and the dismal results continues for the africans. . .brazil 3 CIV 1

and egypt wouldn't have been any different. north africans usually fair poorly against outsiders; atleast algeria did pretty well against england

when africa got the hosting right to 2010 world cup CAF should have sat down and x-rayed african football and where it was and come out with a plan such that the representative from Africa would give a very good account of Africa.i mean look at it in this world cup we have six representative from Africa at least if 3/4th got pass group stage to second round into Q/finals imagine the morale booster it will give Africa.It is very unfortunate

we need to realise that it's only the occassional drbble that makes a winning team, you have to score goals!take your chances!the WC is full of african teams squadering goals.and also too much fair play dey worry the men from africa!sorry to say  but i felt good that an african can simulate an injury, and tactically get the best midfielder of the opposing team sent off!kudos to Cote d'ivoire!

Topic - I also said italy will prevail against New Zealand but i was shocked with D result, so that's modern football 4 u!

CIV played the usual AFRICAN way and lost; when is the next African team playing?

What is up with all these White couches?

Topic - I also said italy will prevail against New Zealand but i was shocked with D result, so that's modern football 4 u!

@rano,

are u still offering analysis in football? going by your HISTORY



@dannio

when africa got the hosting right to 2010 world cup CAF should have sat down and x-rayed african football and where it was and come out with a plan such that the representative from Africa would give a very good account of Africa.i mean look at it in this world cup we have six representative from Africa at least if 3/4th got pass group stage to second round into Q/finals imagine the morale booster it will give Africa.It is very unfortunate

so what are u suggesting
that CAF select its reps by picking "big-teams"?



"common, you've got to do better than that"

check what l wrote l did not say select reps l said a plan to enable the reps perform well.Check the statistics have all our reps being performing well even our best are still perform below par.This is Africa and we have a peculiar problem.

Aloy+Emeka:

What's wrong with Maradona?

i never knew that maradona has sweetie/Gonorrhea

@ dannio

lemme help u,

when africa got the hosting right to 2010 world cup CAF should have sat down and x-rayed african football and where it was and come out with a plan such that the representative from Africa would give a very good account of Africa.i mean look at it in this world cup we have six representative from Africa at least if 3/4th got pass group stage to second round into Q/finals imagine the morale booster it will give Africa.It is very unfortunate

looking at the boldened part, how do u intend CAF should achieve such?

carry drogba, eto,mikel and co to a training school??


PUUUULLLLLEEEAAAASSEEEEE  we need a solution on how to achieve the boldened part YOUR HIGHNESS


*********waiting*********

African teams, 1 win in 12 matches.

South American teams 7 wins in 9

we shuld leave 1 world cup so dey can feel our presence and know dat bad officiating kills us

When you carry tired old legs what do y'all expect.
Which African team will be bold enough to drop players in the caliber of Zanetti or Ronaldinho?

As far as am concern African teams have a long way to go, football has really gone scientific rather than over been physical, i think our leagues is a major factor, we need to start getting things right, most especially NIGERIA cause aaaafrican teams are really declining in football.

SAME DAMNED THING THAT HAS BEEN WRONG with African Countries ever.
Culture of STUPIDITY, CORRUPTION, and MEDIOCRITY.
Africans are MENTALLY LAZY and AFRAID to die, and so, they are CONTENT in living in MISERY.

What is up wth the WHITE coaches?

Conspiracy?

Kobikwelu - what is ur problem and what are u tryna say?

Poor preperation and fire brigade approach.Nigerian hurriedly change their coach,Cameroon and Ivory coast did the same.

ogazi007:

Poor preperation and fire brigade approach.Nigerian hurriedly change their coach,Cameroon and Ivory coast did the same.

yea! and thats why they are not doing well

Those of you who say our slots should be reduced are just talking smack.

Africa has at least gotten to the World Cup quarters twice, and our teams have gotten to the 2nd round lots of times.
Possibly there is a football slump on the continent. Right now, South America is having a good showing, but cast your mind back to the last three or four editions. Apart from Brazil, how well have the other World Cup Winners, Uruguay and Argentina done?

In the history of the WC, Argentina has won it twice, and shown up once in the final. Asides that, they have never gone beyond the quarters. In 2002, they left in the first round, after beating Nigeria 1-0.
Uruguay is just showing up after 1990, where they also left at the round of 16. Chile in 1998 came to the WC and played three draws to qualify for the round of 16, only to be splattered all over the pitch when they met Brazil.
Mexico? . . . Do I really need to start with those ones? They should just thank God for a pretty bad run from France in the last couple of years.
What about the almighty Spain? As much of a Barca fan I am, I still don't give them a chance.

I think we're a bit hard on ourselves. We have done it before, and we will do it again. The point about coaches is irrelevant in my view. Everywhere in the world, coaches are hired and fired willy-nilly. We'll get it eventually.

Our problem boils down to the technicality of the game. Africans generally lack the most fundamental ingredient in the round leather game. The layman calls it football sense. That's what distinguishes kanu, Abedi Pele, Roger milla, opong weah and the rest from others. It has to do with the 6th sense. Most times African players dont attend football school so we do lack the basics. Even our so called academies dont teach that. It is the same reason South American players are always heads above others. Most times we use raw power and a lot of energy in our football but its the other way round.

The 2nd is most African teams are yet to understand why they are called football team. That word team has not yet made a meaning to them. The bug most especially affects teams from the southern sahara. That is the same reason the north africans are head and shoulders above them. because what they lack in terms of individual skills, they make up with team play.

The 3rd is the will power to win. Most times they lack this important ingredient and it also affects them.

Once all these are plugged, African teams will start taking their place in the comity of footballing continents.

otokx (m)
CIV played the usual AFRICAN way and lost; when is the next African team playing?

Personally, I don’t think Ivory-cost plays the African way or better to say they don’t play with any particular style that I recognise. Unless Jeet –Kune–Do style, which is no style or perhaps you mean because they are African therefore they play African style.   

I find Ivory-cost difficult to watch. They seem to me like a team of gifted players thrown on a pitch with the expectation that something magic might happen.  Unfortunately, all that ends up happening is that they huff, puff, and get nowhere.  It’s like a case of too many cooks. They seem mechanical and stolid, even the spectator is worn out just watching. When Ivory Cost plays, I switch off the Television and simply pray that they win. 

On the other hand, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon have identifiable styles of play whether you would call it African style I do not know but they definitely have styles. Ghana is at one extreme, Nigeria on the other and Cameroon in the middle.


Ghana plays an all action, with a bit of flair thrown in, game. This has been their style of play for a long time.
Cameroon plays a physical, well-organised game. They occupy all of the pitch and combine physicality with a little more flare than has Ghana.
Nigeria plays with a lot of flair albeit in bursts. They are laid-back and let the ball do the work. This was their style for many years but recently, criticisms that they are lazy, appears to have made them alter their style and now they appear to be copying Ghana and it is not working.

Just my views

FL Gators:

What is up wth the WHITE coaches?

Conspiracy?

Did you guys hear that when Ghana beat Serbia, their Serbian coach was not happy and said "Perhaps we (Ghana) got more lucky than them (Serbia), because we scored one goal, and we obtained three points today. I hope Serbia can pick up six points from their next two games."

Can you believe it? He was upset that his team beat his home country and probably tried to sabotage Ghana's play to make sure they lost, and was surprised they didn't. Full story here: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006151232.html

It's true that England also have a foreign coach, but until we Africans can coach ourselves we're not ready to call ourselves world class.

African teams are being coached by foreign coaches and, as such, the players on these teams don't connect with these coaches. The English are experiencing the same problem: their players say they can't connect with the Italian coach, unlike the Argentine coach, with whom the Argentine players connect, especially when he gives them fatherly hugs and preaches to them the importance of fighting for their country.

5 slots is too much for Africa, that gives room for poor countries,

They should take 2 slots from us and give to South America

dayokannu,
I totally agree with you. 5 slots is too much, we are diluting the quality of the world cup, this is why i would always take the Euros to the World Cup, talkless of the champions league. The Asian federation even has a team that has gotten to the quarter finals. The concacaf region even has a better record in the world cup than we do. I feel, they should reduce Africa's slots back to 3.

But, the reason FIFA gave Africa five slots is to improve African football by giving other countries exposure to the game. This long term approach is a way to develop the game world wide. Sepp Blatter is using football to develop countries. Just look at South Africa hosting the World Cup ahead of other developed countries, FIFA could as well just say that if you are not a developed country then you shouldn't host the World Cup, but this would not boost soccer in other countries as expected. If FIFA only followed your approach, the "rich would continue getting richer, while the poor would continue getting poorer".

@Ajanlekoko,

Asia has played a world cup semi final.

The best performance for Africa since the world cup started was a quarter final in 1990 and 2002.

There was no edition where we didnt have a tournament with a South American team at the quarters.

in 2006 Argentina and Brazil were in the quarters,

We have the same number if slots as South Americans tell me in which tournament we have done better or even matched them in performance

AjanleKoko:

Those of you who say our slots should be reduced are just talking smack.

Africa has at least gotten to the World Cup quarters twice, and our teams have gotten to the 2nd round lots of times.
Possibly there is a football slump on the continent. Right now, South America is having a good showing, but cast your mind back to the last three or four editions. Apart from Brazil, how well have the other World Cup Winners, Uruguay and Argentina done?

In the history of the WC, Argentina has won it twice, and shown up once in the final. Asides that, they have never gone beyond the quarters. In 2002, they left in the first round, after beating Nigeria 1-0.
Uruguay is just showing up after 1990, where they also left at the round of 16. Chile in 1998 came to the WC and played three draws to qualify for the round of 16, only to be splattered all over the pitch when they met Brazil.
Mexico? . . . Do I really need to start with those ones? They should just thank God for a pretty bad run from France in the last couple of years.
What about the almighty Spain? As much of a Barca fan I am, I still don't give them a chance.

I think we're a bit hard on ourselves. We have done it before, and we will do it again. The point about coaches is irrelevant in my view. Everywhere in the world, coaches are hired and fired willy-nilly. We'll get it eventually.

Wow! see AJ dey reel out world cup history like a sports journalist.       

Truth is that African teams relax too easily on games they should wrap up with determined consistency, watch out how they squander a goal lead, a la Nigeria, Cote D'Ivoire et al. OR how they become too sissy in front of goals. You don't win a match because you scored first!!! It's a 90mins duel and any lack of concentration for a min can get you prepped up for SUYA!

I also observed in this year's world cup  that the hitherto back-water footballing nations have really caught up with the big boys and it now boils down to who's got the right fire inside, to do the extra. No more sure banker winners!!!

Even the only two teams that had won 2 games in a trot, Argentina and Brazil all had question marks. FIFA declared Argies goal against us wasn't supposed to stand, while Fabiano gifted D Samba boys a 'hand of God' 2nd goal.
I won't be surprised if 2 un fancied teams from either Asia or S. America get to the semis. Africa could have been there, but they lost the drive, sorry mates!      

U guys should chill, naigeria will get to the quater final level, why are u guys hopeless? . .RELAX MAN!

They should take 2 slots from Africa and give one to south America and one to Europe. How can russia and the republic of ireland not even make it?

leave maradona alone and face african footballers.