Africa World Cup triumph may be some way off

FE Team | Published: May 24, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

JOHANNESBURG, May 23 (AFP): Brazilian legend Pele predicted an African team would lift the World Cup before the end of the 20th century, but it could be some time yet before it comes true.
Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria carry the hopes of the continent at the 2014 tournament in Brazil and none of them appear likely champions.
Only Ghanaian Kwesi Appiah of the five coaches has been sufficiently bold to say his side can go all the way.
"A strong side is one that boasts strength in depth," he said. "Ghana boasts a strong squad and I believe we can go very far-even become world champions."
But faced with Germany and Portugal in the first round, many pundits believe Appiah and his 'Black Stars' will not even clear the first hurdle.
Ivory Coast are grouped with Colombia, Greece and Japan, Nigeria with Argentina, Bosnia and Iran, Cameroon with Brazil, Croatia and Mexico, and Algeria with Belgium, Russia and South Korea.
Africa has a poor World Cup record with no side getting beyond the quarter-finals and only Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana progressing that far in 12 tournaments.
An even more disappointing fact is that there has never been more than one African qualifier for the knockout stage.
That sad statistic was supposed to end four years ago when South Africa hosted the first World Cup staged in Africa and hopes of an improvement were high.
But despite a record six African participants, it was the usual story with only Ghana advancing beyond the mini-league first phase.
The 'Black Stars' came desperately close to smashing through the quarter-finals ceiling, missing a penalty at the end of stoppage time before losing on penalties to Uruguay.
Amid all the African fury at the Luis Suarez handball that triggered the extra-time spot-kick, Ghana's dismal display in the shootout was conveniently forgotten.
Less fit Senegal ran out of steam against Turkey in a 2002 last-eight loss and naive Cameroon tactics allowed England to snatch a 3-2 quarter-finals victory 24 years ago.
Former England and Liverpool star John Barnes told the Johannesburg-based SuperSport channel that Africans must improve their mentality to conquer the world.