AFRICAN TEAMS ARE JUST USELESS

[Tunisian Gooner]

Litany of reasons why CAF nations struggle @ WC. Be NT or clubs CAF teams are rarely pushed to the limit for 90 minutes. Due to intimidation of refs, poor pitch standards, egregious gamesmanship, revolving door of coaches, CAF ridden with shortcuts, quick fixes and simplistic solutions.

We're not putting in the work, be it sports science, quality domestic leagues, legit academies to establish core identity, foundations to develop quality coaches, proper transition from local club to UEFA clubs, conditioning, football IQ..ETC ETC

We're cruel to our players, just expect them to show up, play a few friendlies and excel on the biggest stage, and when they fail their reward...endless criticism and abuse. Facts are CAF players have punched above their weight for decades, only so much they can do when competition is raised with best of the best at every level whilst they're expected to also excel on meager crumbs.

I think you summarize it best.

But would you agree that it is rooted in socioeconomic development. This to me seems to be the greatest factor...explaining everything you laid out.

Indeed.

The Organization, structure, identity, work ethic, nations cultivate politically, economically, socially, translates into every facet of life, be it Medical care, business, environment, sports. Not saying perfection is required, not even close but CAF nations are abject on said criteria to make impact globally.

[Mr. Piffington]

Litany of reasons why CAF nations struggle @ WC. Be NT or clubs CAF teams are rarely pushed to the limit for 90 minutes. Due to intimidation of refs, poor pitch standards, egregious gamesmanship, revolving door of coaches, CAF ridden with shortcuts, quick fixes and simplistic solutions.

We're not putting in the work, be it sports science, quality domestic leagues, legit academies to establish core identity, foundations to develop quality coaches, proper transition from local club to UEFA clubs, conditioning, football IQ..ETC ETC

We're cruel to our players, just expect them to show up, play a few friendlies and excel on the biggest stage, and when they fail their reward...endless criticism and abuse. Facts are CAF players have punched above their weight for decades, only so much they can do when competition is raised with best of the best at every level whilst they're expected to also excel on meager crumbs.

[marutimon]

Three teams were very good: Nigeria. Morocco. Senegal. The margins of the not making it were very thin. And each of them had the quality for a semi final run. Just with slight personnel and tactical changes.

[oloye]

It is easy and simplistic to just wake and shout that Africa has stagnated and useless..such betray an outburst driven by emotion. There was a time we never expected to win any match at the world cup.

When Africa pulled off her first draw I think it was Tunisia in 78 or was it her first win , we celebrated like we won the bloody thing.

Then came came the 90s we started winning and even qualifying for the second round.

Now we go to the world cup winning is not seen as something of a miracles , it is expected. And yet we are told Africa has not improved.

How long did it take Spain and France to win their first world cup even though they have a league far advanced and resources way beyond our dreams.

England won the bloody thing since 1966 and since have been nowhere near threatening to win it inspite of the resources at her disposal.

Africa still has a long way to go, but gone are the days when an African team comes to the world cup and is expected to be just a number. Now we are determining the outcomes of matches, we have become a factor in the scheme of things and we are told we have not improved.

I would like to know how this improvement is measured. Don't mention Egypt or Tunisia, there are some European teams who have been coming to the world cup to also make up the number. In most of the world cup tournament since 1990 we have been making the second round and have made the quarters thrice.

In my lifetime I have seen Africa grown from being the whopping boys and also rans to teams being taking serious and even rated.

[joao]

Litany of reasons why CAF nations struggle @ WC. Be NT or clubs CAF teams are rarely pushed to the limit for 90 minutes. Due to intimidation of refs, poor pitch standards, egregious gamesmanship, revolving door of coaches, CAF ridden with shortcuts, quick fixes and simplistic solutions.

We're not putting in the work, be it sports science, quality domestic leagues, legit academies to establish core identity, foundations to develop quality coaches, proper transition from local club to UEFA clubs, conditioning, football IQ..ETC ETC

We're cruel to our players, just expect them to show up, play a few friendlies and excel on the biggest stage, and when they fail their reward...endless criticism and abuse. Facts are CAF players have punched above their weight for decades, only so much they can do when competition is raised with best of the best at every level whilst they're expected to also excel on meager crumbs.

TG, thanks for a well reasoned summarization of African football woes.
I also believe we fans are not to be exempted from the blame. With regards our sense of player quality,
we tend to irrelevances and hype. Like which player dribbles better or who luckily scores a fantastic goal.
Team sports is about the team and not individuals, and until we learn that basic we will continue to
accumulate loses and thinking about what could have been.
Again, thanks.

[marko]

African like taking short cuts thinking the rest of the world is stupid, we just flatter to deceive on the world stage, we need to do exactly what the europeans are doing, we need to invest right from the grassroots, we dont have to spend as big as the europeans, just invest what we can, now we want to sack Rohr thinking he caused all the issues, we really must be stupid!

[marutimon]

Good thing Tunisia at least beat Panama.
The only total disgrace was Egypt.

[SylverEagles]

Well in all, only Egypt really laid an egg at the World Cup. Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia (pending the final whistle here) at least won a game each and Morocco were quite impressive and were just really unlucky..Egypt on the other hand lost to Saudi Arabia!!!

[marutimon]

Well in all, only Egypt really laid an egg at the World Cup. Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia (pending the final whistle here) at least won a game each and Morocco were quite impressive and were just really unlucky..Egypt on the other hand lost to Saudi Arabia!!!

Ghana would have done better than Egypt.
Any of Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso would have done better than Tunisia. Maybe even DRCongo, albeit given how they threw away their 2:0 lead vs Tunisia at home that's not a given.

[maceo4]

Has Asia caught up or leaped is?

[marutimon]

Has Asia caught up or leaped is?

Asia were lucky.
Morocco were obviously the better team than Iran. It was a very unlucky loss.
Senegal were Senegal. They had now right drawing vs Japan.

However Egypt - they deservedly got beat by Saudi Arabia. It's some weird Arab thing.

No, Africa is still better. Japan progressed on the thinest of margins.

Albeit Korea's result vs Germany must be applauded (but it's similar to what Morocco did to Spain, minus the daft referee). Other than that Asia and Africa had a pretty even World Cup.

[oloye]

Has Asia caught up or leaped is?

How many times have Asia made the second round, how many quarters?

They have closed the gap alright and that because they have invested heavily into the game. If we can have half of that investment in our game we will be better , but that does not necessarily mean we will win it...how many teams have won it outside the traditional winners?

[marko]

If Nigeria domestic league improves, start streaming in HD, quality pitches, quality home based players, we should definitely support by paying for monthly packages to see the games, same way we pay to watch the premiership, la liga, bundesliga, serie A, french league

We will be pumping millions every month and if the money is re-invested, we will start seeing results

[Enugu II]

It is easy and simplistic to just wake and shout that Africa has stagnated and useless..such betray an outburst driven by emotion. There was a time we never expected to win any match at the world cup.

When Africa pulled off her first draw I think it was Tunisia in 78 or was it her first win , we celebrated like we won the bloody thing.

Then came came the 90s we started winning and even qualifying for the second round.

Now we go to the world cup winning is not seen as something of a miracles , it is expected. And yet we are told Africa has not improved.

How long did it take Spain and France to win their first world cup even though they have a league far advanced and resources way beyond our dreams.

England won the bloody thing since 1966 and since have been nowhere near threatening to win it inspite of the resources at her disposal.

Africa still has a long way to go, but gone are the days when an African team comes to the world cup and is expected to be just a number. Now we are determining the outcomes of matches, we have become a factor in the scheme of things and we are told we have not improved.

I would like to know how this improvement is measured. Don't mention Egypt or Tunisia, there are some European teams who have been coming to the world cup to also make up the number. In most of the world cup tournament since 1990 we have been making the second round and have made the quarters thrice.

In my lifetime I have seen Africa grown from being the whopping boys and also rans to teams being taking serious and even rated.

Oloye
We must have met in spirit. This is exactly how I feel and what had shared yesterday with a friend. People think we can walk into the competition and overwhelm everyone. Sure that's how fans think but it isn't realistic. It takes an awful lot of work. In fact Africa has made tremendous progress over the years. There is still a long way to go but frankly watching the play in this World Cup I have increasingly confidence that the trajectory is pointed north inspite of poor results in the games. For one in most of the games the African teams competed and I believe our game v Argentina was the FIRST time we EVER truly troubled Argentina in a competitive game.

[marutimon]

It is easy and simplistic to just wake and shout that Africa has stagnated and useless..such betray an outburst driven by emotion. There was a time we never expected to win any match at the world cup.

When Africa pulled off her first draw I think it was Tunisia in 78 or was it her first win , we celebrated like we won the bloody thing.

Then came came the 90s we started winning and even qualifying for the second round.

Now we go to the world cup winning is not seen as something of a miracles , it is expected. And yet we are told Africa has not improved.

How long did it take Spain and France to win their first world cup even though they have a league far advanced and resources way beyond our dreams.

England won the bloody thing since 1966 and since have been nowhere near threatening to win it inspite of the resources at her disposal.

Africa still has a long way to go, but gone are the days when an African team comes to the world cup and is expected to be just a number. Now we are determining the outcomes of matches, we have become a factor in the scheme of things and we are told we have not improved.

I would like to know how this improvement is measured. Don't mention Egypt or Tunisia, there are some European teams who have been coming to the world cup to also make up the number. In most of the world cup tournament since 1990 we have been making the second round and have made the quarters thrice.

In my lifetime I have seen Africa grown from being the whopping boys and also rans to teams being taking serious and even rated.

Oloye
We must have met in spirit. This is exactly how I feel and what had shared yesterday with a friend. People think we can walk into the competition and overwhelm everyone. Sure that's how fans think but it isn't realistic. It takes an awful lot of work. In fact Africa has made tremendous progress over the years. There is still a long way to go but frankly watching the play in this World Cup I have increasingly confidence that the trajectory is pointed north inspite of poor results in the games. For one in most of the games the African teams competed and I believe our game v Argentina was the FIRST time we EVER truly troubled Argentina in a competitive game.

Yes. Despite how it ended - when was the last time Africa had three teams which were obviously of the quality necessary to play in the knockout rounds? Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco were not worse than Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Colombia, Poland. Actually it could be argued they were better. There are niggling little issues, but the level of football was elite. In the end there were minor mistakes - a good selection choice, a poor tactical decision, a sub too late or a bad ref call. The margin of error was thin and CAF was purely unlucky.

Compare this performance to what Africa showed in 2010. Minus Ghana it was a world of difference better.

[ohsee]

Litany of reasons why CAF nations struggle @ WC. Be NT or clubs CAF teams are rarely pushed to the limit for 90 minutes. Due to intimidation of refs, poor pitch standards, egregious gamesmanship, revolving door of coaches, CAF ridden with shortcuts, quick fixes and simplistic solutions.

We're not putting in the work, be it sports science, quality domestic leagues, legit academies to establish core identity, foundations to develop quality coaches, proper transition from local club to UEFA clubs, conditioning, football IQ..ETC ETC

We're cruel to our players, just expect them to show up, play a few friendlies and excel on the biggest stage, and when they fail their reward...endless criticism and abuse. Facts are CAF players have punched above their weight for decades, only so much they can do when competition is raised with best of the best at every level whilst they're expected to also excel on meager crumbs.

[ohsee]

I have a serious question: Is it only Africa or is it All Africans? Are we all competitive at what we do? Or are we just happy to have escaped the crap back home? Do we all have the desire, the mindset, the willingness to want an try to achieve more in face of competition?
That's the question that we ALL Africans need to ask ourselves. Aren't African teams a reflection of who we really are? We are all happy and satisfied. We are all content with what we have done so far. We are all just chilling ... We can all do better, but do we really want to? Are we willing to put in the sweat, the hard work, the sacrifices to achieve more?

Good points Oga bepanda.

[ogiso]

Is that because we have improved or because Argentina have regressed?

It is easy and simplistic to just wake and shout that Africa has stagnated and useless..such betray an outburst driven by emotion. There was a time we never expected to win any match at the world cup.

When Africa pulled off her first draw I think it was Tunisia in 78 or was it her first win , we celebrated like we won the bloody thing.

Then came came the 90s we started winning and even qualifying for the second round.

Now we go to the world cup winning is not seen as something of a miracles , it is expected. And yet we are told Africa has not improved.

How long did it take Spain and France to win their first world cup even though they have a league far advanced and resources way beyond our dreams.

England won the bloody thing since 1966 and since have been nowhere near threatening to win it inspite of the resources at her disposal.

Africa still has a long way to go, but gone are the days when an African team comes to the world cup and is expected to be just a number. Now we are determining the outcomes of matches, we have become a factor in the scheme of things and we are told we have not improved.

I would like to know how this improvement is measured. Don't mention Egypt or Tunisia, there are some European teams who have been coming to the world cup to also make up the number. In most of the world cup tournament since 1990 we have been making the second round and have made the quarters thrice.

In my lifetime I have seen Africa grown from being the whopping boys and also rans to teams being taking serious and even rated.

Oloye
We must have met in spirit. This is exactly how I feel and what had shared yesterday with a friend. People think we can walk into the competition and overwhelm everyone. Sure that's how fans think but it isn't realistic. It takes an awful lot of work. In fact Africa has made tremendous progress over the years. There is still a long way to go but frankly watching the play in this World Cup I have increasingly confidence that the trajectory is pointed north inspite of poor results in the games. For one in most of the games the African teams competed and I believe our game v Argentina was the FIRST time we EVER truly troubled Argentina in a competitive game.

[ohsee]

I actually didn't mind Niang's game. He was powerful and controlled the ball well.

For me the bigger dissapointments were Mane, Sarr.

Chief, I have hailed everything you said so far but this. Niang was only slightly less brainless than Sarr.

[ohsee]

another thing that is infuriating with these useless African teams is that they just keep diving looking for fouls instead of just playing the game.

Its like why the hell are you diving bro ? YOU GUYS SUCK AT FREE KICKS ANYWAYS, YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE TO SCORE IF YOU JUST STAY ON YOUR FEET AND PLAY THE DAMN GAME.

The thing just drove me fricking crazy.

[marutimon]

I actually didn't mind Niang's game. He was powerful and controlled the ball well.

For me the bigger dissapointments were Mane, Sarr.

Chief, I have hailed everything you said so far but this. Niang was only slightly less brainless than Sarr.

That's what I'm getting at. You had 2 brainless forwards, while leaving the more cerebral ones on the bench: Niasse (who is really cunning, if very limited as a footballer), Konate and Sow. Put one of those on and Senegal is a different animal up front. Especially Niasse - he has this unique quality of creating havoc in opposition defensive lines.

[mate]

It is easy and simplistic to just wake and shout that Africa has stagnated and useless..such betray an outburst driven by emotion. There was a time we never expected to win any match at the world cup.

When Africa pulled off her first draw I think it was Tunisia in 78 or was it her first win , we celebrated like we won the bloody thing.

Then came came the 90s we started winning and even qualifying for the second round.

Now we go to the world cup winning is not seen as something of a miracles , it is expected. And yet we are told Africa has not improved.

How long did it take Spain and France to win their first world cup even though they have a league far advanced and resources way beyond our dreams.

England won the bloody thing since 1966 and since have been nowhere near threatening to win it inspite of the resources at her disposal.

Africa still has a long way to go, but gone are the days when an African team comes to the world cup and is expected to be just a number. Now we are determining the outcomes of matches, we have become a factor in the scheme of things and we are told we have not improved.

I would like to know how this improvement is measured. Don't mention Egypt or Tunisia, there are some European teams who have been coming to the world cup to also make up the number. In most of the world cup tournament since 1990 we have been making the second round and have made the quarters thrice.

In my lifetime I have seen Africa grown from being the whopping boys and also rans to teams being taking serious and even rated.

KPOM!!!

It's indeed overall been progressive.

African teams now for the most part lose on the smallest margins. Nigeria was absolutely competitive in every game.

Croatia respected Nigeria in every minute.

Iceland was outclassed by Nigeria.

Argentina won on a very late goal...we're talking a single goal difference in the end!

My take remains that the marginal gap is mostly a function of producing good enough players.

And that, to come full circle, is in my view dependent on more socioeconomic stuff.

Until that happens, we don't know how good the African sides are.

On contrast, we know where England stands, as this factor is normalized. I think you made an earlier point about England trying so hard but failing since 1966. The is not easy, even when other things are accounted for.

[Comrade Machel]

4 years later and you guys will still be talking about the same issues. African teams just arent good period. Untill they develop the ability to unlock defences through passing and not rely on counter attack the big boys will always beat us. And learn to keep the ball for more than 2 minutes. It increases confidence in your players and scares the opposition

This blaming coaches is nonsense.