Moments Africa shone at World Cup
IT IS Africa’s big day at the World Cup today as Algeria and Nigeria bid for a place in the quarterfinals against European teams Germany and France respectively.
Here are five memorable African victories at previous World Cups:
Algeria 2 West Germany 1 (1982) The North Africans were at their first World Cup finals and given little chance against the reigning European champions in the clash in Spain. The Germans thought it was done and dusted. “One player even said that he would play against us with a cigar in his mouth,” Algeria’s fullback Chaabane Merzekane said later. The over confidence cost dearly as the Algerians prevailed 2-1 with Rabah Madjer scoring nine minutes into the second-half. The Germans pulled level through Karl-Heinz Rummenigge only for Lakhdar Belloumi to hit the decisive goal.
Cameroon 1 Argentina 0 (1990) Argentina opened the 1990 tournament in Italy as defending champions against a Cameroon side with few recognised stars. However, Francois Omam-Biyik’s headed goal, helped by an awful goalkeeping error by Nery Pumpido, gave them an astonishing 1-0 win. “We hate it when European reporters ask us if we eat monkeys and have a witch doctor. We are real football players and we proved this tonight,” OmamBiyik said.
Nigeria 3 Spain 2 (1998) Nigeria reached the World Cup second round in 1994 and arrived at the 1998 tournament as Olympic champions. But Spain had a squad packed with top talent and were fancied to end their title drought that stretched back to the 1964 European championship. But veteran goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarette gifted Nigeria’s second equaliser by Garba Lawal and Sunday Oliseh’s cracking third sealed a remarkable win for the Super Eagles.
Senegal 1 France 0 (2002) In a repeat of 1990, another talented but largely unknown African team took on the defending world and European champions and global superstar Zinedine Zidane. The Senegalese, coached by Frenchman Bruno Metsu, rattled their opponents from the start and it was no surprise when midfielder Pape Bouba Diop popped up to score in the 30th minute. France and their coach Roger Lemerre seemed incapable of reacting and lost 1-0. Ghana 2 Czech Republic 0 (2006) The Czechs were one of the dark horses for the World Cup after reaching the Euro 2004 semifinals. Ghana were not given much hope especially after opening with a 2-0 defeat by Italy. But with just more than one minute on the clock Asamoah Gyan gave the Black Stars the lead firing past Petr Cech.