I found
Klinsmann’s point very interesting because it is a reflection on how Africa is
viewed globally. In international relations Africa is hardly seen as a
continent with more 50 independent states.
I believe
this is because there is not much different between many African countries in
terms of its geopolitics and economics. One can count their fingers as to the
number of African countries that have fully utilised the vast mineral resources
at their disposal. Africa has the poorest population in the world, yet it is among
the richest - if not the richest place on earth. Various reasons have been
attributed to the debacle. Most pan-Africans attribute this to slavery and
colonialism - this is true to an extent. What is also true however is the fact
that Africa, as a whole, has yet to realise its full potential, 50 years after
the first African state attained its independence.
The
Africa's inability to make use of the abundant raw materials has spilled-over
to football, sadly. The legacy of African teams at the international level, let
alone this World Cup, has been nothing but disappointing. African teams may not
match the ability and quality of the likes of Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina
and many other previous World Cup winners, just as African economies can not
compare with that of the developing world, but the inability to put the huge
football talent the continent has to effective use is a scandal.
Just as in
economics, Asians have with far much less mineral wealth than Africa, yet their
economies are performing much better than Africa’s. Their football teams have
done the same at the current World Cup. If we were to match Asian and African
footballers man-to-man, we would realise that Africa has the most talent
footballers. African footballers’ huge presence in the riches of European
leagues is not accidental, they have the talent and they are very capable. The
Economist recently had an audacity to suggest that footballers in Ivory Coast
might yet overtake Cocoa as the country’s main domestic export product. Indeed,
of the 23 Ivory Coast players at the tournament, only one plays in Ivory Coast.
But why is it so hard for African teams to do well?
Like with
economy, the answer to this question it depends on who you are listening to. In
my view, football management on the continent has a lot to with it. Incompetent
football associations coupled with distasteful mentality of the people in
charge who wrongly believe that only foreign coaches are always the best has
left the game in dire straits. Of the six African countries represented at the
current tournament, only Algeria had an Algerian coach, Rabah Saadane,
Ivory Coast had a
Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson. Another, Sweede, Lars Lagerback was in charge of
Nigeria; Cameroon went for a Frenchman, Paul Le Guen and the hosts, South
Africa settled for a Brazilian and former World Cup winning coach with Brazil
in 1994, Carlos Alberto Parreira. Ghana opted for Milovan Rajevac, a Serbian
national.
The logic behind
the choices of these coaches is curious as is interesting. Ericksson, just as
the rest of the group, is no doubt an experienced coach with a good record, especially
in club football. Yet he was hired to manage Ivory Coast barely four months
before the tournament. This means that he did not qualify the team to the
tournament therefore he had little time to familiarise himself with it.
Ericksson had earlier in qualifying rounds been sacked as a Mexico coach for the
country's bad performances that left Mexico in danger of failing to qualify to
the tournament. Yet Ivory Coast found a saviour in him and eagerly discarded
the manager who had qualified the team.
Nigeria
sacked a Nigerian coach, Shaibu Amodu who qualified the team to the tournament
and hired Lars Lagerback. Lagerback had failed to qualify his own country,
Sweden to the same tournament. Unlike the two Swedes, Cameroon's choice of Paul
Le Guen made a bit of sense in that he could at least converse with the players
as Cameroon is a French speaking country but he had never coached any African
team before and he had unrealistically short time to organise a team, which again,
a different coach qualified to the tournament.
South
Africa's choice of Carlos Alberto Perreira is understandable in that they gave
him enough time to prepare for the tournament and being a former World Cup
winning coach meant that his credentials were unquestionable. The same rings
the truth for Ghana’s Milovan Rajevac who was given enough time to prepare the
team - he managed to take Ghana to African Cup of Nations finals in January
where they lost to Egypt in the finals. He was the only foreign coach among the
African teams to have qualified the team himself. Interestingly, it is Ghana
and South Africa of the six teams that have looked organised, failing to win
games convincingly notwithstanding. Ghana have managed to qualify to the last 16 of the tournament without scoring a goal from an open play. They have scored on two goals on penalties.
Malawi
national football team coach, Kina Phiri, a Malawian, recently told the BBC
World Service that African must build trust in their own coaches and give them
chance to prove themselves:
"It's
not fair for us African coaches not to be given a chance to run our own
national teams because in the first place most of us are well trained, I
trained in Britain; so to me I think it's just because of our own mentality as
Africans that we do not believe in our own people."
Interestingly,
the previous 18 World Cups tournaments have never been won by a foreign coach.
In Africa, Egypt recently completed a hat trick of African Cup of Nations' wins
with an Egyptian coach, Hassan Shehata.
It is the
same case with all the teams that are doing well at the tournament. They all
have coaches from their own countries and they clearly know how to use the
talent they have. On the other hand, African countries cannot use the vast pool
of its former footballers and qualified coaches to coach their own countries.
It is the same case that Africa does not use its resources for their own
benefit yet always happy to receive handouts in the name of aid from the developed
world.
African
football will not improve with foreign coaches that have failed in their
countries. Same way that aid would not lift Africa from poverty. Africa needs to
learn to use its resources for its own befit.