Grant backs African teams for World Cup win
African teams have excellent talents that can win the FIFA World Cup but the continent’s flag bearers at the biggest football spectacle require “strong mental strength” to prevail against the world’s best, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has said.
Stressing that Africa’s five at Brazil 2014 are set to excel, Grant said “I certainly believe Africans teams will excel at this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. I strongly believe that Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria might even go further than the quarter final stage if their mental strength is excellent. It will be a good testimony for African football.”
“One advantage that the African teams have in Brazil is that it is going to be warm. European teams have never won the World Cup in South America, so it will be a great opportunity for the African teams to do well because of the circumstances they have to play in,” Grant said but cautioned that to excel, Africa’s representatives will need to have “technical expertise to inculcate the strong mental strength in the players” for them to prevail against other competing nations.
Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria carry the hopes of a continent pregnant with huge expectations that at the barest minimum, one team would go all the way to the final and attempt to win Africa’s first World Cup.