Cameroon – Page 3 – GAME OF THE PEOPLE

CONSIDERING the continent of Africa comprises more than 50 countries and is home to 1.3 billion people, the attitude shown by some football folk towards the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has been less than appropriate. The impression one gains from some of the comments is this competition is very “inconvenient” for some clubs and their managers.

It is simply wrong to dismiss a tournament that ranks alongside the Euros and Copa America in terms of regional importance. Pundits have hit back, claiming the negative media coverage has been “disrespectful” and “tinged with racism”. If confederations keep expanding and loading-up the fixture list, the noise around too many games and bad timing will surely continue well beyond 2022. However, if a club from England signs African players, this is a consequence they have to live with. There is a price to pay for globalisation.

This year’s AFCON, delayed from 2021, could be one of the best yet. There are more than half a dozen contenders and there’s scope for a surprise challenger or two. Some of the world’s best players are from African countries, for example, the Liverpool duo, Mo Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mané (Senegal) are now two of the most coveted strikers in Europe.

Algeria are the holders and a lot of smart money will be placed on them retaining the title, but do they rely too much on Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City? They also have in their ranks one of the most promising players in Saïd Bennacer of AC Milan, a defensive midfielder who is tenacious, energetic and versatile. He was voted player of AFCON 2019.

Senegal are highly fancied, and rightly so given 23 members of their squad play across the top five leagues in Europe, including 10 in Ligue 1 and six in the Premier League. They have never won the Africa Cup of Nations, but they surely have the resources to do it this time. As well as Mané, they have Chelsea keeper Édouard Mendy, possibly the world’s number one, and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly in their squad.

Morocco have, rather surprisingly, only been champions once, in 1976. Their skipper, 31 year-old Romain Saïss, who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers, will be one to watch. Morocco, in 2020, won the African Nations Championship, which features players from domestic football. Only two of the AFCON squad currently play for Moroccan clubs.

Any team with Mo Salah as captain and principal striker has to be taken seriously, and Egypt, winners seven times, will have a big advantage with the Liverpool front man in their side. Egypt are the dominant force in African club football, with Cairo-based Al-Ahly winning the CAF Champions League in four times in the last 10 years, including 2020 and 2021.

Nigeria also have a possible star in the making at the tournament in the form of Chidera Ejuke, a very fleet-footed winger who plays for CSKA Moscow. Nigeria also have Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho and will look to him for goals.

As for Cameroon, they are far off their golden days, but the local fans still have high expectations of Toni Conceicao’s team. “We feel people are more demanding because of our history and what we’ve accomplished in the past. I hope to win because if we don’t reach the objective of at least reaching the final, it’s going to be a difficult journey,” said the coach.

There have long been concerns about Cameroon as hosts, most recently because only 2.4% of the population have been fully vaccinated against covid-19. Cameroon has officially recorded 1,840 deaths from 110,000 infections, though there is some doubt these figures are accurate for a nation with 27 million people. Already some teams have been affected by outbreaks of the virus so precautions have been implemented, with most games limited to 60% of capacity and Cameroon’s games limited to 80%.

There are also security worries as in the south-west region, where unrest is rife and separatist gunmen are a constant threat. Only last week, a bomb exploded in a Limbe takeaway food outlet. The troubled area is some 250 kilometres west of the capital, Yaounde. Over the past year, around 3,000 people have been killed by militants. There have been threats of possible violence at AFCON and even the official mascot had to wear a bullet-proof vest when embarking on a recent publicity tour. The government insists that safety will be guaranteed.

President Paul Biye, who won a seventh term in office in 2018, often uses football to enhance his image. He currently runs a country that has a 40% poverty rate with a third of the population living on two euros a day. There have been protests about the “indecency” of staging the AFCON against this backdrop. Cameroon has built or renovated around 30 stadiums and training pitches in preparation. In his New Year speech, Biya called on Cameroonians to “make AFCON the most beautiful football jamboree ever organised in our continent”.

Cameroon kick-off AFCON 2021 on January 9 against Burkina Faso.

38-year-old Roger Milla (centre) from Cameroon was one of the stars of Italia 90. Photo: PA

BACK in 1974, Pelé predicted an African world champion by the year 2000. That was a bold forecast but hopes of a FIFA World Cup winner from the continent seem as unlikely as ever.

Football Benchmark’s latest paper, Can the African Lions meet expectations?, looks at the underperformance of Africa’s leading nations and points to some big picture reasons why the continent is still not punching its weight on the international stage.

There’s no doubt that African countries are more difficult to beat than they were when Pelé suggested success was not too far away. In 1974, for example, Zaire failed to score a single goal and conceded 14, including nine against Yugoslavia. Moreover, Zaire displayed a level of naivety that suggested the game in Africa was far from developed.

By 1978, there had been significant improvements and Tunisia became the first African nation to win a World Cup finals game, a 3-1 success against Mexico. In fact, between 1978 and 1990, marked progress was made by Africans, including the memorable performance of Cameroon in reaching the last eight. Who will ever forget the antics of Roger Milla?

But despite increased participation – in 2010, Africa had six representatives in the South Africa-hosted World Cup – there is still no sign of a breakthrough to the semi-final and final stage of the competition.

Will it ever happen? Football Benchmark notes: “While the main football superpowers continue to develop their grassroots and infrastructure, African countries still suffer from chronic under-development and socio-economic instability. Infrastructure across the continent is still in need of improvement, with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa.”

There is a correlation between the development of domestic football in Africa and the individual countries’ performance on the field. Most telling is the lack of locally-developed coaches. Since the expansion of the FIFA World Cup in 1998, fewer than 30% of African teams taking part have been coached by an African manager.

There is also a lack of consistency among nations qualifying for the World Cup, although with 56 members of the African confederation and only five places up for grabs, it is easy to see why qualification has many obstacles. Cameroon, the new African Cup of Nations winner, has appeared in seven of the last nine World Cups and Nigeria has participated in five of the last six, but many nations have struggled to build genuine momentum. Egypt, for example, while winning the African Cup of Nations between 2006 and 2010, have not appeared in the World Cup finals since 1990. This lack of consistency means that many top players are denied the chance to compete against quality international opposition on a regular basis.

But there are indications that African football suffers from some of the issues that often plague more developed football countries. There has often been a disconnect between various associations and their national squads, as witnessed with wage and bonus disputes involving Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana.

Perhaps Africa’s prospects will improve with the expansion of the World Cup to 48 finalists. Inevitably, this will increase the number of slots allocated to Africa and the early indications are this could mean nine members of the federation taking part from 2026 onwards.

Whether this improves Africa’s chances remains to be seen and depends on other issues beyond football being addressed. As it stands, the continent is still a rich source of natural football talent, but until that potential can be harnessed on a consistent and focused basis, under-achievement may continue to be the story out of Africa.

To see the Football Benchmark paper, click here