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This African football revolution...



jimhigham

jimhigham

Je Suis Rhino
Apr 25, 2009
8,045
Woking
...it's not really happening, is it?

Was it Pele that said he believed an African team would win the World Cup before the end of the 20th century. To date the best effort has been Cameroon way back in 1990 when they had England bricking it. Since then there's been a bit of a decline.

Granted, it is very early days but the signs for 2010 are not great. South Africa will have a mountain to climb after tonight. The Ivory Coast showed a lack of invention and ambition. Algeria will hopefully not do too much on Friday. Ghana are off to a winner but are they serious quarter final contenders?

The question for you all is why this seeming lack of progress? The African continent has more representatives in the world's top leagues than every before. There are dozens of fantastic African players plying their trade across the globe so why are they not progressing in their national teams?

Could it be club pressures? Poor infrastructure at grass roots level? Poor coaching? I haven't a Scooby Doo. Perhaps you have.

Over to you...
 




Simster

Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,958
Surrey
Perhaps it's not so much a continental thing as a national thing. I mean, who is any good outside the usual suspects?

As for Africa, there have been several nations as good as middling European/S American nations down the years haven't there?
 




F

folkestonesgull

Active member
Oct 8, 2006
915
folkestone
European nations 'adopting' many of the continents best players hasn't helped the cause.
Nor has war, a lack of investment in infrastructure and bad luck in the draw for their best teams
 






R

Robdinho

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2004
1,068
jimhigham said:
There are dozens of fantastic African players plying their trade across the globe so why are they not progressing in their national teams?
Click to expand...

Africa is not a single country though is it. There may be dozens of good players, but there are also dozens of African countries and the good players are spread across them. The teams don't seem to have the strength in depth to really be successful, they have a couple of stars and a lot of very average players.

Why that is I have no idea, possibly it's because their domestic leagues are not strong - the lucky few get bought by a big overseas club and then improve playing against top class opposition every week, while the rest playing domestically will stagnate in a mediocre league.
 








R

Robdinho

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2004
1,068
jimhigham said:
True enough but I don't recall anybody predicting they would conquer the footballing globe. People have been lining up to say it's Africa's turn for years but it never is.
Click to expand...

That's often based on the spectacular performances of their 'youth' teams though.
 




B

Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,882
jimhigham said:
...it's not really happening, is it?

Was it Pele that said he believed an African team would win the World Cup before the end of the 20th century. To date the best effort has been Cameroon way back in 1990 when they had England bricking it. Since then there's been a bit of a decline.

...
Click to expand...
I dunno about Pele, but Walter Winterbottom (England's first manager) said back in the 1950s that an African team would win the world cup before the end of the 20th century.
 




Kalimantan Gull

Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
13,458
Central Borneo / the Lizard
Simster said:
Perhaps it's not so much a continental thing as a national thing. I mean, who is any good outside the usual suspects?

As for Africa, there have been several nations as good as middling European/S American nations down the years haven't there?
Click to expand...

This is a good point.

The usual suspects: Germany, Spain, England, France, Holland, Italy, Argentina and Brazil are always strong, and have been for a very long time

Only Portugal have really broken into this 'clique' in recent years, whilst just Mexico (and going further back, Uruguay) have fallen away.
 


G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,836
Uffern
Kalimantan Gull said:
This is a good point.

The usual suspects: Germany, Spain, England, France, Holland, Italy, Argentina and Brazil are always strong, and have been for a very long time

Only Portugal have really broken into this 'clique' in recent years, whilst just Mexico (and going further back, Uruguay) have fallen away.
Click to expand...

To take this point a bit further, you could say that since the 1950s, every World Cup has been won by four teams: Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy - with two exceptions, when it was won by a host nation. At least one of those four teams has been in every final since the war.

So, why pick on African sides? There are plenty of decent European teams who have not won the cup: Spain, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Holland, Denmark and Greece have all won the Euro championship but have done diddly-squat in the WC, Just like the Prem has been dominated by two or three teams, so has the WC been dominated by four and other (not just African) teams can't get a look in.
 


T

Tooting Gull

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
11,033
Africa's biggest contribution to World Cup football -the vuvuzela, or Roger Milla's dance. It's not great, is it?
 




B

Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,882
Gwylan said:
To take this point a bit further, you could say that since the 1950s, every World Cup has been won by four teams: Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy - with two exceptions, when it was won by a host nation. At least one of those four teams has been in every final since the war.

So, why pick on African sides? There are plenty of decent European teams who have not won the cup: Spain, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Holland, Denmark and Greece have all won the Euro championship but have done diddly-squat in the WC, Just like the Prem has been dominated by two or three teams, so has the WC been dominated by four and other (not just African) teams can't get a look in.
Click to expand...
Very good point. So international football IS the same as the Premiership, at least it has been for the last sixty years or so: a 'Big Four' with the rest of us desparately trying to break in.

I suppose we're the equivalent of Aston Villa - very good in the 19th century but done precious little since.
 




M

murraymints4brighton

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2008
3,999
Some mysterious land that might be Bangkok but pro
Nigeria were looking good once upon a time and had a so called "young squad". Unfortunately they are all in their mid 40's now and were probably in their 20's when they were being touted as football god's. According to Football manager Kanu is 33, yet his career started in 1991. That means he was playing at the age of 14!

I thought the Ivory Coast looked like they could be resilient and win a few games under the Swede. By no means are they going to win the thing, but I would say they have a shot at the Quarter Finals.
 


Jackthelad

Jackthelad

Well-known member
Mar 31, 2010
1,075
African football has gone backwards look at teams like Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa all far worse than they were.

The African nations can't even get players that are eligible to play for them.
Foreign born players like Victor Moses, Nedium Onuoha, Fabrice Muamba and Shola Ameobi have all picked England over their birth place of Nigeria.

And Jamaica now they could have their pick of players as loads of black players in the EPL have Jamaican heritage yet they cant attract f*** all.
 








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