Africa: A continent in crisis or going through changes?

The 2010 World Cup was billed as Africa’s tournament. This was the moment in history when the African teams would come to the forefront of world football, breaching the Euro-South American dominance of the previous eighty years.

South Africa were on home territory and were guaranteed huge support. Algeria had qualified, albeit controversially, by beating Egypt who went on to win that year’s Cup of Nations. Nigeria and Cameroon had brushed off failure to qualify for the previous tournament by returning to familiar surroundings on the global stage. And then came the two most attractive nations, Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire, who possessed squads jam-packed with household names to Champions League-watchers.

Photo: Axel Buhrmann

Despite much rumpus and merriment, 2010 was a disappointing World Cup for all of them. Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria failed to win a game. Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa couldn’t make their way past the group stage. It was only the Ghanaians who left any mark on the tournament – finding their way out of a tough group and to an eventual quarter-final tie, where they were only denied progress by a Luis Suarez paw and an Asamoah Gyan fluffed penalty.

The success of the Black Stars though only proved to paper over the cracks of a continent which is failing to live up to its undisputed potential. The qualifying campaign for the African Cup of Nations has only reinforced that reality.

Out of the six teams who qualified for South Africa in 2010, only two, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, have made it to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the 2012 ACN. In place of the Algerias and Nigerias are Botswanas and Nigers. In place of the Cameroons and South Africas are Zambias and Burkina Fasos. Libya have even made it, but Egypt, winners of the last three tournaments, have not. Does this indicate a shift in the power balance across the African nations or signal a general mediocrity inside the largest continent in the world?

Africa’s so-called ‘elite’ teams, the ones we are so used to seeing at World Cups every four years, may argue that there are mitigating circumstances for their failures to qualify. Algeria and Cameroon both found themselves in tough groups with Morocco and Senegal respectively, and with only one team able to qualify outright competition was unquestionably fierce.

The Nigerian national team were initially banned by the country’s president Goodluck Jonathan, but the ban was dropped under the watchful eye of FIFA, allowing them to qualify for the tournament proper as is usually the case. They narrowly missed out this time though after losing in Guinea and disappointingly drawing in Ethiopia.

South Africa too may dispute the claim that those who will compete in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are Africa’s new prospects. In a group which swung back and forth, Bafana Bafana ended level on points with Niger and Sierra Leone. Mistakenly they had assumed that a point would be enough for qualification on goal difference – they had not examined the rules studiously. Qualifying rules state that teams level on points will be separated by head-to-head results, meaning Niger’s six points against South Africa and Sierra Leone trumped their five. The South African Football Association plan to launch what will surely prove to be a futile appeal.

The recipients of the aforementioned failures have been extremely grateful, but do they have the strength to challenge them over a longer period? The fringe nations have few internationally-recognised players. That is not to say that they lack the quality – evidently they do not – but may find it difficult to develop to compete on the world stage. Certainly, even Nigeria and Cameroon have failed to do so and even their squad players are indispensable European club members.

Moussa Maazou is probably the star name for Niger. After getting his break at Lokeren in Belgium, CSKA Moscow shelled out over £4million for the striker. Since that 2009 transfer though, the 23-year-old has not established himself in Russia, and has instead been sent out on loan five times. His latest temporary move, to Zulte Waregem in Belgium, has an option to be made permanent, but with Maazou having only made a handful of appearances, his frustrating time in Europe looks set to continue.

With the greatest of respect, are Zulte Waregem also-rans going to compete on a consistent basis against the world’s best? “No,” is the answer to that. Rather, the likes of Niger and Botswana have benefitted from the lack of quality which has blighted Africa as a continent in recent years. Anyone can beat anyone else now.

Though 2010 was envisaged to be a landmark for African football, it only proved that African football was not as strong as people believed. Unlike 15 years ago, it is now a much more level playing field with teams able to beat each other on any given day. As such, it’s difficult to speculate what could happen in two and a half years time, when five teams fly to Brazil.

We can examine previous ACNs which have happened two years before a World Cup and see how the teams who qualified fared in World Cup qualification. The only team who took part in the 2004 ACNs in Tunisia that went on to Germany in 2006 was the hosts themselves. Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo did not qualify. In contrast, all five African qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup took part in the ACN two years before.

Anything could happen. Perhaps there will be a renaissance in Abuja and Yaounde and the youth of Africa’s once leading teams will regain their place at the forefront. Or maybe Botswana will underpin its place alongside the power houses of Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire.  There is no real historical parallel.

One thing is for sure – Africa has much to prove to the rest of the world. Though Pele’s remarks about an African team winning the World Cup before the year 2000 may have been hasty, the continent’s development has certainly stalled. The question is: who will be the nations to get it going again?

Photo: Christian Hillum

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