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The results prove it. The depth of talent proves it. Africa is by far the third strongest continent in football terms after Europe and South America. And that Africa continues to do it is an utter miracle considering the difficulties the continent continues to face.
While Asia encompasses a vast geographical spread and population, it continues to harbour far greater disparities in football ability than any confederation save for CONCACAF. In fact, it’s hard to see why CONCACAF is derided considering the interest in football and rich history and tradition in that confederation, and the simple fact its results have been no worse than that of Asia in the World Cup.
The fact that the USA participated at the very first World Cup in 1930 and defeated England 20 years later, and that Mexico participated in many World Cups with measured improvement, bears that out. Not to mention the often brave performances of Honduras (1982), Costa Rica (1990), Jamaica (1998) and Trinidad & Tobago (2006).
North Korea’s one-off fairytale adventure in the 1966 World Cup followed a play-off against Australia, an event only made possible by the mass withdrawal of Asian and African teams and resulting in Asia and Africa each being awarded an automatic place in the 1970 World Cup.
African teams have been competitive at almost every World Cup, save for Zaire’s (now DR Congo) abominable 1974 showing, which itself was mitigated by the fact that players were reportedly at odds with the government and treated appallingly by the Mobutu regime. One of the players in that side, Etepe Kakoko, even went on to play in Germany.
Mind you, El Salvador’s 10-1 loss to Hungary “bettered” that, yet El Salvador themselves boasted notable players like German-based defender Jaime Rodriguez, playmaker and captain Norberto Huezo and the immensely talented forward Magico Gonzalez, who had a successful career in Spain. And most recently we’ve seen Saudi Arabia beaten 8-0 by Germany in 2002.
Yet Morocco held their own in 1970, giving West Germany a fright in their opening game. And the subsequent showings by Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, and more recently Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola have only confirmed Africa’s reputation as a credible force in the world game. The 2010 qualifiers were played in a new format allowing more teams more fixtures, and proved a hit, highlighting a depth of quality in Africa bettered only by Europe and South America.
While CONCACAF is a region of considerable disparity, Mexico and the Central American countries are hotbeds of football passion. And the Caribbean island nations are able to draw upon English-based professionals to lift the standard of their national teams enormously – something that, for instance, the Pacific Island nations simply cannot call upon.
And Asia, while touted as a region of football power in the future, has yet to truly deliver beyond the performances of the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. The best Asian teams are of course very competitive. But the disparities in Asia can be summed up by the fact that Vietnam, Asian Cup quarter-finalists in 2007, were heavily beaten by the UAE in a World Cup qualifier.
Also that Indonesia were beaten 11-1 on aggregate by Syria. Not to mention that we’ve seen Vietnamese sides beaten by embarrassing scores in the Asian Champions League.
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