Sport
Africa’s hopes at World Cup 2014 in Brazil
African teams bring life to an event that, in recent times, has appeared to be losing some of its gloss. Who can forget the youthful exuberance of the 38-year-old Roger Milla in 1990 celebrating each goal by dancing at the corner flag and wriggling his waist with a delighted grin on his face?
Can any of the African representatives in Brazil reignite such passions again? Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Algeria, the same countries that represented Africa in the 2010 World Cup, are again the flag bearers against the best teams in the world. This emphasizes the dominance of the Western and North African teams, which has continued for the past three decades.
Four years ago, only Ghana’s Black Stars made it beyond the first round, reaching the quarter-final, and the going is expected to be even tougher in Brazil. Their prospects of success depend on rigorous preparation and avoiding the internal wrangles over allowances and maladministration that often undermine teams at major tournaments.
Côte d’Ivoire
Yaya Touré has emerged as the most successful African player in recent times, winning the Confederation of African Football’s African Footballer of the Year from 2011 to 2013. His imposing performances for Manchester City have taken the underachieving club to the summit of English football.
Now that he is at the peak of his powers, he seeks to bring the same level of achievement to an Ivorian team that has flattered to deceive for the best part of a decade. Pundits believe that this Ivorian team does not have the quality of players who were expected to dominate African football in the mid-2000s.
With Didier Drogba now past his best form and Kolo Touré in the final stages of his career, their replacements are hardly of the same stature. In the past, gross indiscipline and clashes of egos undid all the hard work the team put in once they got to the tournament. There is also the matter of their inexperienced coach Sabri Lamouchi, who is still to convince that he is capable of managing a team at the highest levels of the game. One plus in their favour is a group that is regarded to be the weakest, with Colombia, Greece and Japan as first-round opponents.
Prediction 2014
Quarter-final, if the players are in the right frame of mind and they get a favorable draw.
Previous form 2010
first round; 2006 first round.
