African Teams - WC2014

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So this year's African nations include Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria.

Is it me or do the teams from this continent look weaker in quality than in recent WC's? My recollections of world cups in recent times is they've always looked quite good, with some real quality players leading the way, such as Eto'o for Cameroon, Drogba for Ivory Coast etc.

This time, all of these guys are getting older and there doesn't really seem to be an upcoming group of players to replace them - the exception being CIV who still have the likes of Yaya, but even he is getting old.

Looking at the groups the only team which has a realistic chance of escaping their group is CIV. The others are all clear underdogs in their groups.
 
rpitroda said:
So this year's African nations include Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria.

Is it me or do the teams from this continent look weaker in quality than in recent WC's? My recollections of world cups in recent times is they've always looked quite good, with some real quality players leading the way, such as Eto'o for Cameroon, Drogba for Ivory Coast etc.

This time, all of these guys are getting older and there doesn't really seem to be an upcoming group of players to replace them - the exception being CIV who still have the likes of Yaya, but even he is getting old.

Looking at the groups the only team which has a realistic chance of escaping their group is CIV. The others are all clear underdogs in their groups.
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Nigeria will come out of their group. I fully expect them to top the group. They are the African Champions and they seem to be getting their acts together now with a local team coach.
 
Hannibal said:
Nigeria will come out of their group. I fully expect them to top the group. They are the African Champions and they seem to be getting their acts together now with a local team coach.
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They could, but I don't think it's as clear cut. Bosnia played excellent football too to reach the world cup. Argentina is there. Iran are not on either 3's level though.

Point remains though that in previous world cups, you'd have thought it was almost a guarantee that Nigeria would come out of that group. I don't think it is anymore. Same with Cameroon - you'd expect them to oust Mexico and Croatia but not so sure anymore.
 
rpitroda said:
They could, but I don't think it's as clear cut. Bosnia played excellent football too to reach the world cup. Argentina is there. Iran are not on either 3's level though.

Point remains though that in previous world cups, you'd have thought it was almost a guarantee that Nigeria would come out of that group. I don't think it is anymore. Same with Cameroon - you'd expect them to oust Mexico and Croatia but not so sure anymore.
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Nigeria has changed & the coach has recalled Odemwingie - He made an error leaving him out in the Confed Cup and he nearly paid for it with his job.

Nigeria matched Spain in that tourney but they had no decent striker to put the chances away. I expect Nigeria to beat Iran & Bosnia and at least get a draw against Argentina. That's the expectation in Lagos.

Of all the African teams, Nigeria got the easiest group and it would be a big shame if they crash out in the group stage. They have some young players in the squad who can do a job.
 
rpitroda said:
So this year's African nations include Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria.

Is it me or do the teams from this continent look weaker in quality than in recent WC's? My recollections of world cups in recent times is they've always looked quite good, with some real quality players leading the way, such as Eto'o for Cameroon, Drogba for Ivory Coast etc.

This time, all of these guys are getting older and there doesn't really seem to be an upcoming group of players to replace them - the exception being CIV who still have the likes of Yaya, but even he is getting old.

Looking at the groups the only team which has a realistic chance of escaping their group is CIV. The others are all clear underdogs in their groups.
Click to expand...

They don't look weaker. They are actually stronger as most now have a well balanced team instead of having 1 or 2 stand-out player. There are also young talents coming through but but very few are as technically gifted. Talent development is a business in Africa and the best market to sell your talent to is European clubs who now want players of the Yaya Toure mould. So you end up with a whole lot of powerful destructive midfield players instead of creative ones.

This is the respective central midfield player in the African squads. I have highlighted the roles as such: defensive midfielder, attacking(creative) midfielder, central or box to box.

Algeria (3/8): Medhi Lacen, Amir Karaoui, Adlene Guedioura, Yacine Brahimi, Ryad Boudebouz, Nabil Bentaleb, Hassen Yebda, Saphir Taider

Cameroon (7/7): Enoh Eyong, Raoul Cedric Loe, Jean Makoun, Joel Matip, Stephane Mbia, Landry Nguemo, Alexandre Song

Ghana (4/5): Afriyie Acquah, Michael Essien, Rabiu Mohammed, Sulley Muntari , Kwadwo Asamoah*
* plays a different role for club and country

Ivory Coast (4/5): Cheik Tioté, Yaya Touré, Romaric, Ismaël Diomandé, Geoffroy Serey Dié

Nigeria (3/7): John Mikel Obi*, Ramon Azeez, Ogenyi Onazi*, Ejike Uzoenyi, Nosa Igiebor, Sunday Mba, Reuben Gabriel
* plays a different role for club and country

I mean look at Cameroon's midfield ffs :lol:! Would be surprised if they manage a through pass.
 
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This current generation doesn't have any standout players. Most of the big names are over 30 and probably won't be at the next World Cup. The ones who are supposed to be at their peak (Gyan, Mikel, Ayew brothers, Gervinho, Boateng, Song...) are all underwhelming. I like Ghana though they always play well. The whole is greater than the sum of their parts. I hope Ivory Coast finally step up. The last World Cup had stronger teams but most of them flopped. The best era for African football was from the late 90's to the mid 00's. So many stellar names. Senegal should stepped up from their 02 performance but they went backwards.
 
mic.m said:
This current generation doesn't have any standout players. Most of the big names are over 30 and probably won't be at the next World Cup. The ones who are supposed to be at their peak (Gyan, Mikel, Ayew brothers, Gervinho, Boateng, Song...) are all underwhelming. I like Ghana though they always play well. The whole is greater than the sum of their parts. I hope Ivory Coast finally step up. The last World Cup had stronger teams but most of them flopped. The best era for African football was from the late 90's to the mid 00's. So many stellar names. Senegal should stepped up from their 02 performance but they went backwards.
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Yeah, Ghanaian style of play is more fluid that it has been and i guess it's down to the youth around the established, experienced spine. Saying that, I hope that the big names are not just simply pushed into the squad. The Ayew brothers havent been in the squad until til recently but I hope they only really start if they deserve to. Their potential to create and change games means its hard to not call them up.

After last tournaments exploits I was really looking forward to seeing how far the Black Stars could get but having been put in a group alongside Germany, Portugal and USA the chance of qualifying for the final 16 look very slim but I wouldnt totally rule them out (although I am admittedly biased).


They have a lot of pace and strength and finished very strongly in the WC qualifiers, hammering Egypt (not all that but not exactly andorra) over two legs and are something of an unknown quantity imo.
 
Standard of African football has dropped since around the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

Egypt's failure to qualify for the World Cup during their peak was a shame because they could've pulled a surprise to add to Ghana in 2010.

Ivory Coast have been horribly overrated for years, their supposed "Golden Generation" flopped consistently in the ACN.
 
Hannibal said:
Nigeria will come out of their group. I fully expect them to top the group. They are the African Champions and they seem to be getting their acts together now with a local team coach.
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Wut?

Argentina will top that group, and Bosnia-Hercegovina are no mugs either. It would surprise me if Nigeria even made it through to the last 16.
 
I expect Nigeria to top their group. Ivory Coast will be second in their group. Yep I said it.
 
I expect Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast to all qualify from their groups.
 
Algeria can do it, unpredictable as feck but they can. Good coach, some decent players, and if their hearts are willing to, there's no reason why not. All that group is full of unpredictable teams, Russia with Capello who already faced Algeria with England (0-0) and Belgium who's got everything to prove, and Korea. It's now or never, not an easy group, but not the most difficult one neither.
 
Hannibal said:
Nigeria has changed & the coach has recalled Odemwingie - He made an error leaving him out in the Confed Cup and he nearly paid for it with his job.

Nigeria matched Spain in that tourney but they had no decent striker to put the chances away. I expect Nigeria to beat Iran & Bosnia and at least get a draw against Argentina. That's the expectation in Lagos.

Of all the African teams, Nigeria got the easiest group and it would be a big shame if they crash out in the group stage. They have some young players in the squad who can do a job.
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Bloody Lagosians with their deluded expectations
 
Aboutreika18 said:
Egypt's failure to qualify for the World Cup during their peak was a shame because they
could've pulled a surprise to add to Ghana in 2010.
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Never made sense to me how they could be class at ACN then fail so badly in WCQ
 
Ivory Coast have a good shout. Their group is pretty even (with Greece, Japan and Colombia) and they have the stand out player in the group in Toure. However if they get through then they face either first or second from England's group (England, Italy, Uruguay, Costa Rica) which would be a fairly even match whoever they play.

Thing about Ivory Coast though is that as a group of players they seem to have a weird mental block after a bunch of horror knockouts from the ANC over the last umpteen years (particularly that 2012 final K Toure & Gervinho took ages to get over) . Every tournament they go in as big favourites, and every time they fluff their lines. With them its totally a mental thing. The group of players have been together for years and at this point they should have established themselves as the dominant force from Africa. If they get it on, they could certainly reach the semis.

Cameroon - progress unlikely. Not a great team, and as well as Brazil the other teams in their group (Croatia & Mexico) are probably better than them. Could go out without a win.

Ghana - tough group (Portugal, Germany, USA). About the only chance they have is if one of Germany and Portugal soundly beats the other, they draw with the loser and beat USA handsomely. I don't think that'll happen, so another team going home early.

Algeria - god knows, they must be in the most unpredictable group of all (Russia, Belgium, S Korea) but hard to imagine them actually winning games. If Russia and Belgium turn up, no chance.

Nigeria - they're in with a chance of a good tourney, given that their group (Argentina, Bosnia, Iran) has only one stand out team in it & that they're the ANC winners. However Bosnia have a couple of top quality players in their midst, and having a proper goalscorer (Dzeko) will count for a lot. A close fight for second I reckon. That said, if they come second they play the group E winners (probably France) which is far from the worst possible draw. QFs possible.

So one of Ivory Coast and Nigeria to reach the QFs, one to reach the Ro16 and the rest to go home early. Outside chance of IC reaching the semis.
 
matherto said:
Never made sense to me how they could be class at ACN then fail so badly in WCQ
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I could be talking garbage but here me out. I think they're simply not used to the relatively quick turnarounds in qualifiers. I.e travel - train - play - travel. Egypt are the only top team in Africa who pool the majority of their players from their local league. All the other teams have players in Europe who are probably more used to this system. Also there's home crowd factor which in non existent in the ACN.
 
steve zizou said:
I could be talking garbage but here me out. I think they're simply not used to the relatively quick turnarounds in qualifiers. I.e travel - train - play - travel. Egypt are the only top team in Africa who pool the majority of their players from their local league. All the other teams have players in Europe who are probably more used to this system. Also there's home crowd factor which in non existent in the ACN.
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Ivory Coast might qualify but thats it. I wouldn't be surprised if none of the african teams qualified. Nigeria won't qualify never mid top the group!! Bosnia are very under rated.
 
Jammydodger7 said:
Ivory Coast might qualify but thats it. I wouldn't be surprised if none of the african teams qualified. Nigeria won't qualify never mid top the group!! Bosnia are very under rated.
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Yeah Bosnia have certainly got a talented squad. I'm looking forward to see the likes of Dzeko, Pjanic et al
 
matherto said:
Never made sense to me how they could be class at ACN then fail so badly in WCQ
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steve zizou said:
I could be talking garbage but here me out. I think they're simply not used to the relatively quick turnarounds in qualifiers. I.e travel - train - play - travel. Egypt are the only top team in Africa who pool the majority of their players from their local league. All the other teams have players in Europe who are probably more used to this system. Also there's home crowd factor which in non existent in the ACN.
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In Europe, group winners are guaranteed a slot in the World Cup. Only runners up need to go through a playoff stage. In South America the top 4/5 countries in qualification get into the World Cup.

Africa has a different qualifying routine for the World Cup. Out of 10 groups, the 10 group winners are pitted against each other in a 2 way, home and away knockout tie. Winner goes to the World Cup, loser stays home. Everything rides on those 2 matches, and a horrible away leg can end your journey to the World Cup prematurely. Away legs in Africa are huge obstacles, what with thousands of miles of travelling, hostile crowds, deficient training facilities and hotels... That is what happened to Egypt against Ghana, they got pistol whipped in Ghana to the tune of 5-0 or 5-1, and making the deficit up back in Egypt was too tall of a mountain to climb. That is probably what happened in other years when Egypt failed to make the World Cup. Despite all this one can make a case for them being the best African side of the last decade, given their consistency in the Nations Cup, and Continental Club competitions.
 
Jammydodger7 said:
Ivory Coast might qualify but thats it. I wouldn't be surprised if none of the african teams qualified. Nigeria won't qualify never mid top the group!! Bosnia are very under rated.
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I've not watched Bosnia at all and I've given them their due shares. It will be between them and Nigeria for the second slot. It's too early for Argentina to slip up.
 
adexkola said:
In Europe, group winners are guaranteed a slot in the World Cup. Only runners up need to go through a playoff stage. In South America the top 4/5 countries in qualification get into the World Cup.

Africa has a different qualifying routine for the World Cup. Out of 10 groups, the 10 group winners are pitted against each other in a 2 way, home and away knockout tie. Winner goes to the World Cup, loser stays home. Everything rides on those 2 matches, and a horrible away leg can end your journey to the World Cup prematurely. Away legs in Africa are huge obstacles, what with thousands of miles of travelling, hostile crowds, deficient training facilities and hotels... That is what happened to Egypt against Ghana, they got pistol whipped in Ghana to the tune of 5-0 or 5-1, and making the deficit up back in Egypt was too tall of a mountain to climb. That is probably what happened in other years when Egypt failed to make the World Cup. Despite all this one can make a case for them being the best African side of the last decade, given their consistency in the Nations Cup, and Continental Club competitions.
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Even sillier in previous years. Last World Cup they had two lots of group stages, one with 40 teams then another with 20 teams, with just the total winners going through. Egypt topped the first group, then came joint top with Algeria in the next group with exactly the same record. This required a neutral play off which Algeria famously won 1-0.

In the end though, in Africa you have about 53 teams vying for 5 places. In South America its 9 going for 5 and in Europe its 53 going for 13. Its inevitable that some teams will will miss out. Egypt have been a little unlucky in how its gone down, but nothing more.
 
adexkola said:
In Europe, group winners are guaranteed a slot in the World Cup. Only runners up need to go through a playoff stage. In South America the top 4/5 countries in qualification get into the World Cup.

Africa has a different qualifying routine for the World Cup. Out of 10 groups, the 10 group winners are pitted against each other in a 2 way, home and away knockout tie. Winner goes to the World Cup, loser stays home. Everything rides on those 2 matches, and a horrible away leg can end your journey to the World Cup prematurely. Away legs in Africa are huge obstacles, what with thousands of miles of travelling, hostile crowds, deficient training facilities and hotels... That is what happened to Egypt against Ghana, they got pistol whipped in Ghana to the tune of 5-0 or 5-1, and making the deficit up back in Egypt was too tall of a mountain to climb. That is probably what happened in other years when Egypt failed to make the World Cup. Despite all this one can make a case for them being the best African side of the last decade, given their consistency in the Nations Cup, and Continental Club competitions.
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Africa's new qualification system makes qualification more difficult and like you said away legs are infinitely more difficult. In the end it depends on how well you travel and I don't think Egypt are particularly good at travelling (ACN do not count as they're at neutral grounds). Most people are surprised when they look at Egypt's dominance in ACN. Truth is they're not heads and shoulders above every other team in Africa.

Won 5th ACN of penalties v Ivory Coast (Hosts Egypt)
Won 6th ACN won 1-0 v Cameroon (Hosts Ghana)
Won 7th ACN won 1-0 v Ghana (Hosts Angola)

All the top countries in Africa have impeccable home records. Of Egypt's 2 ACN wins after they hosted and won it, they never faced the host nation. In terms of WC qualification, in 2006 they had a pretty tough group (Ivory Coast and Cameroon). In 2010, the same team which beat Algeria 2-0 at home couldn't replicate the performance a month later when taken out of Egypt. This time round their team were pretty rubbish though they're in transition admittedly.
 
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steve zizou said:
I could be talking garbage but here me out. I think they're simply not used to the relatively quick turnarounds in qualifiers. I.e travel - train - play - travel. Egypt are the only top team in Africa who pool the majority of their players from their local league. All the other teams have players in Europe who are probably more used to this system. Also there's home crowd factor which in non existent in the ACN.
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Understand your point but its incorrect.. Their use of home based players is the main reason they do well in the ACN and struggle in qualifiers.. European base players do not cope well with high temps in tournaments and tire out after a few weeks..
 
Has anyone watched the Ivory Coast vs El Salvador game?

I've just seen the youtube highlights. Gervinho and Drogba combined to score a goal each. El Salvador scored late by a PK.

Gervinho is real attacking threat with his sheer speed. And to think Yaya wasn't even in this game!

Comments on the Elephants in this game would be appreciated.

Disclosure: I'm from Japan. :smirk:
 
JunesBoy said:
Understand your point but its incorrect.. Their use of home based players is the main reason they do well in the ACN and struggle in qualifiers.. European base players do not cope well with high temps in tournaments and tire out after a few weeks..
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True, the use of home players is why they're good at ACN but it is also not the reason why they're bad in WCQ. Doubt It is a weather issue as european based players are still Africans regardless; hence playing in higher temperatures not an issue. For instance none of the African countries have complained about the heat in Brazil yet. Egypt. Trust me, having home advantage in African qualifications count for a lot. When that is neutralised for all teams, Egypt's squad harmony then gives them a big advantage over their competitors. Man to man, they were not the best team (when winning 3 cups in a row) but collectively, they were damn good.
 
I expect none of the African sides make the 2nd round.

Cote D'Ivoire have the best chance if they can beat Japan in that 1st game with Drogba well rested, if they can't, it's good bye to them too since Drogba will only get more and more tired at his age in the later games.

Cameroon are the weakest team in their group, I don't expect them to even get a win.

Ghana, really just battling USA for 3rd place unless Ronaldo's injury is worse than expected.

Algeria, again the weakest team in the group.

Nigeria, they should beat Iran, who are probably the worst team in the entire WC, but Bosnia should be too strong for them and Argentina, well, even if Messi continues to underperform, should have too much for them.
 
Cal? said:
I expect none of the African sides make the 2nd round.

Cote D'Ivoire have the best chance if they can beat Japan in that 1st game with Drogba well rested, if they can't, it's good bye to them too since Drogba will only get more and more tired at his age in the later games.

Cameroon are the weakest team in their group, I don't expect them to even get a win.

Ghana, really just battling USA for 3rd place unless Ronaldo's injury is worse than expected.

Algeria, again the weakest team in the group.

Nigeria, they should beat Iran, who are probably the worst team in the entire WC, but Bosnia should be too strong for them and Argentina, well, even if Messi continues to underperform, should have too much for them.
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Really? Ivory Coast are better than everyone in their group as far as I'm concerned, Yaya Toure is one of the best midfielders in the world and being a United fan you should that the midfield department is VERY important, next to him they have Check Tiote who is very good at breaking up the play, then you've got an in form Gervinho on the left and Kalou on the right with Dider Drogba up front, the defence is where it gets shaky but it's defo better than it's been in the past, I don't think Nigeria or Cameroon will get too far but Cameroon do have some good players such as Song, Moting and Eto and they just recently should've beaten Germany but got a draw instead because of some fluky decisions and we all know what Ghana did last time at the WC, so you can't just count everyone out like that unless you actually know what you're on about.

As an Englishman I'd also have to say if we came up against Ivory Coast I dont think we'd have a chance, Gerrard and Henderson would get trampled.
 
Illegally Insane said:
Really? Ivory Coast are better than everyone in their group as far as I'm concerned, Yaya Toure is one of the best midfielders in the world and being a United fan you should that the midfield department is VERY important, next to him they have Check Tiote who is very good at breaking up the play, then you've got an in form Gervinho on the left and Kalou on the right with Dider Drogba up front, the defence is where it gets shaky but it's defo better than it's been in the past, I don't think Nigeria or Cameroon will get too far but Cameroon do have some good players such as Song, Moting and Eto and they just recently should've beaten Germany but got a draw instead because of some fluky decisions and we all know what Ghana did last time at the WC, so you can't just count everyone out like that unless you actually know what you're on about.

As an Englishman I'd also have to say if we came up against Ivory Coast I dont think we'd have a chance, Gerrard and Henderson would get trampled.
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No no and no. Colombia have the best team in the group even without Falcao. I'd argue Japan also have a better team.

If you're going to play with just one player, it may work when you have Ronaldo, but Toure isn't good enough for that, also, as a United fan, I understand perfectly well that you can play midfield-less and be very successful until we got Moyesed.
 
Cal? said:
No no and no. Colombia have the best team in the group even without Falcao. I'd argue Japan also have a better team.

If you're going to play with just one player, it may work when you have Ronaldo, but Toure isn't good enough for that, also, as a United fan, I understand perfectly well that you can play midfield-less and be very successful until we got Moyesed.
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Keisuke Honda and Kagawa aside who is a threat from Japan? Half of their players still play in the J-League, and both those aforementioned players had rubbish seasons. Then you've got Colombia who are only half the team they usually are when Falcao is about and even with him they'd still struggle, you dont know what you're on about mate, stick to Championship Manager. I suggest you dont gamble on anything at the WC because you'd most likely end on suicide watch.
 
Illegally Insane said:
Keisuke Honda and Kagawa aside who is a threat from Japan? Half of their players still play in the J-League, and both those aforementioned players had rubbish seasons. Then you've got Colombia who are only half the team they usually are when Falcao is about and even with him they'd still struggle, you dont know what you're on about mate, stick to Championship Manager. I suggest you dont gamble on anything at the WC because you'd most likely end on suicide watch.
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And Yaya Toure aside who's the threat from Cote D'Ivoire? The 36yo Drogba who hasn't looked too clever in the Turkish League? Anyway, Japan have 12 players playing outside the 5 big leagues in Europe in their squad, Cote D'Ivoire have 9, big difference... :rolleyes:

"Colombia who are only half the team they usually are when Falcao is about and even with him they'd still struggle" can you rephrase that? :confused:

Anyway, we'll see very soon who's right. I maintain my view that all African sides will go home after the group stage.
 
Illegally Insane said:
Keisuke Honda and Kagawa aside who is a threat from Japan? Half of their players still play in the J-League, and both those aforementioned players had rubbish seasons. Then you've got Colombia who are only half the team they usually are when Falcao is about and even with him they'd still struggle, you dont know what you're on about mate, stick to Championship Manager. I suggest you dont gamble on anything at the WC because you'd most likely end on suicide watch.
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Colombia have a very good selection of strikers even without Falcao in Ramos, Bacca and Martinez. They are far from 'only half the team' without him. And just because you haven't heard of Japan's players doesn't mean they aren't good. In recent friendlies they won away at Belgium and drew away to Holland. They are a good side and shouldn't be underestimated.
 
Cal? said:
And Yaya Toure aside who's the threat from Cote D'Ivoire? The 36yo Drogba who hasn't looked too clever in the Turkish League? Anyway, Japan have 12 players playing outside the 5 big leagues in Europe in their squad, Cote D'Ivoire have 9, big difference... :rolleyes:

"Colombia who are only half the team they usually are when Falcao is about and even with him they'd still struggle" can you rephrase that? :confused:

Anyway, we'll see very soon who's right. I maintain my view that all African sides will go home after the group stage.
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You do know Ivory Coast have Wilfried Bony in reserve right? Drogba won't start every game.
 
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