Having Europe Based Players is Now a Curse in Disguise – Afcon
I usually don’t talk about my first ever passion in life. But today I take an exception.
The African Nations Cup Tournament is on, and my team the Super Eagles of Nigeria are not performing particularly well. Many people are putting all the blames on the coach. I feel the problem is much more deeper than many think.
There is a general perception that for a country to be recognised as a favourite for the nation’s cup That team needs to have an array of high profile European based players, and teams with pre-dominantly home based players grown from the countries domestic leagues are considered as minors. I have often wonder how close the perception is to the reality.
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Ever wonder why the West African region considered by many as the power house of African Football where 80% of the High profile players in Africa come from (Producing players like Didie Droba, George Weah, Jay Jay Okocha Emmanuel Adebayo, Michael Essen lists goes on). Yet the last time a country from West Africa won the Nations cup was 16 years ago when Nigeria won it in 1994. Ever since neither of Senegal ( with their failed golden generation) Ghana, Ivory Coast, or Nigeria have lifted Afcon inspite of producing some of the best players in the world.
Ever wondered why the nations cup in recent times have been dominated by countries with strong domestic leagues which produce 80% of their players? South Africa in 1996, Egypt in 1998, Tunisia in 2004, Eygpt in 2006 and again in 2008.
Do you see a trend? With the exception of Cameroon every country that have won the nations cup in the last 16 years are countries with strong domestic leagues where 80% of national team players come from their local league. The big* countries with their “big” European based stars who make up 95%-100% have all fumbled and wumbled ™.
The problem is simple to understand. Football is a team sport and it require that players most have played together for a long period of them. The players know each other, off the pitch there still maintain a close bound and friendship which is always important for team spirit and cordination. The advantage you get in a team composed largely of players from the domestic league is that your national team players are easier to assemble and train for longer period of times without any limitations.