Emmanuel Amuneke reveals why African Teams Flop At The World Cup
Africa boasts of massive triumphs when it comes to age grade
football but have failed to impress during the biggest football
spectacle.
Nigeria remains the most successful country when it comes to the
U17 Fifa World Cup, while African teams have made it to the final of the
Fifa U20 World Cup on five occasions – with Ghana emerging as World
Champions in 2009.
Despite these impressive feats at age-grade competitions, making an
appreciable impact at the senior World Cup has been a near-impossible
task.
Since the competition’s inception in 1930, no African team has made
it past the quarter-final (Cameroon 1990, Senegal 2002 & Ghana
2010). And in the ongoing tourney holding in Russia, none of Africa’s
flagbearers made it past the preliminary round.
Senegal’s 2-1 victory over Poland had fueled optimism of a fruitful
impact nut before the applause died down, the Teranga Lions, Nigeria,
Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco have been kicked out the competition.
As Africa continues to lick their wounds following another failed
expedition, Emmanuel Amuneke has disclosed why the continent has
continued to underachieve.
According to the former African Player of the Year who is a member
of Fifa's Technical Study Group, Africa’s biggest undoing is their
failure to invest in grassroots programmes.
“This has been a great World Cup so far and just goes to show
that some nations have invested in grassroots programmes to grow their
football and unearth talents that are now playing on the biggest stage,”
he wrote on Instagram.
“England have St. George's Park, France have Clairefontaine,
Belgium have a centre of Excellence in Tubize and Croatia have multiple
Football centres.
“What these facilities provide you with is a hub of football
development from grooming players, to coach education, to football
science and ultimately to developing the very best the country has to
offer.
“This is something lacking in Africa which is why we fail to
advance further than we do. If you create the right environment, then
success is only a matter of time.”
While Croatia, Belgium, England and France continue their battle
for the top prize, African teams would hope to sit up towards a better
outing in Qatar 2022.
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