Big breakthrough still looks a long way off

Corruption, chaotic organisation and civil strife look set to undermine Africa's challenge, writes Matt Spiro

Out of Africa

On a warm summer evening in Milan 16 years ago, African soccer finally announced itself on the world stage. Just 23 minutes remained in the opening game of Italia 90 when Argentina goalkeeper Nery Pumpido allowed Francois Omam Biyik's header to squirm agonisingly under his body, setting up one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

The defending champions, Diego Maradona and all, had been beaten by a team of unknowns from Cameroon, who, thanks to the inspirational displays of their evergreen striker Roger Milla, would go on to reach the quarter-finals where they lost narrowly to England.

Before the arrival of the Indomitable Lions, Africa had had little to shout about. Egypt were the first side to compete in a World Cup finals in 1934, though there was then a 36-year gap until Morocco became the second. The first victory arrived courtesy of Tunisia in 1978, but heavy defeats were more commonplace, and it was a moment of madness from Zaire midfielder Mwepu Ilunga four years earlier that remained etched in the memory.

As a huddle of Brazilians stood menacingly over a free kick, Mwepu inexplicably broke free of the defensive wall, sprinted forward and hoofed the ball as far as he could upfield. None of the Brazilians moved. A bemused John Motson echoed the thoughts of millions of viewers by exclaiming: "What did he do that for?" Unfortunately for the damaged reputation of African soccer, those pictures provided a source of great amusement for years to come.

Supporters of Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Tunisia will be hoping their teams provide more Omam Biyik moments than Mwepu moments in Germany this summer, but the signs aren't altogether encouraging.

Pele's prediction that an African side would be world champions before the end of the 20th century appeared well founded after Cameroon's thrilling foray to the last eight, but while Senegal emulated that achievement four years ago, progress has been slow. Realistically African fans might have to wait until the World Cup is on home soil in South Africa in 2010 to improve on a mediocre record.

One of the main reasons they look set to struggle in Germany is that the strongest sides will not even be there. Certainly not if this year's African Cup of Nations is anything to go by.

Much was made of Angola and Togo pipping Nigeria and Senegal to World Cup qualification, some suggesting that the depth of quality in Africa was increasing. But of the five World Cup finalists, only Ivory Coast could be said to have enjoyed a successful Nations Cup campaign, and even they were disappointingly incoherent in Egypt.

Indeed as Cameroon tore strips off Togo and Angola in the group phase, and as Samuel Eto'o pieced together his own goal of the tournament competition, one could not help but wonder how it all happened.

"It's not good for African football," said Senegal captain Ferdinand Coly after his side qualified from their Nations Cup group at Ghana's expense. "Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco are the most powerful teams in Africa. This World Cup could be an embarrassment for everybody."

Tunisia and the four World Cup debutants will strive to prove their doubters wrong, but the odds are stacked against them. Many African teams remain significantly handicapped by chaotic organisation and corrupt federations, while some also have the backdrop of war or mass poverty in their homelands to preoccupy their minds.

A look back at Togo's preparations for the Nations Cup highlights the problem. The night before the tournament, the Togo players, rather than discussing tactics for their opening game against DR Congo, were back home in Lome squabbling over payment.

They were threatening strike action amid strong rumours that Togo's FA chief Rock Gnassingbe - the brother of the country's president Faure Gnassingbe - had pocketed most of their World Cup prize money. A handful of players, led by Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor, were refusing to board the plane unless they received tournament fees of $40,000 each.

A compromise was ultimately reached but the farce was just beginning. Togo's coach Stephen Keshi opted to leave his top-scorer Adebayor on the bench for the first game, prompting a furious reaction from the striker. Rock Gnassingbe overruled Keshi, only for Adebayor to refuse to play after accusing Keshi of trying to profit from his transfer to Arsenal.

Three lamentable defeats followed, Keshi was sacked, and much of the gloss was taken off Togo's recent exploits. "The Nations Cup was very sad because it gave the world a bad image of Togo and of African soccer," said captain Jean-Paul Abalo. "The problems started before the tournament when the Togelese FA failed to organise a training camp. Then we found ourselves fighting over money on the eve of the tournament because certain players were demanding too much."

Hailing from a country where the average annual income is around $380, Abalo felt the threat of strike action was preposterous. "Some players might have gone through with it but I wouldn't have," he insisted. "I've been playing for Togo for 13 years and I regard it as a great honour. I'd play for my country for nothing."

Otto Pfister, Keshi's replacement, will hope Abalo's attitude rubs off on his team-mates. The German coach met up with his squad for the first time in May and now faces the gargantuan task of moulding a side - made up mainly of players from Europe's lower leagues - to compete with France, Switzerland and South Korea.

"The most important thing is that we make the people back home proud of us again," said Abalo. "Not everyone in Togo has had an easy life, and if we have an opportunity to give them some happiness then we have to make sure we do that."

Like Togo, Angola is a country where success on the soccer pitch has come as welcome relief from the problems of everyday life. The southern African nation only recently emerged from a 27-year civil war that wiped out much of the population, obliterated economic structures and left behind a trail of disease.

Until recently it was deemed too dangerous to play soccer in Angola as any able-bodied young men would be whisked off to war, and the risks of travel were also extremely high. Yet somehow Angolan coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves has succeeded in moulding a side that beat Nigeria at home and drew away to qualify for Germany. "Getting people interested in football in a country where survival is the main objective is not easy," understates Goncalves. "One also should remember that a lot of our top players have been lost to war."

Goncalves has craftily recruited several Angolan emigrants who have developed in Portugal, including the goalkeeper Joao Ricardo and linchpin midfielder Paulo Figueiredo. But the majority of the side grew up in Angola, often in horrific living conditions.

Star striker Pedro Mantorras, now at Benfica, lost both of his parents to the war, and spent much of his teenage years raising his three younger siblings.

Angola will need Mantorras to gel with his Qatar-based strike-partner Fabrice Akwa if they are to have any chance of getting out of a group that contains their former colonial masters Portugal, Mexico and Iran. But should they fail, Mantorras will be keeping things in perspective. "Everyone in Angola will be together behind a common objective, and this is already fantastic news," he said. "Going to the World Cup can make the country more harmonious."

While civil war is now part of Angola's past, it is sadly part of the present in Ivory Coast where soccer is one of few aspects of life on the up.

Henri Michel's Elephants, runners-up to Egypt at the Nations Cup, are an athletic, spirited side with the potential to go furthest of all the African participants, even if they have been pooled in the inappropriately-named "group of death" alongside The Netherlands, Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro.

The foundations were put in place 12 years ago when Frenchman Jean-Marc Guillou opened a soccer school in Abidjan known as the Academie ASEC. Taking the blueprint from the French centre of excellence at Clairefontaine, Guillou established a plush academy on the banks of the Abidjan lagoon designed not only to provide a soccer education but also an academic one.

Its 50 students sleep on site in comfortable dormitories, they attend 20 hours of classes a week, are provided with three meals a day, and get to train on the two best grass pitches in the country.

Gaining admittance quickly became the dream for all young Ivorians, and today the academy is far and away the most efficient football factory in Africa. Every graduate is virtually guaranteed a professional career, often starting out at Belgian club Beveren who were selected by Guillou as a European outlet.

Arsenal defender Kolo Toure and his younger brother Yaya, currently at Olympiakos, both passed through ASEC, as did defenders Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal) and Arthur Boka (Strasbourg), midfielders Didier Zokora (St Etienne) and Gilles Yapi-Yapo (Nantes), and forwards Bonaventure Kalou (PSG) and Aruna Dindane (Lens).

Add to those names a handful of talented Ivorians who grew up in France like Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, and it makes for a rather exciting team.

The success of the Elephants in qualifying for the first time, and the growing worldwide fame of players like Toure and Drogba, have given soccer stars cult status in Ivory Coast. Nowadays the dusty streets of Abidjan are awash with kids playing makeshift matches, dreaming of a brighter future as a Premiership star.

The parents dream too and they are delighted if their child is asked to sign up with a soccer academy.

The problem is that there are now around 300 soccer academies in the Abidjan district alone, mostly cowboy organisations bearing no resemblance at all to the outstanding ASEC institution. But soccer is seen as a way out, the most feasible way of attaining wealth, and therefore thousands of children trade in school to attend a shoddy academy, where they receive no education, where facilities are invariably poor and the coaches often inept.

For every Kolo Toure, there are literally thousands more who lose their way chasing a nigh on impossible dream. This, though, is not a phenomenon restricted to Ivory Coast. A constant flow of African teenagers leave their homelands every year to play in Europe, often strung along by agents, or pseudo agents, who promise them glory and then drop them without the slightest hesitation once they decide that their client will not earn them millions.

Ghana is as guilty as any country when it comes to losing talent. Four-times African champions, the Black Stars have an outstanding record in youth football but have had difficulty imposing themselves at the very highest level, mainly because their best players wind up playing for other countries.

France legend Marcel Desailly, born in the capital Accra, is one that got away. Freddy Adu, the teenage sensation now living in and representing the United States – but not at this World Cup – is another more recent example.

Unlike their West African neighbours, Ghana do not have a modern, high-quality academy to entice young players to stay, although this is something that Abedi Pele is trying to change. The former Marseille striker has been working as vice-president of the Ghanaian FA for the past four years, striving steadfastly to improve the country’s soccer structures.

“When I arrived I couldn’t believe the poor organisation – we couldn’t even organise our own domestic league,” Pele said. “The main problem was that the FA was not independent from the government. This meant the money intended for investment in football did not always reach us. That has started to change and now it’s vital we spend our World Cup money (a minimum of ¤4.7 million’) wisely.”

Pele wants to improve the facilities at the soccer academy he established called FC Nania. It is not yet in the same league as the Academie ASEC, but already has three graduates playing in France and represents a promising starting point. Scottish club Rangers are believed to be considering a partnership agreement with FC Nania, and any such deal would provide vital funds.

Should the academy succeed in keeping and nurturing the country’s best youngsters for longer, the future of Ghanaian football could be very bright indeed.

The national team, coached by a wily Serb Ratomir Dujkovic, has a handful of outstanding players like defender Sammy Kuffour (Roma) and powerful midfield trio Michael Essien (Chelsea), Stephen Appiah (Fenerbahce) and Sulley Muntari (Udinese).

But considering the talent that comes out of Ghana, the lack of depth in their World Cup squad is alarming, and Essien and co are unlikely to receive enough support from their lesserknown team-mates to get out of a difficult group with Italy, USA and the Czech Republic.

Tunisia surely stand a greater chance against Spain, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia in Group H. The Carthage Eagles are the least typically African of the five participants, if only because their organisation both on and off the pitch is highly impressive.

For many years, Tunisia’s domestic league has been strong, and now dozens of Tunisians are playing for top-flight European clubs. Furthermore, in Roger Lemerre they have a coach who is highly motivated. The Frenchman, who guided Les Bleus to Euro 2000 glory, was ridiculed after France’s goalless 2002 World Cup campaign and is determined to prove a point in Germany.

He took Tunisia to the African crown in 2004, and they might have beaten Nigeria in the quarter-finals of the latest Nations Cup had their star striker Francileudo Santos not limped off injured. Santos is one of two naturalised Brazilians in the squad – left-back Jose Clayton being the other – and the Toulouse goal-getter forms a potent partnership with Troyes forward Ziad Jaziri.

Karim Haggui (Strasbourg) and Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax) are athletic defenders, while Bolton stopper Radhi Jaidi adds experience. They are lacking some quality in midfield, but nobody should expect Tunisia to be easy pickings. Nor should anyone expect them to set the tournament alight in the way that Cameroon did back in 1990.

Soccer has moved on since then but unfortunately much of Africa is still struggling to shake off troublesome old habits. The African teams should again add excitement, spice and colour to the forthcoming World Cup, but until their national federations are freed of corruption and until solid foundations are laid at the grassroots level, they will struggle to make that next step on soccer’s greatest stage.