CAF needs to come up with an African soccer strategy

[TheHitman47]

I'm going to go against the grain of what some people are trying to push here and be real.

The "AFRICAN" style of football is archaic. It's really just a variant of the "kick and rush" football that you saw old school European teams use. Throw in some dribbling and add some pace and physicality and that was African football.

The point is that we need to evolve African football from that if we have any ambitions to do anything at the World Cup. That includes scoring and defending set pieces. I don't think a single African player would be able to score that free kick that Toni Kroos scored against Sweden in a competitive match.

Also as one person stated, we lack players that are technical enough to control a game. These are simple things such as close control and passing under pressure, as opposed to long balls and sideways passing. If long balls are the only way you can pass forward, you will struggle to score. Once we have players that can pass the ball, then we can start making progress in the right direction.

[TheHitman47]

Yep CAF teams don't see the game.

Like a QB, in high school you pass to wide open receivers, in college you pass into easy gaps for receivers to catch the ball but in the NFL you must throw receivers open.

CAF football is rudimentary. Tunisia today, players had acres of space to exploit but consistently ignored the required pass into space. We can't think the game, just play out the most simplistic options, straight out of the football for dummies book.

Exactly and it's sad. I've seen so many times in just this Senegal game where a player would rather go through a corridor full of defenders rather than pass the ball into space on the opposite wing, even when the person open is on their stronger foot.

Decision making is one of the big things that kills us and one of the reasons we struggle to score.

[TheHitman47]

Africans simply cannot defend set pieces. END OF.

This is how Europeans always found a way to end up winning.

I called it before this tournament began, thinking it was only Nigeria, but it is every single African team.

They are simply SCARED TO HEAD THE BALL, OR LACK THE CONCENTRATION TO MARK KNOWN STRIKERS LIKE HARRY KANE. And that is a problem other teams will continue to exploit.

Imagine that Kane had already scored from the corner, and last minute corner you fail to put even one man on him. Just absolutely dumb and stupid. Honestly we deserve the disrespect that other people give us.

It has become comical this year.

I disagree. Defending or lack of is only a small part of the story. I mean it's not like the African teams have been attacking with reckless abandon but forgetting to lock the door at the back. They hardly attack consistently and they can't defend either. Its a very deep rooted issue imho

Defending is huge, it's the most important part of the game. In the World Cup it can keep you in the game if you can't break the deadlock in later stages and get you to a penalty shootout.

[NationsCup]

maybe you need to look at this slightly differently. both 2014 finalist struggled this year. but for the respite argies got, they would have been out. that tells you how difficult it is to play at this level. korea beating ger? if the game becomes more open i think we stand a.chance. look at argies support last game. is.it not better for the game if they stayed on. a bit of politics here and there cannot be ruled out.

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

maybe you need to look at this slightly differently. both 2014 finalist struggled this year. but for the respite argies got, they would have been out. that tells you how difficult it is to play at this level. korea beating ger? if the game becomes more open i think we stand a.chance. look at argies support last game. is.it not better for the game if they stayed on. a bit of politics here and there cannot be ruled out.

I don't know what you're talking about, but Africa's scorecard is POOR!

[ohenhen1]

If we get 9 spots. I think it will be a great idea to go into a 12 team final qualification league format. This way every one will play each other. Teams will be better prepared if they play more games.


1. After three rounds of two legs matches. We get our 12 teams that will take part in the league. That is a total of about 22 games.

[Benedict Iroha]

African football have regressed badly. We no longer produce players instead we rely on players from abroad. How can we win 2 U-17 World cups in 2013 & 15 and we can't even field players from those tournaments except Iheanacho.

[ohenhen1]

Maybe time for an African Super League?

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

I have been calling for a super league for a while now. This way every one plays each other.

[folem]

African football have regressed badly. We no longer produce players instead we rely on players from abroad. How can we win 2 U-17 World cups in 2013 & 15 and we can't even field players from those tournaments except Iheanacho.

Uzoho?

[Elexus]

Until African players can play in Africa and earn a living doing it, it is going to be hard. Perhaps South Africa will soon become the African soccer powerhouse. Nigerian Chrysanctus and Toni Kroos were stars in the under seventeen world cup in Korea sometime ago. Toni Kroos has since played for Bayern and now playing for Real Madrid. Where is Chrysanctus? Nobody is going to develop our own for us. Our young talents emigrate to Europe and when they get there, they stop playing as no one recruits them and their growth is stunted.

[aruako1]

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

90% of the African players in the tournament play in Europe like everyone else. I can't wait to see the bright ideas and comments that will come out next week when African teams start winning. I am convinced that at least 3 African teams will advance to the next round.

90% of the Colombian and Mexican teams do not play in Europe. And most of the South American players who play in Europe had a few years in their local leagues.

[Heliopolis]

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

90% of the African players in the tournament play in Europe like everyone else. I can't wait to see the bright ideas and comments that will come out next week when African teams start winning. I am convinced that at least 3 African teams will advance to the next round.

90% of the Colombian and Mexican teams do not play in Europe. And most of the South American players who play in Europe had a few years in their local leagues.

Countries like Uruguay with a population of 3 million people create more star players than us and send most of their players abroad so we need to stop with this local league nonsense. The fact is we are incompetent.

[Rogermilla]

One of the problem with our African football is over relying on European trained players and ignoring our home based ones. Yes we can complain about our leagues all we want, and age cheating which is another issue, but the fact that Africa tends to do well at youth tournaments with mostly homebased players says something. The same players back home and coaches need to be given the same support we give the foreign coaches and players born and groomed abroad.

I can guarantee you that a home based striker will not miss the kind of chances Ighalo was missing. Yes there is corruption in Africa and we all know it, however, the players born and groomed abroad do not have that fighting spirit like the players back home who will fight and play with their heart to defend their pride. Nothing against players born abroad, but they just don't have that fighting spirit and raw skills like our local players.

Finally if we must bring a foreign coach, we should target the best ones and not journeymen that are looking to suck our money and move on after, but before even considering a foreign coach, we ned to first of all consider our local coaches who have groomed the players that grew to become stars and moved to Europe.

[theYemster]

Maybe time for an African Super League?

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

Nah the problem manifests from the grassroots...by the time of a super league it's kinda too late. I think we need to somehow co-opt the South American's developmental blueprint, specifically Brazil. The rate at which they churn out talent is impressive.

[aruako1]

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

90% of the African players in the tournament play in Europe like everyone else. I can't wait to see the bright ideas and comments that will come out next week when African teams start winning. I am convinced that at least 3 African teams will advance to the next round.

90% of the Colombian and Mexican teams do not play in Europe. And most of the South American players who play in Europe had a few years in their local leagues.

Countries like Uruguay with a population of 3 million people create more star players than us and send most of their players abroad so we need to stop with this local league nonsense. The fact is we are incompetent.

At what age do their players go abroad? In Nigeria they go straight from academies and meander through benches or backwater teams in Europe with no real development plan. Of course a few end up at decent teams but it is all disjointed. A competitive local league helps to 'cook' the young talent before the step up to Europe.

[folem]

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

90% of the African players in the tournament play in Europe like everyone else. I can't wait to see the bright ideas and comments that will come out next week when African teams start winning. I am convinced that at least 3 African teams will advance to the next round.

90% of the Colombian and Mexican teams do not play in Europe. And most of the South American players who play in Europe had a few years in their local leagues.

Euro based: Colombia:14/23 ; Mexico: 11/23;

Colombia
Coach: Argentina José Pékerman

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club

5 MF Wílmar Barrios 16 October 1993 (aged 24) 10 0 Argentina Boca Juniors
20 MF Juan Fernando Quintero 18 January 1993 (aged 25) 15 2 Argentina River Plate
19 FW Miguel Borja 26 January 1993 (aged 25) 7 2 Brazil Palmeiras
8 MF Abel Aguilar 6 January 1985 (aged 33) 70 7 Colombia Deportivo Cali
12 GK Camilo Vargas 9 March 1989 (aged 29) 5 0 Colombia Deportivo Cali
22 GK José Fernando Cuadrado 1 June 1985 (aged 33) 1 0 Colombia Once Caldas
1 GK David Ospina 31 August 1988 (aged 29) 86 0 England Arsenal
21 FW José Izquierdo 7 July 1992 (aged 25) 5 1 England Brighton & Hove Albion
23 DF Dávinson Sánchez 12 June 1996 (aged 22) 9 0 England Tottenham Hotspur
9 FW Radamel Falcao (captain) 10 February 1986 (aged 32) 73 29 France Monaco
10 MF James Rodríguez 12 July 1991 (aged 26) 63 21 Germany Bayern Munich
11 MF Juan Cuadrado 26 May 1988 (aged 30) 70 7 Italy Juventus
2 DF Cristián Zapata 30 September 1986 (aged 31) 55 2 Italy Milan
15 MF Mateus Uribe 21 March 1991 (aged 27) 8 0 Mexico América
3 DF Óscar Murillo 18 April 1988 (aged 30) 13 0 Mexico Pachuca
4 DF Santiago Arias 13 January 1992 (aged 26) 41 0 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven
18 DF Farid Díaz 20 July 1983 (aged 34) 13 0 Paraguay Olimpia
13 DF Yerry Mina 23 September 1994 (aged 23) 12 3 Spain Barcelona
6 MF Carlos Sánchez 6 February 1986 (aged 32) 85 0 Spain Espanyol
17 DF Johan Mojica 21 August 1992 (aged 25) 4 1 Spain Girona
16 MF Jefferson Lerma 25 October 1994 (aged 23) 5 0 Spain Levante
14 FW Luis Muriel 16 April 1991 (aged 27) 18 2 Spain Sevilla
7 FW Carlos Bacca 8 September 1986 (aged 31) 45 14 Spain Villarreal

Mexico
Coach: Colombia Juan Carlos Osorio

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club

13 GK Guillermo Ochoa 13 July 1985 (aged 32) 94 0 Belgium Standard Liège
14 FW Javier Hernández 1 June 1988 (aged 30) 102 49 England West Ham United
3 DF Carlos Salcedo 29 September 1993 (aged 24) 21 0 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
8 FW Marco Fabián 21 July 1989 (aged 28) 39 9 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
19 FW Oribe Peralta 12 January 1984 (aged 34) 67 26 Mexico América
21 DF Edson Álvarez 24 October 1997 (aged 20) 13 1 Mexico América
4 DF Rafael Márquez 13 February 1979 (aged 39) 145 18 Mexico Atlas
1 GK José de Jesús Corona 26 January 1981 (aged 37) 52 0 Mexico Cruz Azul
5 MF Érick Gutiérrez 15 June 1995 (aged 22) 9 0 Mexico Pachuca
12 GK Alfredo Talavera 18 September 1982 (aged 35) 27 0 Mexico Toluca
2 DF Hugo Ayala 31 March 1987 (aged 31) 43 1 Mexico UANL
20 MF Javier Aquino 11 February 1990 (aged 28) 53 0 Mexico UANL
23 MF Jesús Gallardo 15 August 1994 (aged 23) 23 0 Mexico UNAM
22 FW Hirving Lozano 30 July 1995 (aged 22) 28 7 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven
9 FW Raúl Jiménez 5 May 1991 (aged 27) 63 13 Portugal Benfica
16 DF Héctor Herrera 19 April 1990 (aged 28) 66 5 Portugal Porto
17 MF Jesús Manuel Corona 6 January 1993 (aged 25) 36 7 Portugal Porto
18 MF Andrés Guardado (captain) 28 September 1986 (aged 31) 145 25 Spain Real Betis
15 DF Héctor Moreno 17 January 1988 (aged 30) 92 3 Spain Real Sociedad
7 MF Miguel Layún 25 June 1988 (aged 29) 64 6 Spain Sevilla
6 MF Jonathan dos Santos 26 April 1990 (aged 28) 32 0 United States LA Galaxy
10 MF Giovani dos Santos 11 May 1989 (aged 29) 105 19 United States LA Galaxy
11 FW Carlos Vela 1 March 1989 (aged 29) 68 18 United States Los Angeles FC

[Gooner1]

europe are going to leap forward while caf are busy lying down doing noting......
'The UEFA Nations League[1] is an international association football competition to be contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament is due to commence in September 2018, after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the winner will be decided in June 2019. The competition will largely replace international friendly matches currently played on the FIFA International Match Calendar.'

[rutgers]

Could things have been different for African teams if all these players eligible to play for African teams didn't choose to represent a European team.

Just off the top of my head.

Wisam Ben Yedder - Tunisia
Stephan Elsharaawy - Egypt
Romelo Lukaku - DR Congo

Mitchy Batshuayi - DR Congo
Adil Rami - Morocco
Nabil Fekir - Algeria

Oxlade Chamberlain - Nigeria
Kylian Mbappe - Cameroun or Algeria

Its really a shame. That all this talent is lost.

[Tbite]

Could things have been different for African teams if all these players eligible to play for African teams didn't choose to represent a European team.

Just off the top of my head.

Wisam Ben Yedder - Tunisia
Stephan Elsharaawy - Egypt
Romelo Lukaku - DR Congo

Mitchy Batshuayi - DR Congo
Adil Rami - Morocco
Nabil Fekir - Algeria

Oxlade Chamberlain - Nigeria
Kylian Mbappe - Cameroun or Algeria

Its really a shame. That all this talent is lost.

[Kabalega]

europe are going to leap forward while caf are busy lying down doing noting......
'The UEFA Nations League[1] is an international association football competition to be contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament is due to commence in September 2018, after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the winner will be decided in June 2019. The competition will largely replace international friendly matches currently played on the FIFA International Match Calendar.'

CAF already have the ANC and CHAN both running every two years.

[cchinukw]

This WC is yet another reminder of how poor African soccer is. Unfortunately we have African brothers and sisters who see poor showings for our continent at the WC as blips on the map but the fact is Africa has been a poor performer at the WC for decades now. The reason we celebrate the likes of Cameroon (90), Nigeria (94), Senegal (02), and Ghana (10) is because they are outliers. You don't find other continents celebrating R16 and R8 appearances at the WC.

Until we have a concerted continental effort to improve the game in Africa we will continue to see poor showings at the WC. Y'all can complain about weak domestic leagues and foreign coaches all you want but there are so many exceptions out there that prove there is no single path to success. We need to look in the mirror and realize we have had huge structural challenges in place for decades now which have led to WC futility for far too long. There's no reason that countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, etc should be so bad at soccer yet it's our own incompetence that sets us back.

It goes back to your football DNA.

There's something to be said about the "surprise factor". There are no more surprises coming out of Africa. We have a lot of European trained players who play "european" type footie. It is interesting that you listed the teams you listed it. The spine of those teams got their initial football culture (DNA) from Africa. We are trying too much to emulate the Europeans and a copy can never be as good as the original.

To fix this, we have to look at coaching. Even going back to the coaching folks receive in primary and secondary school. Our best chances still lie with our former internationals. They should be given the type of support foreign coaches are given in Africa.

Quality coaching and organisation at every age level will make a huge difference.

Also our local leagues need unshackling from government interference. That is a major biggie.

Where there is money to be made, there will be investment.

[tippy]

If we get 9 spots. I think it will be a great idea to go into a 12 team final qualification league format. This way every one will play each other. Teams will be better prepared if they play more games.


1. After three rounds of two legs matches. We get our 12 teams that will take part in the league. That is a total of about 22 games.

when do we qualify/play the nations cup?

the system you have works for conmebol because they play the copa every 4 years and it needs no qualification.

also, what will the remaining 42 teams be doing?

[wiseone]

Not as bad as some people are making about:

1) 4 of the 5 African teams won a game (only Egypt went home with 0 points).

2) How tough the groups were for African teams. I am pretty sure Morocco and Nigeria would have got through to last 16 if they had been in the same group as Panama or Saudi Arabia, rather than playing against Spain, Portugal, Argentina, and Croatia.

3) Despite being in groups of death - most of the African teams were eliminated by cruel luck/the tiniest of margins. Morocco conceded a 95th minute own goal, a 92nd minute VAR awarded equaliser, and a CR7 goal after a foul by Pepe. Egypt conceded in the 89th minute, Tunisia in the 92nd minute, Nigeria in the 87th minute.

4) The role of very dodgy refereeing in the exits of Morocco (especially), Nigeria, and Senegal. Much has been said of the tragi-comic refereeing against Morocco in the Portugal and Spain games, and the Argentina v Nigeria game. Yet people forget that the two decisive yellow cards that eliminated Senegal were awarded deep in injury time of their game v Japan, a game where Japan got away with persistent fouling throughout the game, but were not carded because they were facing the "pace and power" of Senegal.