A Flawed Start!

Strings of defeats trail African teams in the FIFA World Cup tournament

By Chidiebere Onyemaizu

VARIOUSLY described by some football analysts as minnows,
non starters etc, the five countries representing Africa in the on going World Cup tournament seem to have largely proved bookmakers right. This is because the African teams, with the exception of Tunisia have so far failed to garner a single point in the preliminary stages of the competition.
The inability of the African teams to shine in their respective opening matches against their opponents stems from what a football analyst described as their (the African teams’) “colourless performance” so far in the tournament which accordingly, resulted in their being routed by their respective opponents.
Before the commencement of the competition, some football analysts had predicted that Africa’s representatives in the tournament would put up dismal performances owing to the fact that the teams, with the exception of Tunisia, who had dramatically abbreviated the world cup dreams of veterans of the tournament – Nigeria, Cameroun and South Africa, lacked World Cup experience, having not featured in the World’s biggest soccer fiesta for the first time.
Instructively, in a somewhat confirmation of pundits analysis, the teams went into the preliminary stages of the competition and came out with bruises and strings of defeats.
For example, Cote d’ Ivoire which raised the curtain for the continent lost to their opponent, Argentina, 2-1. The oil rich Central African country, Angola which against all expectations, booked the world Cup ticket at the expense of Nigeria bowed 1-0 to Portugal. The Black Stars of Ghana, once the continent’s pride in soccer laid postrate to Italy with a 2-0 defeat. The tiny West African country of Togo which stunned football analysts by picking the World Cup ticket for the first time courtesy of Nigeria’s Stephen Kishi under whose tutelage (as a coach) the country’s National team , The Hawks, achieved the feat lost 2-1 to South-Korea. This was even after the Hawks had taken an early lead in the encounter.
The Togolese team which was the first to arrive Germany for the tournament, had prior to its first baptism of fire in the competition made World headlines having been rocked by crisis. First, the players threatened not to lace their boots for their country unless they were paid $100,000 appearance bonus. Next, just days to the Hawks engagement with South-Korea, its German coach, Otto Pfister dramatically disappeared, leaving the team in a lurch only to re-appear a day to the match. Pfister’s disappearance was not unconnected with the lingering dispute over the controversial $100,000 appearance bonus by the players.
Tunisia on the other hand brought smiles to the faces of Africans. The North African country which squared up against a fellow Arab nation, Saudi-Arabia during the preliminary stage of the tournament managed to secure a point having held their opponents to a 2-2 draw.
Though the African teams had so far performed almost exactly as pundits had predicted, there is however, a school of thought which opines that the teams have not afterall performed badly, the defeats not withstanding. For example, Gbenga Taiwo, a football analyst argues that save for the series of defensive errors made by Ghana, they would have emerged victorious in the encounter with Italy. Taiwo: “Anybody who read the match correctly will notice that Ghana had more goal possession than their opponent. The Black Stars’ defensive errors were largely responsible for their defeat.”
On his part, Mitchell Obi, Chief Executive officer, Master Sports International and member 2014 Commonwealth Games bid committee, does not believe bookmakers have been proved right in their postulation about the likely performances of African teams in the tournament. For Obi, in football anything can happen. He insisted it is still too early to write off the African teams. Obi had earlier in an interview with The Source before the commencement of the world-cup described African teams participating in the tournament as no push over. He had predicted they could afterall still spring surprises.
Notably, to still remain in contention in the world-cup, the four African teams that lost their opening matches must strive hard to win their next matches. Tunisia with one point in its kitty however stands a better chance of advancing to the next stage of the competition. In the next round of the competition, Cote d’ Ivoire will be squaring up against Holland. The venue is the city of stutgart. Angola will be seeking Mexico’s pound of flesh in Hanover while Ghana will be in action against Czech republic. The venue of the ecounter is Colongne.
Togo battles Switzerland in Dortmund while Tunisia, the only African country that has so far recorded a point will try to consolidate its achievement when it files out against Spain at Nuremberg.