Why promising African teams once again fell short in the World Cup
AT EVERY World Cup tournament since 1986, at least one team from Africa has made it to the second round of the finals.
That record unceremoniously ended in Russia 2018 after all five countries – Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal – were knocked out in the preliminary round.
There were high hopes as the quadrennial tournament started that Africa could build on its display in Brazil in 2014 when two teams, Nigeria and Algeria, reached the second round for the first time.
Instead, Africa, and its soccer-adoring fans, are wondering how teams boasting European-based players who play at the highest level could suffer 10 defeats, two draws and a mere three wins out of 15 games played in Russia?
One writer wondered whether the early elimination could be bad luck or a lack of flair.
But the circumstances characterising the exit of each of the African teams were, in many respects, unique. Egypt Egypt bounced back into the World Cup after a 28-year absence. A lot was expected from them given that they’ve won the African Cup of Nations a record seven times.
The World Cup was ideal to demonstrate their prowess, first because they were in a manageable group, and second, in Mohammed Salah they had one of the world’s best players. His injury on the eve of the tournament proved too costly to overcome and the rest of the players failed to raise their game to fill the void in the loss to Uruguay in the opening game.
Salah dominated Egypt’s campaign – scoring seven and assisting two of the 10 goals they scored in qualifying and in Russia.
They returned home from Russia having lost all their three games. Morocco Morocco’s campaign started with a painful own goal in stoppage time of their opening game to gift Iran a 1-0 win. It was a huge and costly defensive error against a beatable opponent given that Portugal and Spain were coming up next on their schedule.
Morocco competed impressively in all their matches. Against the European champions, Portugal, the team impressed with their offensive approach, passing and fluidity as they sought to equalise.
But conceding goals either early or late can cost a team, and Morocco were twice on the losing end.
The game that brought out the best and worst in Morocco was their final one against Spain.
The Atlas Lions came close to beating the 2010 World Champions but conceded yet another stoppage-time goal to draw 2-2.
Morocco’s performance, like other African teams, raises questions about game tactics when leading or trailing or early and late phases of the game. Nigeria Nigeria showed promise given that they were the youngest team, featuring 18 players who had never played at a World Cup before. Unfortunately, the squad learnt the hard way, as they were just four minutes away from qualifying for the knockout rounds when Argentina scored a goal that knocked them out.
BBC Sport quoted their coach, Gernot Rohr, as saying: “I think the future is for Nigeria because there is a big solidarity.” But Nigeria paid the price for starting slowly, especially in the first match against Croatia. Tunisia Tunisia beat Panama, but they were simply not good enough to progress from a difficult group featuring both Belgium and England.
Captain Wahbi Khazri admitted that his side found the level against both top-drawer European opponents to be too high. Like Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria, the Carthage Eagles lost their opening game to England in stoppage time. Next, Tunisia were mercilessly hammered by a hungry Belgium 5-2. The only consolation is that Tunisia left as Africa’s top scorers, with five goals from three games. Senegal Before the tournament, I picked Nigeria and Senegal to do well. Senegal started on a high note when they beat Poland 2-1, raising hopes that they would shine. But the dropped points against Japan in a 2-2 draw exposed their game-management deficiencies while leading in a close game.
The fact that they picked up unnecessary yellow cards in their first two games rendered them vulnerable against Colombia. Their tied points with Japan led to Japan’s progress because Japan had a better disciplinary record – four yellow cards, while Senegal had six. Their inferior disciplinary record led coach Aliou Cisse to declare that the team “didn’t deserve” to make the second round.
Why was Russia 2018 such a disaster for African teams? A great deal of hope was placed on a few outstanding talents who were either injured or whose abilities did not blossom because of tactical limitations and tight marking by opposing teams. It was also evident that African teams conceded goals either early or late. This speaks of inadequate game-management skills on the side of the coaching crews.
The teams were outmatched technically and tactically, never managing to score enough goals, while the defences conceded goals at crucial moments. It did not help that midfield play was also devoid of creative play. Once more, the continent has to wait for another shot in 2022. – The Conversation
Njororai Simiyu is a professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at the University of Texas at Tyler