When the World Cup started precisely on June 12, 2014, the expectations were very high that our five representatives would make a good showing at the mundial and perhaps meet the expectations of the President of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Isa Hayatou for a possible semi final berth.
With five quality representatives – Nigeria (African Champions), Cameroun, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria, the stakes remains high as the continents representatives especially the core favourites Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana crashed out after the first round.
For the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun it was a consecutive fifth time failure to progress beyond the first round of the tournament as they lost woefully all three group A matches scandalously 0-1 against Mexico, 0-4 against Croatia and 1-4 against Brazil.
The Cameroonians were a bunch of indisciplined players, barbaric and wild animals with the likes of Alex Song and Ekotu not good advertisements for the younger generation of footballers on the continent hoping to emulate their behavior on the pitch.
The Indomitable Lions were simply the worst African side that featured at the World Cup and many soccer pundits still wonder the quality of players that were actually featured at the tournament as no single player could be appraised as being outstanding in the 23 man squad.
For the Ivorians, it was an experience of ill luck, selfishness on the path of their attackers and losing concentration when it mattered most for a place in the round of sixteen.
The Ivoirians started the victory song for Africa at the World Cup winning the three points for the continent against Japan in their opening Group C encounter with the experience of the legendary Didier Drogba lifting team in the second half as a substitute from a goal down to a 2-1 victory. Thereafter, the West African side lost the plot after the initial hopes going down to group C winners Columbia 2-1 and losing to Greece 2-1 in the final group game where they badly needed a draw.
The blame for the exit of the Ivorians at the World Cup lies with the team especially the attackers. They had the game wrapped with the second round insight, yet failed to hold on and even score when it mattered most.
For the Ivorians, a golden generation of stars may have made their final appearance at the World Cup with the likes of Didier Zakora, Kolo Toure, Didier Drogba and others will retire from the national team. They were seen as Africa’s brightest hope at the World Cup. Age has taken its toll on the team.
The Ghanaians had an uphill challenge at the World Cup being placed in the Group of Death in Group G alongside Germany, Portugal and the United States of America.
Despite failing to make it to the second round, their performance at the World Cup was above average with a teeming fleet of youngsters who are determined that in another two years at the Nations Cup in Morocco and the World Cup in 2018 in Russia, the Black Stars of Ghana would be Africa’s brightest team at that mundial.
They lost painfully to the United States of America 2-1, another back breaking draw against Germany with that last second equalizer against the team and failed to twinkle in their final group game against Portugal losing 2-1 and amassing only one point in all her group games.
The reports of indiscipline in the team where the likes of Sulley Muntari and Kevin Boaeeng further dented the challenge of the Ghanaians to make any head way at the World Cup.
The major observation on all the African teams was the lack of tactical discipline and character off and on the pitch of play. This has become a recurring decimal in the challenge of Africa teams at international competitions and Brazil 2014 was no exception. African teams are technically naïve and keep creating opportunities for teams from other continents to beat at ease.
For the Algerians, not much opportunity was given to the North African side especially after many decades out of the World Cup, but the ongoing renaissance of the side which was pitched with Belgium, Russia and Korea Republic surprised book makers who gave them no chance to excel beyond the group stages.
The Desert Warriors as they are fondly called fell 2-1 against Belgium in their opening group H game, walloped Korea Republic 4-2 in their second game and held Russia financed by Chelsea owner Roman Abrahamovic and coached by Fabio Capello to a 1-1 draw.
The Algerians progressed to the last sixteen of the World Cup for the first time in their history as Islam Slimani’s second half headed put them through.
The Desert Foxes will now have the chance to avenge their controversial exit from the 1982 World Cup when West Germany and Austria played out a mutual beneficial 1-0 win for the Germans as they face Joachim Loew’s men in Porto Alegre in the round of sixteen.
For Nigeria, the Super Eagles were not given much chance to fly especially after very poor preparations and a late start in the World Cup. The team’s pre-World Cup friendlies were nothing to write home about and the first game against Iran further opened or widened the doors for criticisms on Stephen Keshi and his twenty three man squad.
Yet the boys, kept faith in themselves an escaped the incursions of the Bosnian team despite Edin Dzeko’s clean goal ruled off side to hang on to a precious 1-0 victory.
The game against Argentina was also an above average display for the team even though in the 3-2 defeat, many Nigerians have come out to applaud the team this is as a result of our qualification of the second round and being the first African team to do so.
We must commend our goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama for keeping the scoreline as low as possible as Messi and Angel Di Maria were consistent threats to the Eagles defence.
Finally, Ahmed Musa had a glorious game silencing his critics with a brace which has been widely commended. The likes of Babatunde Michael and Juwan Oshinawan have justified their inclusion in the team and possible first choice selection and they proved it excellently in the games against Bosnia and Argentina. Sadly, Babatunde Michael is out of the World Cup due to a broken hand and has undergone surgery.
As I have re-stated before the World Cup started, I will not criticize the team but will passionately support them to victory but I would sincerely caution the Eagles to remain focused and not, I repeat NOT underrate any team they meet from the second round and that includes France. It would be a good omen if the Eagles make it among the last eight.
The African menu at the World Cup has been a mixed grill and we can only believe that Africa’s hope lies with the courage of Nigeria and Algeria to give more potency on why the continent deserves more slots in future World Cups, but, if the unfortunate happens that none of them fails to get past the second round, then we still keep our heads high and look forward to a future where the horizon will shine brightest on the continent’s teams for a possible soar away tournament. It’s up to us to succeed.
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