Jun
9
2010
Halilhodzic in (marginally) happier times (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Europe)
Depressing interview by Jonathan Wilson with Ivory Coast’s former coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, in today’s Guardian. Depressing because Halilhodzic is right:
“…African football suffers from chronic organisational problems. There, politicians are interfering in absolutely everything, especially football. The reasons are obvious, football is very popular, particularly at national level, and some marginal political characters are using football to collect political points.
“Basically, what we have is organisational chaos, but corruption also plays its part. I would say that one of biggest problems is the fact that most of the players are very narcissistic, individuality is first. The personal has precedence over the team interest, so there is a lack of team spirit, and this makes it impossible to create winners.
“The socio-economic status in Africa plays a big role in football and is a problem of its own. That is where that individualism comes from, everybody wants to assert themselves and create a chance to play in Europe. That creates the huge influence of the so-called agents, fraudsters, who also want to interfere in the coach’s job. That is why I think African football is unable to use the potential it has.”
Halilhodzic had put together a successful team, one which didn’t lose a game in two years. But following Ivory Coast’s defeat to Algeria in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, their first loss in 24 matches, the Bosnian was sacked.
Jun
8
2010
Brazil thumped Tanzania 5-1 on Monday night. The result was expected. A team ranked 108th in the world is always going to struggle against Brazil.
But the friendly in Dar es Salaam could do enormous damage to the game in Tanzania. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago the Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) paid Brazil “several million dollars” just to turn up. The TFF claimed they would make the money back from ticket sales but after jacking up prices to $25 for the cheapest seats and $180 for the most expensive the stadium was just half-full.
The Tanzanian sports minister has now revealed that the TFF took out a bank loan to fund the Brazil game. It will not be easy to pay back – and in the meantime Tanzanian football is going to suffer.
Jun
8
2010
So wrote Ryszard Kapuscinski in the introduction to ‘Shadow of the Sun’, still one of the best books written by a foreigner about Africa. He is describing Ghana in 1958, but the image he conjures of an Africa bathed in sunlight is still one that springs to mind whenever most people think about the continent.
If you’re going to the World Cup though, forget it. “Everywhere, the sun,” does not describe South Africa in June. This will be a winter World Cup. Pack jumpers and a coat. Bring a brolly. An anorak too.
And if you’re venturing up to Rustenburg for England vs USA on Saturday night it might be worth investing in some thermal underwear. It could be below freezing.
Jun
2
2010
Over at Africa Is a Country Sean and Sonja have been doing a great job of rounding up the very worst of cliche-ridden World Cup ads from around the world.
No ad is complete without wild animals and smiling kids.
I’ll post the top three from their site below. But first, here’s the BBC’s effort. (They get extra marks for the Big African Sun).
Here’s the Australian team preparing for the World Cup…
And then there’s the Dutch…
And finally, the faces of Mexico’s Televisa network, trek through the bush on their way to the World Cup.
Enjoy.
May
28
2010
Imagine you run a football association. Your country has qualified for the African Nations once, and that was way back in 1980. You have a smart, ambitious coach who has built a good team which has a decent chance of doing well in the next round of African Nations qualifiers but the local league remains poor and youth development is non-existent.
Now imagine you have “several million dollars” to spend.
Do you a) spend it on the league, putting money into clubs so that they can pay players, develop fresh talent and train their coaches?
Or b) hand it over to Brazil so that they agree to come to Dar es Salaam and beat you in a meaningless World Cup warm-up match?
Congratulations Tanzania for choosing option b. I’m sure it will be worth it.
May
28
2010
(Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)
Of all the matches at the World Cup, South Korea against Greece is arguably the least exciting prospect. But it is the match that will mean the most for Danny Jordaan, the man responsible for organising the tournament. It is the first to take place at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, the city Jordaan grew up in. Under apartheid rules, the stadium was split into areas for different races. The VIP seats in the main stand, where Jordaan will take his seat on 12th June, were reserved for whites.
“To sit in an area that was previously for whites only is an indication of the road we have travelled,” he smiles. An indication too, of the personal road that Jordaan has travelled. “From being excluded to being the organiser of the biggest event on Earth is just something special.”
From my profile of Danny Jordaan in last weekend’s Independent on Sunday magazine. I’d post a link to the whole piece but it doesn’t seem to be online.
May
25
2010
No African team has ever won the World Cup but in 1996 Nigeria became the first to win a major international competition, beating Argentina in the final of the Atlanta Olympics. The semi-final against Brazil was probably the better match though.
With 12 minutes to go Brazil were 3-1 up and should have been out of sight. A side featuring Rivaldo, Juninho, Bebebto and Ronaldo had torn apart the Nigerian defence but missed several good chances in the second half. Victor Ikpeba pulled one back in the 78th minute before Nwankwo Kanu equalised in injury time. The ‘golden’ rule’ rule meant that the first team to score in extra-time would win – and Kanu scored the crucial goal four minutes after the restart.
The only footage I can find on YouTube is from Brazilian TV. The match highlights start after one minute, just after the forlorn-looking presenter utters the word “desastre”.
