ON FEBRUARY 6TH tv viewers from 157 nations will tune in to the ultimate of the Africa Cup of Nations, a biennial event that includes among the world’s finest footballers. Within the first semi-final, Senegal beat Burkina Faso 3-1 in an entertaining match, marked by fast counter-attacks, often sloppy passing and a few glorious refereeing. The second semi-final was a way more tense affair with no targets in common or additional time. Egypt ultimately overcame Cameroon, the hosts, in a penalty shoot-out.
The ultimate has its personal Merseyside subplot, as it'll pit Liverpool forwards Mo Salah (of Egypt: pictured above, in white, within the semi-final) and Sadio Mané (of Senegal) in opposition to one another. They're simply two of the African stars to play for European golf equipment—the world’s strongest. In actual fact, solely 4 groups within the English Premier League don’t have a participant from the continent. Moreover Mr Salah and Mr Mané, Riyad Mahrez of Algeria is at Manchester Metropolis, Wilfred Ndidi of Nigeria is at Leicester Metropolis and Chelsea boasts Edouard Mendy, Senegal’s goalkeeper, and Hakim Ziyech of Morocco. In Italy’s Serie A, Kalidou Koulibaly of Senegal performs for Napoli and Franck Kessie of the Ivory Coast seems for AC Milan. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting of Cameroon and Bouna Sarr of Senegal each play for Bayern Munich, the dominant membership in Germany’s Bundesliga.
So given the riches of expertise obtainable, why hasn’t an African nation made a critical problem for the World Cup? No workforce from the continent has ever made the semi-finals; Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 went out within the quarters. In 2018 no African aspect even made it previous the group stage. Lack of assets are a part of the issue: African nations and federations are poorer than their European counterparts. A counter-attacking model could also be too; within the semi-finals all 4 groups have been a bit of careless when it got here to protecting possession. Lose the ball in opposition to Italy or Belgium, with their passing recreation, and a workforce can wait ten minutes to get it again.
Maybe consequently, Africa’s hopes aren't that nice for the Qatar event later this yr. Within the FIFA world rankings, the best-placed African workforce is Senegal, which is down in twentieth spot—sandwiched between Wales and Iran, neither of which is a believable World Cup winner. The following highest is Morocco in twenty eighth. Egypt is forty fifth.
Soccer followers received’t know till late March, when 5 knock-out video games full the qualifying phases, which African sides will make it to Qatar. However not less than two of the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finalists received’t. Burkina Faso didn’t get by to the knock-out stage, whereas Egypt and Senegal are scheduled to play one another in a match that can supply Sunday’s losers the possibility of revenge.
If the principles allowed it, an all-Africa workforce could be a powerful challenger for the World Cup. The issue shouldn't be expertise, however how thinly assets are unfold. There are 54 African nations, in contrast with simply 17 in South America. Europe would possibly appear to have an identical drawback, with 44 nations, however its energy is concentrated; solely 5 European groups have received the World Cup (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain). Of the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finalists, Senegal has 17m individuals, Burkina Faso 21m and Cameroon 27m. All the opposite World Cup winners, bar Uruguay, are greater.
Egypt, with 102m individuals, is the closest Africa has to a dominant footballing energy. It boasts essentially the most Africa Cup of Nations victories with seven (together with one because the United Arab Republic, in 1959), and celebrated three successive wins in 2006, 2008 and 2010. However Egypt has solely certified thrice for the World Cup and has by no means made it previous the primary spherical. With the magic of Mr Salah, certainly one of soccer’s most likeable gamers, in entrance of objective, maybe the Egyptians can do higher this time. However they need to cope with Senegal, not simply this weekend, however within the qualifiers.
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