Opinion / Columnist
Bleak start for the Africans
25 Jun 2018 at 14:36hrs | Views
It seems as if it never seizes to pour for the five African countries that are representing the continent at the 2018 FIFA world cup finals in Russia.
Regardless of having top class players such as Mohamed Salah who was the 2017/18 top goal scorer in the English Premier League, Moroccan defender Medhi Benatia who plays for Juventus, and Tunisian as well as Rennes midfielder Wahbi Khazri there seems to be a dry spell hovering in the African midst when it comes to goals which has relatively costed the Africans.
With one game still to be played by each African team the pressure is now weighing on. Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia lost their second games meaning that their chances of survival are now null and void. The last match that these Africans will be playing will now only be a consolation one since they are already out for the race to the knockout stages.
Most of the players who are representing Africa play their football in top flight leagues in Europe and most of them have even played in the UEFA champions' league which is relatively an added advantage when it comes to tournaments like the world cup but it's just not going the right way for the Africans.
However, Senegal and Nigeria are perhaps the only African teams that still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. For the super eagles a win or a draw against Argentina on Tuesday evening will secure the Nigerians a spot in the knockout stages the same applies for Senegal who will be taking on Columbia on Thursday afternoon.
So far Ghana is the only African country in the modern world cup finals to reach the quarterfinals which they did at the FIFA 2010 world cup finals in South Africa.
Regardless of having top class players such as Mohamed Salah who was the 2017/18 top goal scorer in the English Premier League, Moroccan defender Medhi Benatia who plays for Juventus, and Tunisian as well as Rennes midfielder Wahbi Khazri there seems to be a dry spell hovering in the African midst when it comes to goals which has relatively costed the Africans.
With one game still to be played by each African team the pressure is now weighing on. Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia lost their second games meaning that their chances of survival are now null and void. The last match that these Africans will be playing will now only be a consolation one since they are already out for the race to the knockout stages.
Most of the players who are representing Africa play their football in top flight leagues in Europe and most of them have even played in the UEFA champions' league which is relatively an added advantage when it comes to tournaments like the world cup but it's just not going the right way for the Africans.
However, Senegal and Nigeria are perhaps the only African teams that still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. For the super eagles a win or a draw against Argentina on Tuesday evening will secure the Nigerians a spot in the knockout stages the same applies for Senegal who will be taking on Columbia on Thursday afternoon.
So far Ghana is the only African country in the modern world cup finals to reach the quarterfinals which they did at the FIFA 2010 world cup finals in South Africa.
Source - Daniel Itai
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