Football in Africa: The Good, The Bad & The Complexity.

Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia & Morocco all got knocked out of this year’s world cup in the first round. Though, the first 2 mentioned didn’t go down without of a fight but has faith had it, They were both came close to qualifying for the Next round but they got knocked out eventually.

African Teams are known for a for their fast pace, physical, box to box approach of football. Lionel Messi once commented on the Nigerian Team saying “They are strong & physical and they play a lot of box to box football. It is going be difficult for us”. Truly said, it was  a late Marcos Rojo’s goal that took the Albiceleste to win the Nigerians. Over the years, African style of Physical Approach has been constantly dangerous to European teams. I’m making references to the Moroccan side of 1978, The Camerounian side of 1990, The Nigerian Team of 1994, The Senegalese side of 2002 & the Ghanian side of 2010. Truly the Art of African Football requires strong, fit  players that are very physical in approach & defending and Pacy players to start up a counter attack and then that perfect no. “9” like Roger millar, Rashidi Yekini, Abedi Pele Ayew, Didier Drogba & Samuel Eto’o. Not to forget the play makers with skills & passes like the Bolton fan favourite, so good was he that he had to be called twice. His name is Jay Jay Okocha. African teams have been really interesting to watch over the years just that they never deliver.

‘There is no Good side without a Bad side’- African Proverbs, African  teams are very disorganized both on & off pitch. Senegal for example in their last Game showed high level of tactical disorganization, it was like they just switched off. Football has surpassed the stage where a teams strength determines a game. No, Football evolved over the years to a readable, Understandable, Mind Battle for tactical supremacy in a game. This development has led to various footballing Philosophy like the Barcelona styled Tiki Taka, To the German “Geggenpressing”, The Dutch Total Football, The Brazilian styled total Football of 1986 and so much more. But African Teams failed to implement such or create another footballing philosophy, instead all African teams play Counter Attacking Football. Off pitch problems of African Football is the excessive interference in Football Associations on the Continent. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is a reflection on majority of African Football Association. Before Ahmad Ahmad became CAF president, Issa Hayatou runned African Football for 28 years. Although, Africa was able to host the world cup during his time, but we should  not forget the Maladministration of the continent tournaments, The Bribery & Corruption Scandal. In the National Football Association level, Political & Governmental interference disrupt the progress of football in the region. FIFA law states that the FA must be an independent body, that is it should be free from Governmental Control. Earlier today, FIFA threatened to ban the Nigerian Football Federation & The Ghanian FA over some power tussle on the thye Association Head. This same disorganization reflects on the Football Development on the continent as it’s growing at a slow pace.

The complexity of African Football is that you never can predict the outcome of events both on pitch & off pitch, The Disorganization Has sometimes yielded positive result both in terms of surprise result & some memorable experiences. Senegal VS France in the 2002 world cup is an example. So complex is African Football that Bi-annual African Cup of Nation was hosted in quick succession with only 12 months apart (2012 & 2013 editions).
African Football is very Promising but, if they could get over their odds, they’ll achieve Results.