By K. Jemael Mohamed

The exploits of Africans in Germany

Togo cherishes her world cup experience:

The Sparrow Hawks of Togo were not one of the favourites among the African debutantes to progress to round two of the world cup. Admittedly, the tiny West African Country state triumphed by qualifying to represent the continent at the world prestigious soccer competition. But the players’ bonuses frictions inflicted serious damage to the team morale, painted ugly image of the country and dispirited thousands of fans and admirers.

The German Manager of the squad Otto Pfister left the Togolese camp three days before the opening match to protest bonus row that was wrecking the camp. He later joined the team after FIFA intervention that put the matter at rest.

Amid gloom of poor performances, firing coach, bonuses row couple with lack of quality pedigree, the Sparrow Hawks’ chance of advancing to round two in the world cup was a wishful thinking.

In spite of the brawl that embroiled the team, they were no whipping boys but presented a typical character of underdog with poor cohesion and inexperience. Prior to coming to Germany, the team performances at the African Nations Cup in January and friendly matches created serious doubts about their making quality presentation in Germany

The Sparrow Hawks did not find life comfortable being in the same group with well disciplined and experienced teams like France, Switzerland and South Korea. The last straw that clipped the wings of the Sparrow hawks to finally shatter their hope was the 2-0 defeat suffered from the Swiss. The French took advantage of the Togolese poor coordination and sailed easily to the second round after disappointing two matches.

Comparatively, Togo as debutante put up a fierce fight to salvage a pride and be remembered as warriors not as whipping boys. They did not end at the bottom of their group as one of the World Cup's worst ever sides.

The Sparrow Hawks fled back home to nurse injuries with enough lessons learned from Germany. Undoubtedly, the Togolese will cherish the experience from Germany to prepare for the CAF African Nations Ghana 2008 and World Cups finals 2010 in Africa.

The Togolese Goalkeeper Kossi Agassa’s marvellous goal keeping saved the Sparrow Hawks from nine dreaded shots while Mohamed Kader goes down in history as Togo’s lone goal scorer.

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Angola exceeded expectations:

Many Sport commentators predicted The Black Antelopes of Angola would sustain severe injury from an encounter with their former colonial master Portugal which ended 1 -0 in favour of the Portuguese. The dream of every Angolan to defeat their former colonial master on a field of play was not realised.

A country which still bears the deep scars of 27 years of civil wars performance at the world stage was in creditable. Luis Oliveira Goncalves, a home grown coach takes the credit for producing a well moulded squad that put up superb performances at their first world cup appearance. Angola drew two of her three games and lost one. The Black Antelopes failed to progress to second round but frustrated the Mexican and Iranians with an excellent defense supported by brilliant saves from goalkeeper Joao Ricardo.

In our June edition ‘all eyes on the Africans’ sports page we doubted the Angolans technical prowess to challenge the Mexicans and the Iranians. But we firmly believe that the Angolans’ presence in Germany would be felt. Certainly, they were not in Germany as a result of mere luck. The Black Antelopes showed great team spirit and resilience in the face of pressures from experienced world cuppers.  The major handicap for the Angolans at the world cup was their inability to generate goals.

Their performances as debutante exceeded expectations finishing in third place in her group at the head of Iran. One man the Angolans will forever remember is substitute player Flavio who scored Angola’s first and the only goal of the tournament.

Among thousands that turned out at Luanda`s "4 de Fevereiro" international airport to welcome the Angolan heroes were members of the government, churches, parliament, representatives of the diplomatic corps and several associations. Major streets of the capital city Luanda were jam- packed by cheering crowd waving flags and attires with national colours. The Angolans believe hope is the last thing to die. We look forward to seeing a much improved The Black Antelopes in CAF African Cup of nations 2008 Ghana.

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The Ivorians fight to the last breathe:

The Elephants of Ivory Coast brilliant performances in 2006 CAF African Cup of nations in Egypt created an impression of being serious contenders in Germany.

The Ivorian were considered the most settled African side that could be another African pride in Germany. Unfortunately, the Ivorians’ major challenge was how they survived the group that comprised of the deadly Argentines, the Dutch and Serbia/Montenegro. The experienced 58-year-old French Coach Henri Michel took on the challenge as an opportunity to meet up to quality teams. He had confidence in his boys for good deliveries and disagree that stage fright was a factor for the elephants. The coach said his players were all exposed playing against quality teams in Europe.

The Ivorian and the Serbians and Montenegro were casualties of the group of death.  The youthful inexperienced squad of Marco Van Basten joined Argentina for second and first spots to qualify from group C. The Dutch sealed their place in the group of 16 after beating the Ivorians 2-1. Despite the high tempo of the Ivorians on the field of play, the defense was not well organised to withstand series of raids from the opponents. Their deliveries were not well coordinated to generate goals. The Ivorian coach asserted that their continuous defensive blunders cost them their place in the last 16 teams. He also said the Ivorians were victims of poor refereeing in the encounter against the Dutch that ended 2- 1 in favour of the Dutch.

Whatever the Ivorians performances in the World cup, many of their compatriots see them as patriots and heroes that tried to bring hope and enjoyment to the divided country through football.  In 2002 civil war broke out in Ivory Coast, splitting the country into two regions: an Islamic North controlled by the rebels, and a generally Christian south held by troops loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo. There are 4,000 French soldiers and 7,000 UN peacekeepers separating the two sides. The questions is can any achievement by the players from both south and north ultimately return stability and reunite the country?  Some politicians are calling for the separation of sports from politics.

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The Eagles of Carthage fail to fly:

Tunisia, another African favourite in the world cup chance of advancing to the second round of the world cup was smashed by an Eastern European debutante Ukraine. It was the North Africans fourth time failing at group stage. This year world cup finals could have been the stage for the Eagles of Carthage to the knock out stage. They were led by a seasoned French manager Roger Lemerre who has an outstanding recoding of moulding team to produce good results. Tunisia has been representing the continent at the world cup dating back to 1978 when defeated Mexico in Argentina. It was the first major victory of an African country. 

Comparatively their North African presence in Germany was no longer an accomplishment but a challenge to prove that she’s one of Africa’s finest on the pitch.

The Tunisian coach affirmed that their failure came from relying on short passes despite the magnificent performance by the midfield.

Tunisian soccer veterans like goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel, Captain Riadh Bouazizi and Hatem Trabelsi may call it quit in international football to pave way for younger generations of Tunisian talents. There are doubts if the French manager will hang on for the 2010 world cup in South Africa.  Prior to the world finals in Germany, his contract was believed to have been extended for another two years to include the 2008 African Cup of Nations, with an option to continue until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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The Ghanaians made an impact:

Ghana notched to the second round to be among the 16 elites - that is an excellent achievement for a new comer to the world cup arena. Congratulations Black stars!

The Black Stars’ chance on the world stage was not wasted. They learned fast to overcome the inexperience and made better use of their key players. Ghana is one of Africa’s oldest football power houses that won couple of African titles in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The Ghanaians campaigns to feature at the world cup finals started as back as 1962 but were not successful until now.  A country noted for winning big tournaments on their own continent has also proven that they could put their skills to work outside the continent as well, beating USA to advance to round two.

Their unimpressive CAF African Cup Nations qualifiers this year and the friendly matches raised doubts as to whether they were prepared to put up a good fight against their opponents that are among FIFA top 10 rankings.

One man that shouldered the daunting task of guiding the Ghanaians to exhume confidence, stimulate the sense of team spirit and discipline is the Serbian Coach Ratomir Djukovic.  The Coach who took over from a caretaker coach Sam Arday has kept the Ghanaians alive from burning out and crashing at the preliminary stage. Coach Djukovic’s success with Ghana rates him as a brilliant architect that has transformed an underdog into a powerful contender on the world stage. The Black Stars’ loss to the Italians in their opening match through defensive blunders was no cause to worry for coach Djukovic. He once said “that they might underestimate us (Ghana) and we could exploit it.”  The Black Stars midfield led by Michael Essien and the attacking machinery with sensational like Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and Matthew Amoah were unbearable threats that make any defense on unsettled.

The West African will not love to meet the World Cup favourite Brazil in the group of 16 but they have no choice but to go and fight the ‘no retreat no surrender battle.’