Africa needs to improve game

Abu Dhabi: African teams failed to meet expectations in the first ever World Cup to be held on the continent as five out of six participating teams failed to make it to the second round, including hosts South Africa.

The fact that Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Algeria did even proceed to the next stage may be seen as a reflection of the standard of club football in the continent and the lack of financial resources of many of then national football associations.

The two club championships, organised by the CAF (African Football Confederation), are doing little to help improve the state of the game. Some of the best players from the continent do not even take part in these competitions, they play in overseas leagues.

Another reason why African teams failed to rise to the occasion is because their coaches mostly foreigners did not have enough time to put together a solid team.

Take Cote d'Ivoire for example, their Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson stays in Abidjan, but his players, including the reserves, play thousands of miles away from where he stays.

A known fact is that some of the African players are many times richer than their football associations. This was evident during the finals of the African Nations Cup in South Africa in 1996. Liberian ace George Weah bought the air tickets and hotel accommodation for his country's team because the Liberian FA's budget could afford the expenses.

And while there is no doubt that African players, individually, are more talented than their Asian counterparts, the fact remains that Asian players are more disciplined and individuality is not regarded as a major factor in achieving success. Also, football associations in Japan and South Korea do not suffer from financial problems. In a time like this when football has become big business, financial resources play a huge role in the progress and improvement of the game.

The CAF will have to look at ways of helping its members and new ways to improve its competitions, otherwise the African failure will continue for years to come.