The European Curse

This article was first written in June 2010, during the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

Despite the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa being the first to be staged in Africa and the first ever the feature six teams from the continent, Africa has in large failed at the tournament, much to the disappointment of millions around the continent.

Out of Africa’s six competitors - hosts South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria - only Ghana made it past the group stage.

Numerous explanations have been put forward for the various failures such as the pressure of unrealistic expectations heaped on the teams, a lack of preparation, in-fighting, foreign coaches and even fatigue.

But of one of the main reasons, especially for the great West African hopes Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, has been a maddening lack of creativity.

For long Africa has been associated with flair and romanticism – the dark continent of unpredictable football, it was often said.

The Real Indomitable Lions

When Cameroon first played at the World Cup in 1982 the Indomitable Lions were hailed as one of the great entertainers of the tournament.

The invention of skilful ball-players was also very much at the core of Nigeria’s pre-eminence in the mid-nineties when the Super Eagles won the 1996 Olympic Games and flamboyantly reached the second round of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

However, almost like selective breeding, Africa has over the past decade produced either defensive midfielders or goal-scorers and absolutely nothing in between as it seeks to conform to the demands of European football.

Now as the inquests into the continent’s 2010 World Cup showing begin it is apparent European stereotypes gravely threaten to destroy African football, at least at national team level.

Africa’s plight is illustrated by the type of player plying their trade at Europe’s top clubs.

At Barcelona, Ivory Coast’s Yaya Touré and Mali’s Seydou Keita are the water-carriers, the defensive players whose job description is to break down opposition attacks.

Chelsea similarly have Ghanaian Michael Essien while Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi has been transformed from the world’s most promising creative midfielder – Mikel inspired Nigeria to the 2005 FIFA Under-20 World Cup final and was voted as the second best player behind Lionel Messi – to a defensive midfielder simply because of his physical attributes.

There are numerous other examples of the African water-carrier in Europe – Ghana’s Sulley Muntari at Inter Milan, Cameroon’s Alexandre Song at Arsenal, and Malian Mahamadou Diarra who plays for Real Madrid.

Apart from midfield destroyers Africa boasts world renowned strikers, the traditional number nine so to speak, such as Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, and Fredi Kanoute.

Black Star... Abedi Pele

This chasm in positions is laid bare when Africa’s national teams are selected.

In the end it creates a situation where Cameroon attempted to use Eto’o as their link player in their opening World Cup game against Japan. Cameroon lost 1-0. Nigeria on the other hand kicked off their campaign with a midfield comprising of hard-men Dickson Etuhu, Haruna Lukman and Sani Kaita. Ivory Coast weren’t much creative either with an engine room of Touré, Ismael Tiote and Emmanuel Eboué.

In short, Europe has turned Africa’s strength into its weakness because now the continent’s physical prowess has propagated a style of brawn and very little brains.

The situation is so dire that after Nigeria’s drab Africa Cup of Nations performance in January and February there were calls for the return of 36 year-old playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha, who retired in 2008.

It seems a far cry from when skilful African playmakers dazzled Europe – magicians such as Abedi Pele, Rabah Madjer, John Moshoeu, Joel Tiehi and Okocha who is considered Africa’s last playmaker. At the moment Africa’s only playmakers of note are Egypt’s Mohamed Aboutreika and South Africa’s Steven Pienaar.

It is why Patrick Mboma in a recent interview with the BBC said Africa had lost its identity.

But more pertinently, Africa’s lack of playmakers makes it a tactical nightmare for any coach to create a cohesive playing unit. In fact it is virtually impossible. In layman’s terms, how will the ball get to the strikers?

When Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni complained of a lack of service after Nigeria’s loss to Egypt in this year’s Afcon tournament the indictment was simple for the Super Eagles and to fellow West African teams.

For example, Germany’s impressive World Cup so far has been built around the cunning skills of playmaker Mezut Özil who has acted as a clever link between the midfield and attack.

Brazil meanwhile has Kaka, Elano and Robinho while Argentina’s possession game is based around Messi and is sometimes supplemented by the cerebral skills of 35 year-old Juan Sebastian Veron.

For Spain, Andres Iniesta and Xavi lead an army of creative players at the coach’s disposal.

In geometrical terms a side lacking a linkman also causes basic problems regarding a team’s shape, a fundamental aspect to football. A team’s shape invariably comes down to the distances and angles in the smaller interlinking pieces created by the positions of players on the field. It is in these shapes in which smaller victories that ultimately lead to success or defeat take place. All of football top sides, from Matlama’s Pali Tšalong to Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder, have this link which enable a compact but flexible team.

However for African teams at the World Cup the gap between strikers and midfield has been so great it has caused a chasm where the opposition has often been able to dictate the terms of the game.

This is what Denmark managed to do against Cameroon in their group stage encounter despite their relatively lower levels of technique. The Danes won 2-1.

This distance between midfield and attack also makes the transition from defence to offence difficult.

In their opening match against Argentina Nigeria had trouble getting forward after winning the ball and had to resort to long balls.

The last of a dead breed?
Jay-Jay Okocha

Nigeria’s difficulties in possession in their first two games were so great they drafted in veteran Nwankwo Kanu in their final group game against South Korea to try and possess the ball. Nigeria improved but only drew 2-2.

For Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast the problem is that a person’s habit becomes their nature.

Unfortunately because of the rigid instructions African players follow at their clubs – which rely exclusively on home grown or South American talent for guile and creativity – they forget how to unlock defences themselves.

For Touré and Etuhu all they know is to destroy.

All Drogba knows is how to score.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Ghana, who face Uruguay in the quarterfinal tomorrow, has done so well.

Firstly, the Black Stars have 21 year-old Kwadwo Asamoah who plays as a valuable link between lone striker Asamoah Gyan and Ghana’s five-man midfield. Secondly Ghana’s success is perhaps because the team is filled with young players yet to be completely inhibited by the influence of European demands. The Black Stars have the youngest squad at the World Cup made up mainly of players playing for Europe’s lesser teams.

As a result these players invariably still play to their natural African instincts which has made Ghana more successful than their neighbours and also better to watch.

Coincidentally Africa’s two poorest sides, Algeria and South Africa who both included several creative link players in their line-ups, briefly produced the continent’s most attractive displays of the tournament – Algeria during the first 25 minutes of their 0-0 draw with England and South Africa in the 15 minute period following Simphiwe Tshabalala’s 55th minute opener in their 1-1 draw with Mexico.

Those performances would have been the most complete football-wise Africa had to offer had they been complimented by a cutting edge.

Moving forward the challenge for Africa is to overcome what seems to be a vicious and set-in cycle.

As the images of African heroes are beamed across television screens African children invariably dream of being the next Drogba or Essien, no longer to be the next Okocha.

Africa’s western superpowers especially have discarded creative players, something South America for example has refused to do. Brazil, Argentina and Chile’s successful fondness of ‘wizardry players’ at this World Cup has illustrated this.

The lack of such inventive players is not the only reason African teams have flattered to deceive at Africa’s World Cup, but the continent is in danger of losing its identity, its fantasy and its magic.