Fifa’s lopsided slots choke Africa
Continent’s teams getting raw deal in quadrennial tourney
African teams have at previous Fifa World Cup finals tournaments managed to reach the quarterfinal stage, but none has achieved the milestone of being in semis and eventually the final.
Looking at the history of the Fifa-organised tournament and how our motherland teams have fared since 1930, when 13 African nations took part, only three countries have reached a quarterfinal – Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) – none has ever made it to a semifinal.
As things stand, all five African sides, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana, have had shaky starts at the Qatar 2022 World Cup with only Morocco and Tunisia gaining a point apiece after goalless draws against Croatia and Denmark, respectively. It could be said these are satisfactory results for north African countries.
However, for west Africans it would seem they have a steep mountain to climb after all three lost their openers. Senegal got a 2-0 thumping from the Netherlands in a match the Lions of Teranga should have effortlessly won. Cameroon narrowly lost 1-0 to Switzerland and Ghana’s Black Stars faced the star-studded Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Portuguese team, but came short after losing 3-2.
I must hasten to say as much as the five African sides drew or lost, their next opponents in the second round of the group matches are wary, and many like hosts and seemingly palookas Qatar were taught a 3-1 lesson by Senegal, in a match that was was a must win for coach Aliou Cissé and his charges. And we are looking forward to
Morocco taking the three points on the table from the Kevin De Bruyne-propelled Belgium – a side teeming with African expats, just like France – today.
It now remains to be seen whether our continental representatives will be able to deliver a performance of the same pacey display in their second group games after the three days rest.
In Russia 2018, the African
ambassadors could not get past the first round, with teams like Senegal, touted as the continental hopefuls and a team capable of making it past the quarterfinals for the first time, and maybe the final. But…
In many quarters, this tournament has received a tag of the “finals of minnows” , “tournament of surprises” after hosts Qatar and Asian championship holders were embarrassed by
Equador. Then Japan and the Saudis overshadowed everyone by coming from behind to beat power houses Germany and Argentina, thus pulling off major shocks of Qatar 2022, so far.
Many believe the lack of World Cup experience by African countries is an indictment on Fifa itself because since the increase of the African slots at the World Cup in France 1998, and before then, only three African team took part in a continent with 54 countries, which is larger than Europe.
The bottom line is that in the history of the World Cup even the top African countries do not make it to compete at the quadrennial tournament and thus lack the experience and tenacity of gauging themselves against the world’s best.
Despite African teams possessing the quality to trouble even the strongest teams, they are considered outsiders to go all the way and win the 2022 World Cup. Blame it on Fifa with its lopsided number of slots that is at odds and against African football.