Africa: Skillful Yet Hugely Flawed

My introduction to the world of African Football came at the age of 11, when I watched the opening game of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. I knew nothing about African football. Watching Cameroon in that tournament was something of a steep learning curve. They went from the ridiculous to the sublime and then back again.

Argentina went to Italia '90 as the World Champions and in Maradona they boasted the best player in the world. Cameroon were no respecters of reputation, their 1-0 win almost as shocking as their style of play. One moment encapsulated their abrasive style in such a blackly comedic fashion, that one needs to re-watch it, just to confirm what they had seen. Argentina's skillful forward Claudio Cannigia picked the ball up about 30 yards inside his own half and set off on a run into Cameroonian territory. He hurdled two relatively wild challenges before Benjamin Massing, who had made up ground from the other side of the pitch, appeared and promptly tried to decapitate poor Claudio. Sure enough, he got a red card, and Cameroon had their reputation as hackers.

The Indomitable Lions (a name that became almost as used as Cameroon) then proceeded to delight, picking up wins against Colombia and Romania, with 38 year old striker Roger Milla the star of the show, bagging four goals. All of a sudden, this team that played rough house tactics had endeared themselves to the world and had showed they could play.

In the quarter-finals they came up against England and poor discipline got the better of them. England won 3-2, a barely deserved victory but one of Cameroon's own making, having given away two penalties.

Each World Cup since has seen an Africa team impress but then fall away. Nigeria were impressive at USA '94 and France '98. Senegal emulated Cameroon and beat champions France on the opening day of Japan/Korea '02, while Ghana provided some wonderful moments in German '06.

Sustained success on the world stage seems to be something that African nations cannot find. Given the size of the continent and the wealth of talent it produces this seems unfathomable. In 1977 Pele proclaimed that an African side would win the World Cup by the year 2000. Not even close.

There are, of course, the documented problems. Africa is a continent crippled in certain areas by poverty and war. Hardly the ideal conditions to try and live a fruitful and happy life, let alone breed sporting success.

The major players in African football are Cameroon, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal and the Ivory Coast. Each country has players plying their trade across Europe, often for some of the continent's top teams. The European influence on African football has been evident for some time with an influx of coaches from Europe. And herein may lie the problem.

African football has, traditionally, been all about skill. For many long years tactics seemed to be an afterthought, with slick passing and tricks being the order of the day. The the likes of Henri Michel and Claude le Roy began coaching on the continent and introduced European style tactics to the teams.

On paper, this seems like a winning combination. The skill of the player's allied to the tactical nous of their manager. It has never worked on the world stage and the trend does not look set to change.

It is all very well having five or six of your finest footballers playing for some of Europe's top clubs, but when their supporting cast is made up of players from mid-table Belgium, French and Swiss sides, you're always going to struggle.

I don't know what the answer is, purely because there doesn't seem to be one. If someone can find the answer and turn an African side into serious and consistent contenders on the world stage, then the rest of the continent may begin to follow suit.

Sadly, this doesn't look like happening and until it does the rest of the football world will view African sides in much the same way they do now. Colourful, entertaining and skillful. But very, very beatable.