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At every World Cup tournament since 1986, at least one team from Africa has qualified for the second round of the World Cup. This record ended unceremoniously in Russia in 2018, after the five countries – Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal – were eliminated in the preliminary round.
The quadrennial tournament raised great hopes. in Brazil in 2014, when two teams – Nigeria and Algeria – reached the second round for the first time.
Instead, the African continent and its fans love to wonder how the teams boast of European players playing at the highest level. the level could suffer 10 defeats, two draws and only three wins out of 15 games played in Russia?
Indeed an author wondered if the early elimination could be bad luck, or a lack of talent. But the circumstances characterizing the exit of each African team were in many ways quite unique.
Egypt rebounded in the World Cup after 28 years of absence. We expected a lot from them since they won the African Cup of Nations a record seven times. The World Cup was ideal to demonstrate their prowess, first because they were in a manageable group and then, in Mohammed Salah, they had one of the best players in the world.
Salah's injury on the eve of the tournament proved to be too expensive and the rest of the players failed to increase their game to fill the gap in the defeat against Uruguay in the opening match. Note that Salah dominated the Egyptian campaign – scoring seven goals, and helped two of the 10 goals scored in qualifying and in Russia.
They returned from Russia after losing their three matches.
A grim goal against his side on the occasion of a stoppage of play to offer Iran a 1-0 win. It was a huge and expensive defensive mistake against a beatable opponent as Portugal and Spain were coming up short of their schedule.
Indeed, Morocco has competed impressively in all their matches. Against the champion of Europe Portugal, the team impressed with its offensive approach, its overtaking and its fluidity while it was seeking to equalize. But conceding goals sooner or later can be expensive for a team and Morocco has been a two-time loser.
The match that brought the best and the worst to Morocco was their last match against Spain. The Atlas Lions nearly beat the 2010 World Champions but conceded, another goal stopped to shoot 2-2.
The performance of Morocco, like other African teams, raises questions about the tactics of play in mind or late. The phases of the game.
Nigeria has shown promise considering that it was the youngest team of the tournament, with 18 players who had not never played at a World Cup before. Unfortunately, this young team learned at its expense since they were only four minutes from qualifying for the knockout stages when Argentina scored a goal that eliminated them.
The BBC Sport quoted coach Gernot Rohr: For Nigeria because there is great solidarity – you have seen in difficult times what is the spirit of the team.
But Nigeria paid the price for starting slowly in the tournament especially in the first match against Croatia. hope that this young team is supported and nurtured until maturity.
Tunisia managed to beat Panama. But they were just not good enough to progress from a difficult group including Belgium and England.
Captain Wahbi Khazri admits that his team found the level too high, too high, too high compared to the two European opponents
. Like Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria, the Carthage Eagles lost their opening match against England in stoppage time. Then Tunisia was ruthlessly hammered by a starving Belgium. 5-2
The only consolation is that Tunisia left the competition as Africa's top scorer with five goals in three matches and a sense of satisfaction after beating Panama. the tournament I chose Nigeria and Senegal to do well. Senegal started on a positive note by beating Poland 2-1, which gives hope that it would shine.
But the points lost against Japan in a 2-2 draw highlighted their weaknesses in managing the game. The fact that they picked up unnecessary yellow cards in their first two games the made them vulnerable to Colombia. Indeed, their equality with Japan allowed Japan to progress because Japan had a better disciplinary record: four yellow cards and six for Senegal.
Their lower disciplinary record led coach Aliou Cisse to declare that the team "did not deserve". make the second round
Bad disciplinary records are a feature that African teams have struggled even in past competitions.
So why has 2018 Russia been such a disaster for African teams? Much hope was placed on some exceptional talents injured or whose abilities did not develop due to the tactical limitations and tight marks of the opposing teams.
It was also obvious that African teams conceded goals too early or too early. very late. This indicates insufficient skills in game management on the side of coaching teams.
It was also clear that most African players failed to improve their game level to reach the level expected at the World Cup
. the fact that the teams have been surpbaded technically and tactically.
The teams never managed to score enough goals, while the defenses conceded goals at crucial moments. This did not help this midfield game was also devoid of creative play.
Once again the continent has to wait another blow in 2022. Preparations should start better seriously if there are breakthroughs to come. One thing is clear, successful club careers for African players in Europe do not necessarily translate into the success of their national teams at the World Cup level.
Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu, Professor, Health and Kinesiology, University of Texas at Tyler
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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