Sub-Saharan African Football

ben.schlomo

Posted the following (italics bit) in the match thread of the Cameroon game last night, i've been saying it since the tournament started, these sides appear to be getting worse and worse. Hard to see Peles prediction of an African winner ever at this stage, bar the Maghreb sides as at least theyre somewhat organised and play with a style.

Sub-Saharan African football is a joke, the teams play without any style, pattern or obvious game plans, its a bunch of strong and quick runners legging it around kicking the ball far too hard. No skill, guile, intelligence or discipline involved. Ivory Coast being the only minimal exception even though they were shocking for long periods versus Japan.

Opinions welcomed.

Lovely Bloke

It's more than a football issue, imo - the countries themselves aren't very old and there are all kinds of tribal and socio-political issues at play within what are pretty arbitrary international borders - this spills over into the governance of football in these places, and will continue to do so until the whole place settled down.

You may get the odd team with three or four decent players at a time, but it's pot luck really, there is not real development or education in a football sense - as soon as a decent player is known about, he is shipped off to France/Belgium or wherever - or there are random players who were born and brought up in France or elsewhere, but with African parents who don't really care about the country they are representing, their agent just told them to make a smart move as they probably wouldn't get into the squad of the country in which they were born.

There are all kinds of stereotypes about "strong athletic" Africans, but I just think they need to evolve their football structures to european standards - and that can't be done when corrupt governments are funnelling money into their own pockets instead of into education, health, sports or arts etc.

A Primal Nut

Well if you look at Ivory Coast; some French guys (friends of Arsene Wenger) set up an academy at ASEC Mimosas and since then it has produced a lot of great players. No reason the same can't happen with other African teams. Lack of infrastructure is an issue

Reekwind

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

There are all kinds of stereotypes about "strong athletic" Africans, but I just think they need to evolve their football structures to european standards - and that can't be done when corrupt governments are funnelling money into their own pockets instead of into education, health, sports or arts etc.

The problem there is less corrupt governments than it is outside influences*. Africa produces a lot of "strong athletic" players precisely because the stereotype exists. That's exactly the sort of player that European clubs look to the continent for; no European scout has ever gone to Africa in the expectation of finding the next Xavi.

Which in turn breeds corrosive behaviours. If the European clubs will pay for big, fast players then those are the type that will be churned out by the African game. There's little point practising your dribbling and passing if it's the ability to barge someone off the ball that will get you a ticket to France. The European stereotype of the strong but technically poor black player (which has pretty racist undertones) becomes the African reality.

This only undermines an African country's chances of success in international tournaments, particularly when the game is as technical as it is today. Ironically, the success of Cameroon in 1990 has probably contributed to the increase of this exploitation. I don't think it's a coincidence that in 1990 eleven of their squad were based in Cameroon and only two are today.

[Edit: *To be clear, I'm talking exclusively about the stereotype here and not the broader failings of African states]

Lovely Bloke

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Well if you look at Ivory Coast; some French guys (friends of Arsene Wenger) set up an academy at ASEC Mimosas and since then it has produced a lot of great players. No reason the same can't happen with other African teams. Lack of infrastructure is an issue

Apart from the fact that these are not governmental organisations doing this, it was just a random bunch of French guys deciding to target one country for commercial reasons. What if they decide they don't want to do it any more, or the political situation becomes untenable for them.

Beefy78

This is clearly a poor bunch of sides, many of them with particular problems and rumblings of issues behind the scenes (Ghana & Cameroon in particular) but I'm not sure if there's anything to be read into in terms of bigger picture. It was only four years ago that Ghana were very close to making the final four.

I don't see an African side winning the World Cup in my lifetime, but I don't see an Asian side winning it either. Europe and South America have huge advantages in terms of resources, infrastructure and footballing culture which make it difficult for other teams to compete.

ben.schlomo

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

It's more than a football issue, imo - the countries themselves aren't very old and there are all kinds of tribal and socio-political issues at play within what are pretty arbitrary international borders - this spills over into the governance of football in these places, and will continue to do so until the whole place settled down.

You may get the odd team with three or four decent players at a time, but it's pot luck really, there is not real development or education in a football sense - as soon as a decent player is known about, he is shipped off to France/Belgium or wherever - or there are random players who were born and brought up in France or elsewhere, but with African parents who don't really care about the country they are representing, their agent just told them to make a smart move as they probably wouldn't get into the squad of the country in which they were born.

There are all kinds of stereotypes about "strong athletic" Africans, but I just think they need to evolve their football structures to european standards - and that can't be done when corrupt governments are funnelling money into their own pockets instead of into education, health, sports or arts etc.

Id agree with all of that really. Education plays a major part in it too, the lack of mental strength, or just basic thinking does these teams in more often than not. Young lads who leave school or have never been to school and as you said are then poached to play in Europe, they never stand a chance in terms of international football and the demands it requires.