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The Soccer Whiz

With ZAK HAWA

football terrain such as Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Turkey, they were now being cosseted and targeted by clubs in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and even England.

These African players now being warmly welcomed were exceptionally fast, physically commanding and had copious amounts of energy.

It gave them a massive physical advantage and some clubs were quick o the mark to pounce and bring them in their droves at prices most European clubs would regard as a pittance.

Zimbabwean Peter Ndlovu has the incredible honour of being the rst ever African to play in the modern EPL joining Coventry City from Highlanders of Bulawayo in 1992. He also has the honourable distinction of being the rst African to score in the EPL. His arrival in the EPL opened the oodgates and since then over 300 African players have played in the EPL including players from just about all corners of the African continent.

The top leagues in Europe were now home to stalwarts such as Samuel Eto, Michael Essien, Jay-Jay Okocha, Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and Nwankwo Kanu to name just a few.

These and others would form the core of the next generation of African sides to participate at the World Cup.

In retrospect; Nigeria in both 1994 and 1998, Senegal in 2002,Ivory Coast in 2006 and 2010 and Ghana in 2010 were clearly more skillful and gifted than the 1990 Cameroon side but they lacked the heart, passion and relentlessness of the Cameroonians and subsequently failed at crucial moments.

They also unfortunately lacked the tactical and mental nous required to carry one over the line as evidenced demonstrably in Ghana’s quarter nal penalty shoot-out loss against Uruguay in 2010.

If we all thought that 2010 would be the turning point, it appears we have been horribly o the mark.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil passed by with nothing to suggest an African victory was in the making while 2018 was even worse with all the African sides failing to progress pass the rst round.

The often clichéd reasons for Africa’s failure are the failure of national football associations to provide the right infrastructure and framework and not providing the necessary impetus into developing grassroots structures.

They surely are only a part of the problem; after all it’s not like Cameroon had the best functioning football association in 1990 when they dazzled the world.

One does though need to bear in mind that the sometimes impoverished African national bodies do appear to lack the authority to control their overpaid, overhyped and generally over spoilt superstars. It’s hardly ideal preparation prior to major tournaments and their performances on the eld are usually indicative of this.

I believe that the less than exemplary performances may not just stem from ill-discipline or a lack of camaraderie brought about by a disparity between the fanciful European based stars and the more ambitious local players but we do need to remind ourselves that as with all the European based players, the African players playing in Europe also arrive at base camp drained, exhausted and physically not at their usual peak.

If one goes back to the memory of Cameroon’s side at the 1990 World Cup, we could point out a handful of players plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues.

The rest of the players would in all likelihood have been well rested, fresh as a daisy and primed to take on their fatigued European or South American opposition.

In a nutshell I’m suggesting that this advantage of freshness has been taken away from the African sides who are now themselves coming o the back of long arduous seasons.

When I ask Liverpool fans why Mohammed Salah never produces a Liverpool type performance for his country Egypt, they accuse me of bias. Meanwhile, I watched every minute of Salah at the African Nations Cup and felt cheated!

Imagine if I was Egyptian!

Tennis

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2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

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