African Teams Still Learning the Ropes

Football experts say the tactical and technical skills of African teams must improve if they have to surpass their achievements at the FIFA World Cup

By ARUKAINO UMUKORO (Reporting from South Africa)

The night of June 16 painted a sombre mood for many South Africans since the national team Bafana Bafana lost 0-3 to Uruguay, despite it being a significant public holiday in the country’s history. Known as the Youth Day, June 16 of every year commemorates the start of the Soweto riots of 1976, initially sparked by a government edict that all instructions in black schools would be held in Afrikaans. Even Zakumi, the Official Mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, celebrated his 16th birthday on that day.
“We should have won our first match against Mexico. But we didn’t take our chances,” said Alfred Lebogang, a South African in Bloemfontein, moaning the loss to Uruguay. Not only that, most Africans also felt that Cameroon and Ivory Coast should have won their first match against Japan, just like they believed that Nigeria could have scored goals against Argentina if they had taken their chances. Worst still, Nigeria’s Super Eagles had their wings clipped last Thursday with 2-1 loss to Greece. It was a greasy affair. Despite the array of football talents available on the continent and her priced exports to European and South American leagues, many are still questioning whether African teams have developed enough to compete for top honours with European and South American teams when it comes to the FIFA senior World Cup stage.
“European and South American players are smarter than African players. African players not only work very hard, but our decision making lets us down,” said Thomas Kwenaite, producer and presenter of Soccer Africa on Super Sports. “Another problem that affects our game is that we like to show off that we are more skilful than the opposition. But football these days is about scoring goals and getting to the opposition area. African teams are just happy going forward, leaving ourselves open for counter attacks and the opposition punches a lot of holes into our defence. But the European or South American teams are always organised even when they attack. When they lose the ball, they all come back very quickly and try to squeeze you by not allowing you to play. Whereas, when African teams lose the ball some players are steady. It’s like they expect somebody else to defend or get it, but the European or South American players all get behind the ball and try to recover it. So we need to improve on this.” Adding that the organisation of African teams needs to take better shape as well.
Gaunt Kenneth of the England Press Association seems to agree with him. He also observed that a lack of team organisation might just be the sore point for African teams at this World Cup, especially among the continent’s pre-tournament favourites. “Cameroon was a bit disorganised against Japan. Nigeria played better,” he said. For Callistus Ebare of Daar Communications, AIT, African teams tend to create a lot of chances but fail to utilise them. “For instance, if you compare the work rate of Ivory Coast’s Gervinho and that of Brazil’s Robinho in their country’s first matches, they are miles apart. While Gervinho had more time with the ball running with it, Robinho with the ball would only make a split pass to create a difference. That is the difference between a team that is likely to advance and a team not likely to advance -- how many chances you create and are able to take,” he said. “African players still have a lot to learn and I am surprised because most of them ply their trade in Europe, but the technique is still lacking.”
The great Pele of Brazil had once predicted that an African team would win the World Cup before the year 2000. Pele’s prediction is now 10 years overdue. South Africa 2010 being on the continent home soil seems to offer "home" advantage for the six African representatives. The question now is, which one of them would be tactically and technically prepared enough to take the advantage and move Africa further than the quarter-final stage achieved by both Cameroon and Senegal in 1990 and 2002, respectively?