africa lift the trophy, making them the most successful region in Africa. This is a total of the Egyptians (7), Moroccans (1), Algerians (1) and Tunisians (1) champion titles.

Cameroon (4), DRC (2) and Congo (1) representing Central Africa won it seven times. This equalled the West African titles of Ghana (4), Nigeria (2), Ivory Coast (1). Sudan and Ethiopia got two titles for East Africa as did South Africa and Zambia for the Southern African region.

At the quarter-final stage of the 2013 Afcon in South Africa, there are seven West African countries and the hosts, South Africa left. Besides, even at club level, the north Africans have won the continental title on 26 occasions since the inception of the African club championship.

It may not be a trend but what happened in this Afcon that led to the elimination of the game’s power houses? Let us look at the luck of the draw.

Algeria and Tunisia were grouped together and toiled hard to eliminate each other. Both could have qualified but they played bad football, especially Algeria. Morocco engaged the hosts and minnows Cape Verde as well as Angola. They were tipped to top the group.

Algeria were rated the second best team in Africa, passing the ball well and moving forward quickly in smooth transitions. There was not much to separate them from their French speaking neighbours.

A world-class last minute strike robbed them of victory as they did not have time to respond. Actually, they did not need to have been in that situation. At worst Algeria could have done was to have a lead they failed to protect. They were supposed to hit the net and more than once. As all other northerners, their downfall was what is usually their strength – the excessive speed.

All Arabic countries played too many players ahead of the ball. This comes basically from the passion of the things they do rather than the speed of thought. The eagerness and anticipation never materialised as the opposing teams closed the men on the ball too quickly.

This made it impossible to deliver the early balls from crossing positions and denied the five passes following the winning of possession. The seven seconds counter-attacking window elapsed quickly for them.

If ever there was delivery of the ball, it was a shade too late. In few instances where the delivery was on time and at the right areas, the haste to deal with the ball let them down. More often than not, they were always caught napping by counter-counter-attacks of the opposition.

In their bid to get on their bikes to attack very fast and in large numbers, their rear was exposed tremendously. These were obvious in the matches involving Algeria versus Togo, Tunisia versus Togo as well as Morocco versus South Africa.

Usually, teams would keep enough resources at the back to deal with speedy players and systematic counter-attacks. By hook or crook, and maybe fluke too, the 2013 Afcon teams were well prepared to deal with counter-attacking football.

One cannot really place a finger on whether the failure of Egypt to be at the tournament had anything to do with countering the counter-attack. By contracts, the Ethiopians patiently attacked their opposition despite their naivety in being too casual at the back and depending on being just too timid.

To have a productive processes in the pipeline, the Arabs were better off playing the Ethiopian way because they concentrate well and they are solid at the back. This would then allow them to play behind the ball, save for an attacker or two.

The pace of the attack can increase and yield results if they ran at opponents, exactly the way Tottenham Hotspurs’ Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon would tear defences down. They have the capacities to play that way, but they failed dismally in their endeavours.

With Africa, one never knows if change is here to stay. One day, the winds of change will flow south and then east. Morocco failed to register a win, Algeria could only find the net in their last match in which they relinquished the a healthy 2-0 lead to afford the Ivory Coast a 2-2 draw. Tunisia managed a 1-0 victory over Algeria, a 1-1 draw with Togo despite that 3-0 drubbing by Ivory Coast.