The State of African Football

I was actually thinking about this post for a while. Especially after seeing Nigeria and Cameroon basically bowing out in the first round. And Ghana, more than likely, being the only African representative left in this tournament. However there were a couple of respectable managers who beat me to the punch of why African Football is so close but yet so far.

When there are players like Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, and Samuel Eto'o, you wonder why exactly has there not been an African team who hasn't won the World Cup. Roger Milla from Cameroon was one of the first in 1990 to break through and make it to the Quarterfinals, but other than that and Senegal and in 2002, no team has broken through and made it into the Semifinals or Finals. Even an South Korea, from Asia, has made an semifinals. You have to think why haven't these talented players have yet to make it until the pinnacle of World soccer

Well there is hardly any stability in the African game. I watched ESPN's coverage of the World Cup and Ruud Gullit made a great point in saying that many of the African teams have a manager who have been with the team for only three months except for the Algerian team. And that isn't enough time to establish your values and tactics on a team. Cameroon and Ivory Coast are made examples. Paul Le Guen and Sven Goran Erikson didn't have a chance because these players have been use to a certain manager but then when they come into this situation and try to install their system, the players can't get use to it like that. And then the managers turn it like this: "okay, they aren't going to win anyways, let's collect the paycheck and go on with our business" And that is exactly what's happening right now. Most of these teams aren't going to make it out of the first round and the coaches are leaving out top players because they don't "fit their system"

The important thing that is keeping African football back is their discipline. How many times have u seen from an African keeper bad goalkeeping? Or a rash tackle that shouldn't be made? Or opportunities that they should have put away but they did not? Ghana isn't much organized and discipline as the other teams, they just benefited from the other teams mistakes. (They have only scored two goals this World Cup and both have been PKs) You can see the skill from these players, they know how to play football. However they still make those mistakes that makes you scratch their heads and the goalkeepers are basically amateur goalies trying to impersonate pros. Until all these players receive the right training, they will still continue to falter when you think they should be better.

I don't think that the continent of Africa needs to do a lot of work. All they need to do is stick with a manager no matter if it is good or bad. Tweak the way they are learning these kids how to play football so they can be the best possible footballers they can be. And just relax and play football bc they do know how to play the game, it's just a matter if they can play it effectively...