This Is Why African Teams Never Make It To The Finals The Word Cup
In the course of the 92 years of the existence of football, it's no news to anyone that Africa has one of the best football players in the world, like Ro Miller of Cameroon. J.J okocha of Nigeria Mike Kisen of Ghana DJ Dr of Ivory Coast and Samuel of Cameron, just to name a few, are African football heroes who have showcased their talents in so many tournaments and championships, so much so that over 500 African players are contracted by the top European clubs like Liverpool.
Paris Saint-Germain, and Arsenal, and that alone constitutes about 6% of their player base. Given the statistics, it's almost a mystery that none of these African players have ever taken their national teams to a semi-final in a World Cup competition. To begin with, let's bear in mind that for the 92 years that the World Cup has existed, only three out of the 13 African countries that ever participated in the World Cup were able to reach the quarterfinals, and those three countries were none other than Cameron, which was obviously the first country to attain the quarterfinals, and that was in 1990, followed by Sagal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
very powerful teams with very powerful and talented players. They didn't go above the quarterfinals. You sure know about Maradona, the famous Argentinian football hero. Have you ever asked yourself why, in the 1990 World Cup, Argentina found itself with Cameroon in group B and Cameroon was leading in group B with four points while Argentina was at three?
Argentina still managed to go through the World Cup and play the finals with Germany, while Cameroon couldn't cross the quarterfinals. Have you ever pondered why let's all together dissect some of those reasons that lie behind the African teams or some of the setbacks that the African teams have, and that might just be the reason why they can't cross the quarterfinals in a World Cup?
The first thing we should look at here is statistics. It is less probable for an African country to reach the quarterfinals of a World Cup because of the numbers. It's a fact that the South American and European teams are much larger in number than the African teams. For instance, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, out of the 32 teams qualified for the World Cup, only five of them are actually African countries, giving us a ratio of 1 to 7.
Given the fact that the number of African countries qualified for the World Cup is always fewer, and at an average of five countries, it's statistically less probable for an African country to exceed the quarterfinals and probably win the World Cup. Another thing is pressure. Management might seem very basic to some people, but hey, this is a very important point when it comes to football: why do South American and European players find it easier to play?
Under pressure, it is not the case with African players for the European team; they know it's just a game, so what they do generally is encourage the players to win the competition and nothing more, but in Africa, it's not just a game; it's the whole country's image that is at stake. It's the blood pressure of citizens that is at stake, so there's no room for mistakes.
African players, having that in mind, know they have no chances to take that, which increases their pressure wide playing as they have to manage not only their own pressure but the citizens pressure as a whole. This makes the players very nervous and reduces their chances of concentrating and participating in the game in a more stable manner for Africans.
The obligation to win is non-negotiable. We have instances in Africa where players don't have the courage to return to their homes after losing a competition simply because they might face consequences such as burning down their houses by the CI or physical harassment, not to mention abuses online and offline, just to name a few.
That's why you would find a lot of African players returning to their foster countries after being eliminated before coming back to their countries later on, when the tensions must have been high. A good example is Algeria, which lost the match to Cameroon recently in the African Cup of Nations. Ghana, and especially Cameroon for Cameroonians, have been bragging on social media recently that they are going to win the World Cup and mark history.
Another non-negligible aspect is experience. Most African players lack the experience to compete with Southern American and European players in 20 Ghana almost made it to the semifinals, but due to a lack of adequate experience. Urug won and got them disqualified. Also, the ODS against Africans is enormous; in 1998, when five slots were reserved for African teams for the first time, only three African teams were eligible for the competition.
And here comes another question to ponder: do you think this time around in Qatar, the presence of Africa's best teams like Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Sagal, and Ghana would make a difference? Do you think they can actually change the narrative when it comes to Africans? Another point to consider is the fact that football is fundamentally a mental thing.
African players need to master how to stay focused and loyal to their approach style. even Under pressure, another serious thing that African teams face is the fact that they don't set long-term goals.
Most African teams don't really do that, and I guess that's why some of the African players lack the adequate experience to compete with them. Teams, what about the financial part of it? Have you ever thought that finances could be a problem for the African team? Lack of finances or lack of funds is another problem, though not a measureable one but not negligible at the same time, apart from medical, psychological, and physical preparation.
Financial stability is equally important for a team to be very productive. Let's just look at it this way. The English Football Association has a budget of $372 million. The Cameroon Football Federation, for example, has a budget of only $1.4 million, which is 10 times smaller than that of their European counterpart.
Also, do well to check out one of our latest articles, where we talk about things not to do in Qatar.
