No Longer Naïve: African Football’s Growing Impact At The World Cup 6u504f

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

©Ibrahim Mustapha, 2021

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright. Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, ed, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.

A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 9781785317965 eBook ISBN 9781785319778 --eBook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Zaire – African Ignorance and Mobutu’s Influence

2. Colonialism, CAF and the Complicated Road to Recognition

3. Roaming Foxes and the Disgrace of Gijon

4. Morocco’s History Boys

5. Roger Milla’s Italian Job

6. All Eyes on the Eagles

7. Senegal’s Eastern Promise

8. Fresh Faces for

9. The Fall and Rise of South African Football

10. The Tournament, Part I – Welcome to Africa

11. The Tournament, Part II – Black Stars Shine Bright

12. More Money, More Problems in Brazil

13. From Russia with Little Love

Epilogue

Statistics – The Complete Record of African Teams at the World Cup

Bibliography

Photos

FOR DAD

Acknowledgements

FIRST AND foremost, I would like to thank Dad for getting me into football and of course, constantly talking me through the complicated politics of Africa and all its foibles. Rest in peace, Papa. This is for you. I also want to thank Mum who has always encouraged me to be creative, and my sister Ayisha for always keeping me on my toes. To my wonderful Kate for all your and proofreading, even though the subject is outside of your particular field of interest, and to little Isabella, despite tearing up my notes! To Paul and Caroline for babysitting help and space to get work done, and to Jeff for the helpful advice. Thanks to Paul and Jane, and Pitch Publishing for taking a chance and trusting me. And finally, thanks to everyone who was happy to help and speak to me on various aspects of the work during my research: Gary Al Smith, Paul Ezeoke, Ahmed Atta, Dr Adel Saad, Meher Mezahi, Rahman Osman, and the guys at Maghrib Foot.

Introduction

IF YOU had the good fortune to represent your country at a World Cup, what impression would you want to leave? Beyond the dream of actually lifting the trophy and playing a significant role in that, how, if you had the chance to decide, would you want to be ed? A great goal? An unforgettable winner? A hat-trick? A fantastic goal-preventing tackle or save? Even in infamy you could make a name for yourself. Through a contentious goal scored with your hand, for example. Or perhaps planting a headbutt on an opponent as the world watches on in shock during the final. How about such a blatant and absurd transgression of the most basic laws of the game that is so laughable, it virtually brings humiliation and shame on yourself, your country and, in fact, your entire continent? On 22 June 1974, Mwepu Ilunga would write his name into World Cup folklore for this very reason. On this fateful day, in front of a reported 35,000 fans packed inside Gelsenkirchen’s Parkstadion in West , reigning world champions Brazil are leading 2-0 against tournament debutants Zaire. With a little over ten minutes to play, the South Americans have a free kick some 25 yards from goal. Seleção superstars Rivellino and Jairzinho stand over the ball, licking their lips at the opportunity presented to them. Both players are already on the scoresheet and a brief discussion ensues as to who will take the kick, potentially adding to their tally. The whistle blows and Jairzinho appears to back off slightly while gesturing to his team-mate. The Zaire defensive wall stands tall in preparation. All but one man. Ilunga defiantly breaks free, charging towards the stationary ball before taking a huge swipe. A shocked Rivellino momentarily cowers slightly, believing Ilunga is aiming for him, before looking up to see the Adidas Telstar Durlast flying away into the distance. The moustachioed Brazilian forward is simply left stunned and confused, as are the rest of the players on the pitch. The TV camera, caught as much by surprise as everybody else, fails to track the ball so the image of Ilunga’s kick soaring away off screen makes the scene even more of a visual oddity for those watching. ‘What on earth did he do that for?’ screams a puzzled John Motson on commentary. As Romanian referee Nicolae

Rainea marches over to issue a yellow card, Ilunga puts his hand to his mouth, miming the action of a whistle, apparently suggesting he thought the ball was in play. After being booked, the player then performs a sarcastic bow towards Rainea, arms outstretched for maximum effect, before returning to the wall to prepare for a retake. The free kick went down in history and for many, many years saw both player and his team as the subject of mockery, with the widely accepted explanation being that Ilunga, Zaire and African footballers in general didn’t understand the rules of the game. The journey to that fateful moment was a long one. Despite the land mass itself existing since Earth’s very beginnings and being widely accepted as the birthplace of humankind, Africa in the 1970s was, by Western standards, viewed as relatively ‘young’ and naïve compared to the rest of the world. Most countries on the continent had only recently achieved independence and while many were still trying to find their feet, those same feet were also trying to make an impression on the football pitch. What better way to celebrate new-found national identity than through football, one might ask? And what better setting to do this than at the World Cup? After successfully creating its own tournament in the form of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the aim of every football-playing African nation was to eventually compete on the global stage. Complicated colonial relationships with former rulers both helped and hindered this ambition over time, with some nations quickly using the link to their past as an advantage, while others needed far longer to become established as they struggled to unburden themselves from those shackles. North Africa were the early pace-setters, primarily due to the region’s relatively short distance, and crucially, access to Europe. For central African nation Zaire to buck that trend in 1974 was quite the achievement. African football was still very much behind Europe and South America but despite Zaire’s glaring failings, steady growth and improvement continued to cascade south. World Cup representation eventually increased, and not just to make up the numbers as famous victories against the so-called established elite earned African football greater respect. It was almost inevitable that the continent would eventually host the competition, and when South Africa was

awarded the 2010 tournament, it was further proof of how far things had moved on since 1974 and that kick. But the kick was inescapable. Zaire had left an unfavourable impression as only the third African participants in the history of the World Cup. Despite its notoriety, Ilunga’s moment of madness itself was just a small part of a chaotic showing, with behind-the-scenes problems also undermining their brief moment in the spotlight. The ‘naïve’ stereotype that outsiders commonly held about Africa – both on and off the pitch – had simply been fuelled further. This was African football for the uninitiated, and there was much work to be done to undo this perception and change this negative image.

1

Zaire – African Ignorance and Mobutu’s Influence

THE WORLD Cup of 1974 may have been the tenth edition of the tournament but for many fans and observers of the global game, this would be their first experience of seeing a team from sub-Saharan Africa playing football at any level. The tournament had seen fleeting glimpses of Egypt and Morocco previously, but there was generally a greater familiarity with teams from the north of the continent due to its proximity to Europe, and the fact several players from the region had already migrated to European clubs. Zaire, on the other hand, was far further south than many in the global north would have even been aware of, let alone travelled to, and was certainly an unknown entity as far as football was concerned. However, it isn’t as though they had simply wandered in off the street to compete at the World Cup. This was, at the time, an African powerhouse who had lifted the coveted African Cup of Nations just three months earlier. They may not have shown it in West , but the team known as the Leopards were something of a force to be reckoned with back in Africa and the story behind their calamitous World Cup experience is far, far more complex than it appears. The large region in the centre of Africa today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo has a storied, complicated and brutal history. In pre-colonial times, the transatlantic slave trade saw millions of Africans forcibly transported from its western coast to the Americas, leading to the region becoming increasingly fragmented and impoverished. European settlers were reluctant to venture inland, meaning much of the area initially remained free of colonial rule. From 1874 however, the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley, on behalf of Belgium’s King Leopold II, was sent to the region and eventually established treaties with local rulers along the Congo River in order to gain territory. These treaties in essence saw land surrendered to Stanley and the Belgian monarch and under the guise of humanitarian work, Leopold set up the International African Association. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 and the notorious ‘Scramble

for Africa’ where the continent was divided up among European superpowers, the controversial monarch was granted the personal and private control of what he called the Congo Free State. As far as ironic names go, they don’t get much wider of the mark than this. What followed was a brutal campaign of forced labour where natives were put to work to extract ivory and rubber for growing international markets. Failure to comply or even meet the demand resulted in beatings, dismemberment of hands or feet, and shootings. There were also stories of torture, beheadings and the burning of entire towns to the ground. As an estimate, reports range between ten to 15 million deaths from a lengthy campaign of atrocities before Belgium annexed the region in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo. While not as horrifying as the Free State, the country was still under colonial rule and in 1959, deadly protests saw increased calls for independence which was finally granted a year later. The newly established Democratic Republic of the Congo was still in a state of chaos when the first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated in 1961, and a CIA-backed coup saw military officer Mobutu Sese Seko seize power in 1965. The country was crying out for stability and its own identity, and Mobutu felt he was the man to provide it. But this was by no means through benevolence. As one of Africa’s ‘big men’ leaders, Mobutu enacted a system which made it impossible for political opponents to challenge his position. Those who did were imprisoned, tortured or worse. An ultra-nationalist stance saw him rename the country Zaire in 1971 and change his own name from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu waza Banga, which translated as ‘The allpowerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake’. An emphatic proclamation of how he viewed himself, just in case there was any doubt. With his trademark leopard-skin hat perpetually perched atop his head, the flamboyant dictator’s one-party rule would see him unopposed at elections, giving him free rein over the country’s economy and finances with from the USA due to his supposed anti-communist and anti-Soviet position. Over the years Mobutu would line his own pockets while his people suffered. He did, however, invest heavily in sport as a means of winning over the masses. Mobutu’s backing paid off on the football field as the team won the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations in Ethiopia, beating the dominant Ghana side of that era 1-0 in the final. As part of Mobutu’s campaign of ‘authenticity’, all players were

required to be based domestically, meaning those playing abroad would have to return if they were to represent the national team. Conversely, Mobutu looked overseas to find the team’s manager. In 1972, Yugoslavian Blagoje Vidinić was hired to take charge ahead of Zaire’s World Cup qualification campaign, having already managed an African side in the form of Morocco at the tournament in Mexico two years earlier. Zaire cruised through the first three rounds of qualifying by beating Togo, old rivals Ghana, and Cameroon before a showdown with Vidinić’s former side in the final-round three-team group, which also featured Zambia. After two wins against the latter, Zaire welcomed Morocco to Kinshasa knowing a win would see them become the first African team from south of the Maghreb to reach the World Cup. FIFA’s report of what was by all s a feisty affair claims ‘crunching tackles rained down on the north Africans, urged on by an increasingly desperate crowd’. The home side took the lead after a ‘frantic goal-mouth scramble’ in which Kembo Uba Kembo forced the ball over the line despite claims from the Moroccan goalkeeper, Ahmed Belkoucrhi, that he had been fouled. Two more goals saw Zaire, and by extension Mobutu, make history and reach the finals in West . Morocco, so incensed by the refereeing in the match, withdrew from the return fixture, handing Zaire a walkover. The scale of the achievement was monumental. Mobutu rewarded each player with a house and car as a token of his appreciation for bringing a sense of pride to the nation, and presumably distracting the population from his kleptocratic rule. In March 1974, the team returned from Egypt to a raucous ovation at Kinshasa airport. Zaire had secured the Nations Cup for a second time following a 2-0 win over Zambia in a replayed final thanks to two goals from striker Ndaye Mulamba. Although not a household name outside of Africa, Ndaye was a legend both in his own country and across the continent. As well as his AFCONwinning strikes, he also scored a brace in the semi-final victory against tournament hosts Egypt on top of both goals in the original drawn final, which had ended 2-2. At this point, it’s worth pointing out that two goals from that initial game – one for each team – came from set-piece free kicks with Zaire very much adhering to, and fully understanding the laws of the game. In total, Ndaye finished the 1974 Cup of Nations with nine strikes, winning the golden boot and being named player of the tournament. Forty-seven years and 23 AFCONs later, no player has scored as many goals in a single edition of the competition.

Optimism was high ahead of the expedition to Europe with much of the squad seeing the tournament as a chance to showcase their talents on the global stage and perhaps earn lucrative moves abroad. Mayanga Maku, another star of the team, was nicknamed ‘The Brazilian’ due to his impressive dribbling ability. Defender Bwanga Tshimen, the reigning African footballer of the year, also earned a title of high regard with journalists referring to him as the ‘Black Beckenbauer’. Pulling the strings in midfield was Mavuba Mafuila, himself known as the ‘Black Sorcerer’. As well as colourful aliases for the players, Mobutu had previously changed the nickname of the team from the Lions – the more traditional but commonly used name by teams from the continent – to his preferred title of the Leopards. As such, the squad arrived in Europe with one of the most iconic shirt designs in World Cup history. A green Adidas top with a yellow collar and trim on the sleeves was enlivened by a giant crest of a cartoon leopard holding a football encased in a yellow circle front and centre of the chest. Presumably the animal was given such prominence to somehow intimidate opponents, and it was now time for Zaire to potentially put that into practice and show their ability to the world beyond Africa. They kicked off their campaign against a buoyant Scotland side who very much fancied their chances of going deep in the competition. Managed by Willie Ormond, the Scottish squad contained the likes of Peter Lorimer, Joe Jordan, an ageing Denis Law, a young Kenny Dalglish, and was captained by Billy Bremner. Ahead of the game, Ormond was quoted as saying Scotland would pack up and go home if they were unable to beat their African opponents and named a 34-year-old Law in his starting 11, despite the fact the ex-Manchester United great was very much in the autumn of his career. ‘Get in and kill them with goals,’ was the instruction given to the former Ballon d’Or winner by his manager according to The Mirror. The Scots took the lead midway through the first half in Dortmund thanks to Lorimer’s stunning right-foot volley from the edge of the penalty area after Jordan’s knockdown. Ten minutes later, the debutants were two down when a comically poor attempt at an offside trap allowed an unmarked Jordan to get on the end of a Bremner free kick on the right-hand side and power a header towards goal. The effort certainly looked saveable for goalkeeper Kazadi Mwamba, only for the stopper to let the ball slip between his right arm and hip to cross the line. The expected goal-fest didn’t materialise, however, as the Zaire

defence held firm in the face of Scotland’s second-half attacks. Kazadi would somewhat atone for his error with a string of fine saves including a sensational acrobatic effort to tip another Lorimer volley on to the crossbar. At the other end, Mayanga tested David Harvey with a long-range shot while Ndaye just failed to make enough with a low cross late on that would have halved the deficit. Even in defeat, Zaire had little to be ashamed of from their first World Cup match. ‘Zaire were an eye-opener,’ wrote The Times’s Geoffrey Green. ‘Their movements are snaky, they have a low centre of gravity, and their control is on the ground, with the accent on attack, as fresh as a summer breeze on a lovely summer night.’ Unfortunately, this was where things started to go downhill with the breeze becoming more of a tornado within the camp. Zaire’s heroes were due a major qualification bonus as well as match payments, none of which were initially received and were instead seemingly withheld amid a huge travelling delegation to the tournament that included Mobutu’s cohorts, of the military and government officials. As late as 24 hours ahead of the second match against Yugoslavia, the money was still not forthcoming, causing the players to stay up late into the night arguing and debating over what to do next. Mayanga would later claim the official responsible for the money simply fled to the airport before the players woke up the following day, 18 June: ‘He left. We never saw him again. He left with the money, and that was it.’ Furious, tired and demoralised and with just hours until kick-off against the eastern Europeans, there were now whispers of a mutiny and even a boycott by the players in response to the thievery. In the end, Zaire’s disgruntled stars reluctantly took to the field at the Parkstadion, but it is difficult to imagine that any sanction or punishments they might have received for failing to show up would have been worse than what was to follow. A limp, disinterested and halfhearted display allowed Yugoslavia to race into a 3-0 lead inside 20 minutes. Vidinić, a former goalkeeper himself who had won gold at the Olympics with Yugoslavia 14 years earlier, could only respond by replacing his own stopper Kazadi with Tubilandu Ndimbi after the third goal. Further adding to their misery was the early dismissal of Ndaye after an apparent case of mistaken identity. A kick aimed at Colombian referee Omar Delgado Gómez saw the official respond with a red card for the forward, although it was widely acknowledged afterwards that the culprit was in fact a certain Mwepu Ilunga. With little room for mercy, the onslaught didn’t cease as Zaire found themselves 6-0 down at the break and conceded three further goals in the second half to

record the t record highest World Cup finals defeat of 9-0 – matching South Korea’s thrashing at the hands of Hungary in 1954. The reaction to the match was scathing. ‘Contemptuous annihilation’ were the words of Hugh McIlvanney in The Observer. On the ITV broadcast, Gerald Sinstadt remarked that the cause of African football had been ‘set back’ and ‘[the] case to have the number of African nations in the World Cup increased can hardly have been strengthened by this performance’. Writing in The Mirror, Harry Miller was even stronger on this point, ‘Every fan back home bemoaning England’s absence from these finals is entitled to cry into his cuppa this morning.’ The English, world champions just eight years earlier, famously missed out on the latest tournament after failing to beat Poland in their final qualifier at Wembley. ‘Consider instead the clamour for increased representation of countries such as Zaire in the next World Cup finals. With powerful nations like England at home kicking their heels, it makes little sense,’ bemoaned Miller. The writer’s rage would have been exacerbated further at the end of the group stages. Between Zaire and their fellow debutants from outside of Europe and South America, only Australia collected just a single point from their three matches thanks to a 0-0 draw with Chile, while Haiti were also on the receiving end of a hammering, going down 7-0 to the Poles as they too crashed out with three defeats from three matches. As if Zaire’s record-equalling loss wasn’t bad enough, the fact they were coached by a Yugoslavian raised suspicions and sparked conspiracy theories, particularly from those north of the border in Britain, with the implication that Vidinić sabotaged his team to boost the goal difference for his compatriots and better that of Scotland. That suspicion gained further traction given the early removal of Kazadi for the 5ft 4in reserve keeper Tubilandu. In reality, this was just a further example of the anarchy within the camp with Vidinić apparently ordered to make the change from above. ‘Mr Lockwa, the representative of the Ministry of Sport, said after the third Yugoslav goal, “Take that keeper off.” I did,’ the manager revealed. ‘I assure you: I’ll never again give the government permission to make changes to my team.’ Not that Vidinić would get the opportunity as he would end up leaving his post at the conclusion of the tournament. For the players, they were now in a

quandary. Their protest may have had the desired effect, but the subsequent humiliation left them in no position to demand their owed bonus payments. And so to the infamous match against Brazil. The world champions had actually drawn blanks in their first two group games and faced the prospect of an early exit if they failed to find their shooting boots against Zaire. Jairzinho calmed early nerves by opening the scoring on 14 minutes with a lethal drive from the edge of the box into the bottom corner beyond the recalled Kazadi. Much like the game against Scotland, and in a complete contrast to the fiasco against Yugoslavia, Zaire were far more assured defensively and it was only in the 67th minute that the favourites were able to double their lead through Rivellino’s unstoppable bullet of a strike into the top-right corner. Things were still looking respectable late on until Brazil substitute Mirandinha charged through the middle of the park before being unceremoniously upended by Tshimen just outside the penalty area. Then of course came Ilunga’s moment of ignominy and the kick that will be ed and replayed for as long as football is discussed. ‘A bizarre moment of African ignorance,’ was how commentator John Motson described this extraordinary moment, although curiously, in the immediate aftermath of the match, there was actually very little focus on Ilunga. Far more opprobrium was levelled at the poor performance of Brazil and their good fortune when Valdomiro’s mishit cross-shot was able to squeeze under Kazadi at his near post to seal a 3-0 win. Crucially, this scoreline confirmed Brazil’s qualification from Group Two in second place at the expense of Scotland. That this decisive goal came just minutes after the free kick farce meant Ilunga was spared scrutiny in the early reports of the game. Peter Corrigan, writing in The Observer, instead chose to discuss the performance of ‘Zaire’s brave little Imp of a goalkeeper’ – Kazadi was reportedly just 5ft 9in in height – and the third goal which was, in Corrigan’s words, ‘unworthy of the Watney Cup let alone the World Cup’. The underdogs were of secondary, or in fact, no concern to the main narrative of who from Yugoslavia, Scotland or Brazil would fill the top two slots in the group. In the end, it came down to which teams scored most goals against the Africans. That Brazil only just managed to squeeze through, albeit unconvincingly, was the main talking point. The Associated Press report which was carried by publications around the world read, ‘Brazil disappointed its fans by not scoring more against Zaire,’ which served to highlight how little regard the African team was held in. Corrigan would at least acknowledge their ‘clumsy

courage’ and ‘stout, if crude defence’ to keep the Brazil goal tally as low as they could. It was only with time that Ilunga’s reckless act would come into focus. As technology advanced over the following decades, the popularisation of compiling amusing football moments for TV shows and home media meant you would almost certainly be guaranteed to see this unforgettable moment replayed over and over again. Clipped from one such collection and posted on videosharing social media platform YouTube, the voiceover cruelly describes Zaire as ‘the clowns of football’. British TV presenter Nick Hancock was often the face of these compilations by the turn of the century and narrating the incident on his Football Nightmares VHS and DVD, Hancock jokingly sympathises with referee Nicolae Rainea, stating, ‘It’s bad enough having to ref teams that wantonly break the rules, but it’s worse when they don’t even know them.’ Again, at the time it was easy for everybody to assume Ilunga’s act was born of ignorance and a lack of knowledge. This of course predated the days of wall-towall media coverage, the internet and social media – a player simply couldn’t log on from his smartphone at full time and explain away his actions in 280 characters. In fact, it would be years before the more sinister circumstances surrounding the Leopards’ laughably poor showing would come to light. In an interview with the BBC in 2002, Ilunga claimed that back home, Mobutu was incensed by the shame the players had brought on the country following the record defeat to Yugoslavia. The dictator apparently sent his representatives to the ground in West to let the players know their performance was less than acceptable and that a repeat certainly wouldn’t be tolerated in the Brazil game. ‘After the match, he sent his presidential guards to threaten us,’ the defender revealed. ‘They closed the hotel to all journalists and said that if we lost 0-4 to Brazil, none of us would be able to return home.’ Mayanga concurred, ‘We had to come out with honour. Three goals or less.’ This perhaps explains the improved overall display in the final match but what about the free kick? A more sympathetic belief is that Ilunga kicked the ball away in a state of panic as he desperately wanted to keep the scoreline down for the sake of his and his team-mates’ safety. However, that still wouldn’t quite explain the player’s actions given the referee would simply order a retake, and

the fact the score was just 2-0 with little over ten minutes to avoid conceding twice more. Perhaps Ilunga was more calculated than people gave him credit for, and this was simply a time-wasting tactic to disturb the Brazilian rhythm. In a later interview, again with the BBC in 2010, the player shed more light on the kick, claiming it was neither an act of ignorance nor fear, but rather one of protest against his president’s regime and a response to the stolen bonus payments. ‘I did that deliberately,’ he said. ‘I was aware of football regulations. I did not have a reason to continue getting injured while those who will benefit financially were sitting on the terraces watching.’ Having failed to see red for what looked, in hindsight, a deliberate act to get sent off by lashing out at the official in the Yugoslavia match, Ilunga was determined to try again against Brazil. ‘I know the rules very well, but the referee was quite lenient and only gave me a yellow card,’ he said. This explanation calls into question the seriousness of the alleged threats made by Mobutu. That Ilunga still believed he could commit this act of defiance, which he knew would result in further embarrassment, suggests the dangers awaiting them back in Zaire have perhaps been overstated. A 4-0 defeat seems like a very specific scoreline to try and avoid, too. Sadly, Ilunga ed away in 2015 aged 65 so there will be no further explanation of what was going through his head on that fateful day in Gelsenkirchen. To his credit, he would lean into the joke later in life, unafraid and unashamed to recreate the famous kick for entertainment purposes, including for British comedy show Fantasy Football League in 1994. During a sketch for the ‘Phoenix from the Flames’ segment, Ilunga is very much in on the joke, with a beaming smile and infectious, enthusiastic laugh as he re-enacts the incident and plays up to the idea he didn’t know the rules. Alongside the Yugoslavia shambles and the fact that Zaire didn’t a single goal at the tournament, it made for one of the worst showings at a World Cup to that point or since. Returning home, the welcome at Kinshasa was a stark contrast to just months earlier when scores of people excitedly packed the airport to see captain Kidumu Mantantu disembark from the team jet with the gleaming African Nations Cup held above his head.

‘We came back from the World Cup and we didn’t find any welcome,’ lamented defender Kabasu Babo speaking on the 2002 documentary series History of Football – The Beautiful Game. ‘No one at the airport. We were picked up by taxi drivers, fans who liked us and found us wandering round the airport. So, there you see the welcome which we were given.’ Somewhat ominously upon their arrival, the players were summoned via a national public address, to a ‘meeting’ at Mobutu’s presidential palace. Once there, they were told by the dictator to forget any aspirations they may have had of pursuing a career in football outside of Zaire, as they were now forbidden to do so. The players were then kept on the compound for four days before being allowed to return to their families. They wouldn’t receive a penny for their efforts, resulting in many going on to live out their days in poverty like most of their fellow countrymen under Mobutu’s rule. Players who should have been treated like royalty instead became pariahs. Perhaps the most tragic of these players would be Ndaye. The record-breaking goalscorer remained with Zairean side AS Vita Club for the remainder of his career, and was honoured at the 1994 AFCON in Tunisia for his goals at the tournament 20 years earlier. After returning, however, he was the victim of a home invasion as armed robbers in military uniform broke into his house demanding money and his medals before shooting him twice in the leg as well as killing his 11-year-old son in the process. Following his recovery, Ndaye fled the country and lived destitute in Cape Town, South Africa. His whereabouts only came to light when his death was incorrectly announced at the 1998 AFCON tournament in Burkina Faso. Despite being wheelchair-bound as a result of the shooting and with his health deteriorating, Ndaye received little help from his country’s football authorities and died broke aged 70 in 2019. What of Mobutu? That World Cup display seemingly killed the erratic ruler’s interest in football, and he would switch his attentions, and financial , to boxing. Kinshasa of course went on to host the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on 30 October that year. Mobutu’s courting of Ali, an outspoken proponent of pan-African thinking, was another major distraction for the Zairean population as the president plundered the country’s coffers. Advertising the fight as a ‘Gift from President Mobutu to the people of Zaire’, he attempted to boost his own reputation both at home and abroad by presenting an apparent image of stability to the rest of the world.

The dictator held on to power until 1997 when, amid failing health from a cancer diagnosis, tensions with neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda, internal unrest, and no more from the West, his government fell to rebel forces led by the Congolese revolutionary Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Mobutu died in exile in Morocco later that year aged 66. The ongoing battle for supremacy among the European and South American elite meant problems for the relatively insignificant whipping boys further down the food chain were not something the football world gave much consideration. Rather than scratch the surface to understand why a team like Zaire would be so laughably bad, the convenient narrative of ‘ignorance’ would prevail. The idea the players were simply not smart enough to understand the rules was quite simply easier to digest, but one wonders if wider knowledge of Mobutu’s reign of terror might have made a difference to the perception of Zaire and their dismal display at the tournament. It wouldn’t be the last, or even the first time, politics and football would cross over and have an impact on the fortunes of African football.

2

Colonialism, CAF and the Complicated Road to Recognition

DID ZAIRE’S shambolic display in West set back progress for African football on the international stage? The answer to that involves a look at how much actual progress had been made by teams from the continent up until 1974. A sub-Saharan, or, let’s be honest, a black African team from south of the Maghreb making it to a World Cup was certainly noteworthy at the time due to the absence of such representation in years gone by. Zaire featuring at the World Cup at all was a supreme achievement, all things considered. At the time they were roundly mocked for their apparent ignorant, unsophisticated and of course, naïve display but ultimately, history should take a more sympathetic view considering the unusual circumstances outlined in the last chapter. The continent was actually on an upward trajectory at the time and had been making steady improvements since the early editions of the World Cup, which were more of an exclusive playground for the big kids of Europe and the Americas. The rest of the world merely sat outside, peering through the fences, dreaming of a chance to be allowed in. On occasion, an African or Asian side may have been permitted to the fun but of course in very limited numbers, something they would spend decades fighting. The elitism of this footballing fraternity was naturally based on the state of the world at the time. Europe still had its claws deep into much of Africa so the very idea that many of these nations could represent themselves on a sporting stage was fanciful at best. In the early 20th century, colonial governments very much determined how football was played by their subjects. The game itself was effectively introduced as a means of pacifying and controlling the local population, keeping them occupied and in check. Matches would take place between teams of natives against missionaries, soldiers and/or industrialists as much to regulate and distract the African people from their oppression and

exploitation as for a leisure activity. Even after swathes of African countries would gain their independence in the 1950s and ’60s, it would still be some years before football would reach a level allowing them to compete shoulder-toshoulder with their European counterparts. The first nation to lay the groundwork for the future growth of African football would be Egypt. A year ahead of gaining independence from the British empire, the country established its own national football association in 1921 and went on to FIFA two years later. With football’s popularity as an international sport on the rise, and the growing success of its inclusion at the Olympic Games throughout the 1920s, FIFA sought to create its own standalone competition for the world’s best teams. The brainchild of president Jules Rimet, the first edition of the new ‘World Cup’ was set to be held in Uruguay in 1930. Having already competed at amateur level at the Olympic Games of 1920, 1924 and 1928 as the sole African association d with the game’s global governing body, Egypt received a formal invite to the inaugural tournament. However, the prospect of a 14,000-mile round trip would make any such voyage in an era of sea travel virtually impossible so, in the end, they were unable to attend. History was finally made four years later when they successfully became Africa’s first participating team at a World Cup after coming through a fairly straightforward qualifying campaign. The withdrawal of Turkey before playing a single game in the three-team group left Egypt with just one opponent to face over two matches: a team representing the British-occupied Palestinian territory. Two comprehensive victories – 7-1 in Cairo and 4-1 in Tel Aviv – put them through to the finals and a far less daunting voyage to Italy than having to set sail for South America. Coached by the Scottish former West Ham and Manchester United midfielder James McRea, Egypt arrived in Naples to face Hungary in what was, by all s, a thriller of a game at the Stadio Giorgio Ascarelli. With 16 teams participating, the tournament format was a straight knockout meaning the Egyptians and McRea planned to make sure their reported four-day boat trip across the Mediterranean was not in vain. Things didn’t start particularly well as Hungary raced into a 2-0 lead. But the Pharaohs refused to lay down and die, hitting back to stun their more illustrious opponents when Abdulrahman Fawzi netted twice to level the scores before the break. In an interview with the BBC in 2002, Mustafa Mansour, the legendary Egyptian goalkeeper from this historic game, claims that Fawzi actually scored again to put Egypt 3-2 ahead and complete a remarkable turnaround, only to be denied his historic hat-trick by some shoddy refereeing. ‘When the game was 2-2, my

colleague Fawzi took the ball from the centre and dribbled past all the Hungarian players to score a third goal,’ Mansour revealed. ‘But the referee cancelled the goal as an offside!’ To compound their misery, the Europeans scored twice more to send Egypt home. A still-angry Mansour again pointed a finger at the perceived bias of the official after allegedly being fouled so severely by Hungarian striker Géza Toldi for the killer fourth goal that he was left with a broken nose. ‘Instead of penalising the Hungarians for a foul the Italian referee whistled for a goal amid the howling of 15,000 angry fans,’ fumed the keeper. It certainly wouldn’t be the last time an African side would be left feeling aggrieved by refereeing decisions at a World Cup, with the sense of injustice going on to become something of a recurring theme as the years, and tournaments, went by. Although one can only speculate, few would have been surprised by any prejudice from the 1934 tournament hosts and officials directed towards the travelling African delegation. This was Mussolini’s Italy. Hardly a nation of tolerance and inclusion at the time, the country’s military was just two years shy of forcibly increasing their presence on the continent with the formation of Italian East Africa in 1936 amid violence and bloodshed in Ethiopia. Egypt would next attempt to reach the 1938 edition of the tournament. They were all set to face Romania in qualifying, but failure to fulfil the fixture saw them withdrawn from proceedings by FIFA. The story goes that the Egyptians claimed they would not be able to play the 17 December scheduled match in 1937 as it was during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. After initially accepting this explanation, FIFA was far from impressed after discovering the Egyptian FA had invited Austrian side First Vienna FC to play a friendly over the same period. The Africans were reprimanded as a result, and Romania were handed a bye to the finals in the following summer. While it is entirely fair to accuse football’s governing body of failing to take into the cultural sensitivities of one of its , it is equally fair to say Egypt didn’t help matters with their own actions and would possibly come to regret this given the long period in the World Cup wilderness they were about to embark upon. Over half a century would before their next tournament appearance. The Second World War put football on the back-burner with no tournament taking place for the next 12 years. There would be no African involvement yet

again at the returning 1950 edition of the competition in Brazil after no team applications were submitted to FIFA. Egypt were back among the would-be participants aiming to reach Switzerland in 1954 but would face a less-than-ideal qualifier against former two-time world champions Italy over two matches. They were coached by the hero of 1934, Fawzi, but the former forward was unable to inspire the new generation as the Pharaohs conspired to surrender a 1-0 lead in Cairo to lose 2-1. The return saw them get thrashed 5-1 in Milan to end their World Cup interest for another four years. Off the pitch, the 1950s would see the beginnings of decolonisation across the continent. In the north, plans were being devised to grow and organise the sport beyond token matches at the say-so of their occupiers. Seeking more respectability globally, and more of a presence at the very top of the game, Egypt were again the driving force. Alongside Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa – by now all FIFA – the quartet successfully made the case at the organisation’s annual congress of 1954 in Bern, Switzerland that Africa be recognised as a FIFA zonal group and allowed to form its own continental footballing federation. Two years later, at the same meeting in Lisbon, they were given the green light to not only set up their own organisational body but also their own tournament. So, in February 1957, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was born as was the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), which would be held for the very first time that year in Khartoum. CAF’s first general secretary, the Egyptian Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem, had the first iteration of the AFCON trophy named in his honour. In the coming years, more countries were granted their independence as the clouds of colonialism parted to signal a new dawn for Africa. The formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 played a key role, encouraging cooperation between African states to help rid the continent of European occupation and white minority rule. With this new-found freedom, national football associations and of course, national teams followed. There is a sense of irony in the fact that while football was initially introduced as a means of tranquillising the African people, the sport instead allowed them to come together and mobilise against their rulers in their continued fight for freedom. The hip of CAF would swell and just ten years after its foundation, more than 30 nations would be represented. As of 2021, the organisation contains 56 member associations, more than any of FIFA’s other five confederations, AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA.

Of course, to assume everything was perfect following the formation of CAF, and that African sides would be at the top table of football, would be a schoolboy error. A new, somewhat inclusive football world would still be caught up in geopolitical disputes that would ultimately cause problems on the pitch. FIFA changed the qualification structure for the 1958 World Cup, allocating spots by continental zones for the first time, rather than the previously haphazard methods that saw the sole African representative, Egypt, either having to go through the Asian or European qualifying rounds. This change still did not guarantee African representation at the final tournament as CAF, very much in its infancy, saw its teams assigned to the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) 11-team qualifying tournament in 1957 for just one single spot among the 16 sides heading to Sweden the following year. The entire process became nothing short of a farce. Ethiopia, along with Korea Republic (South Korea), had its application rejected by FIFA so it was left to either Egypt or, for the first time, Sudan to attempt to reach the finals on behalf of Africa. The latter would overcome Syria in their first-round match while Egypt received a bye as opponents Cyprus failed to receive the necessary travel VISAs from their British colonial rulers. The Egyptians then withdrew from proceedings ahead of the second round, refusing to face Israel due in part to tensions between the two nations and the fall-out from the Suez Crisis the previous year. Indonesia also withdrew at this stage after FIFA denied their request to face Israel on neutral ground, leaving Sudan two games away from a historic appearance at the World Cup. But again owing to the hostile situation in the Middle East, they too would pull out at the prospect of facing Israel. Remarkably, this meant their opponents were set to qualify for the World Cup without kicking a ball in anger. However, with FIFA’s rule changes also stating that no country would be allowed to compete at the tournament without playing at least one qualifying match, it was decided that Israel would have to face a play-off against one of the UEFA teams who had finished second in their qualifying group. A drawing of lots eventually led to Wales being selected as Israel’s opponents, and the Welsh progressed after winning the two-legged tie 40 on aggregate. So, in summary, a World Cup place that could theoretically have gone to an African side for just the second time in history, ended up going to another European side in the form of Wales. For the 1962 World Cup, African interest had increased, and seven teams were

vying for the chance to represent the continent in Chile. Confusingly, Ethiopia were placed in one of the UEFA qualifying groups where, coincidentally enough, they would face Israel over two legs but ultimately fell to a 4-2 aggregate defeat. Elsewhere, in the actual CAF zone first round of matches, Sudan were drawn against Egypt, Morocco would face Tunisia, and finally, emerging from West Africa, Ghana would be up against Nigeria. A 6-3 aggregate win put the Ghanaians through to the final stage, which was initially supposed to be a round robin between the three first-round winners, but lost perennial applicants Egypt and their north-east African opponents when FIFA rejected a t request to rearrange their matches to avoid monsoon season in the region. As a result, both teams were once again forced to withdraw from the process. This meant Ghana would face the winners of Morocco and Tunisia, who couldn’t be separated after swapping 2-1 wins over two legs and drawing 1-1 in a deciding third match. In an era before the penalty shoot-out, it was left to the drawing of lots and fortune would favour the Moroccans, who then overcame the Black Stars by a single goal over two games. Unfortunately, the qualifying campaign wasn’t over and in order to secure their place in the finals, a further play-off against a team from the UEFA qualifying pool was required. Facing Spain, Morocco were beaten 4-2 on aggregate and Africa was once again absent from the world’s premier international football event. It would be understandable if the region started to feel a little paranoid at this stage. Around the same time, disputes with Israel aside, there were also political problems within the continent affecting the football landscape. Despite being a founder member of CAF, apartheid and racial segregation had reared its ugly head in South Africa and was perhaps the defining characteristic of a violently divided country in the 1950s. While post-war native liberation was taking place all over Africa, South Africa was heading in the opposite direction. The all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA) was just another vehicle for that racial separation, refusing to field non-white players in the national team, even after the formation of CAF. African football’s governing body understandably refused to accept such a stance and after excluding South Africa from the inaugural Cup of Nations in 1957, it formally expelled them in 1960. FIFA followed suit a year later, but new president Sir Stanley Rous allowed them to be re-itted in 1963. Displeased at this u-turn, CAF effectively saw FIFA as either ive of apartheid or at the very least, unconcerned. This led to a strained relationship

between the two organisations and this, in addition to the fact CAF was once again denied a guaranteed spot for the 1966 World Cup, resulted in African nations threatening to boycott the tournament altogether. A total of 15 teams from the continent were now in the hunt for a World Cup place and were drawn into six qualifying groups, with the group winners set to advance to the second phase where they would be paired off in knockout games. However, the three successful sides following this stage would have to face a further qualifying round against the winners of the t AFC/OFC qualifiers. In effect, three entire geographic regions were left to scrap it out for just one place at the finals in England. The Africans raised their concerns to FIFA in a memo discovered by the BBC, which read, ‘We limit our demand, in the name of fair play and equity for one place of finalist be granted to Africa considering that this can and should be effected without hardships by reducing the allocation of Europe by one otherwise, our FIFA Executive Committee will take up this matter at its meeting in Tokyo, in the purpose of bringing it to appreciate that in the absence of this necessary adjustment African Associations cannot for the considerations stated above participate in the World Cup Jules Rimet Championship, 1966.’ CAF also pointed out the prohibitive travel costs and logistics for little, or even no reward was unfair on all the teams involved. FIFA and Rous refused to buckle. After CAF deputy president Yidnekatchew Tessema addressed FIFA secretary general Helmut Kaser with these issues, Kaser in turn wrote to Rous, saying, ‘I do not think that for the prestige of FIFA it would be a good solution to alter the decisions, even if some of Tessema’s arguments appear reasonable.’ Another bone of contention came through the controversial decision to initially place South Africa in the Asia qualifying zone, creating an understandably tense atmosphere ahead of the 34th FIFA congress in Tokyo in 1964. Despite the Africans successfully lobbying for another suspension for South Africa, there were no changes made to the 1966 World Cup qualifying process, so CAF and its made good on their promise to boycott and subsequently refused to take part. The revolt was a major problem for FIFA in the long term and particularly Rous, whose position came under mounting pressure due to a lack of from the now-emboldened Africans. His continued campaigning for the racist South Africa’s inclusion led to increasing antipathy across the rest of the continent, and

threats of a full withdrawal from FIFA by CAF at the 1966 congress in London. Spying an opportunity to take advantage of the uneasy situation was lawyer, sports and the former Brazilian Olympic swimmer, Joao Havelange, who was also keen to move FIFA away from its perceived Eurocentrism. Havelange was able to woo CAF with promises of guaranteed places at future tournaments, more funding, greater inclusion and crucially, formal expulsion of South Africa should they his run for presidency in 1974. A successful campaign saw him defeat Rous by 68 votes to 52 at the FIFA congress in Frankfurt that year, helped undoubtedly by the votes of the African member associations which now stood at 37. The global game was changing. Four years before Havelange’s election, however, FIFA had already reacted to the 1966 boycott by finally granting Africa and Asia/Oceania one automatic place each, meaning the 1970 World Cup in Mexico would feature an African side for the first time in 36 years. The lucky participant would need to navigate three qualifying rounds. Sudan, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Ethiopia progressed from the first stage, ing Ghana in round two who received a bye. Sudan and Nigeria then overcame Ethiopia and Ghana respectively to reach the final round where they would be ed by the winner of the Morocco v Tunisia tie. Two 0-0 draws and another 2-2 stalemate meant that once again, just as during qualifying for the 1962 tournament – and coincidentally the qualifiers for the 1968 Olympics – the north African rivals were left at the mercy of the drawing of lots. In this case, the literal toss of a coin. Morocco had benefitted from good fortune on both prior occasions and the cruellest twist of fate saw lightning strike for a third time as the coin went against Tunisia once more. The final round to determine who would travel across the Atlantic to Mexico saw the Moroccans finish above Nigeria and Sudan in the three-team group. With the country having declared independence from in 1956, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) ed FIFA and CAF in 1960, seeing steady improvement over the course of the next decade, culminating in their historic World Cup qualification. Arriving at the tournament, the Atlas Lions were drawn in a group with Bulgaria, Peru and a West side they would face in their opening match in the sweltering heat of Leon’s Estadio Nou Camp. ‘As far as we were concerned, we were representing Morocco and Africa, so this was a game we had to treat with the utmost seriousness,’ goalkeeper Allal BenKassou told FIFA in an interview in 2009. ‘It was going to be a difficult match, but we wanted to try as hard as possible to get a result that would please us as

well as the Moroccan fans.’ Try they did, and after 22 minutes, the debutants confounded the pre-match expectations to find themselves in front. West German defender Horst-Dieter Höttges got himself mixed up under a deep cross from the left and sent a wayward header back across his own goal, wrong-footing goalkeeper Sepp Maier. Arriving unmarked in the six-yard box, Houmane Jarir slammed the ball into the back of the net with venom. A moment no doubt celebrated with understandable excitement back in Marrakech, Casablanca and Tangier, but one not in keeping with the general flow of the game. Ben-Kassou recalls having to make several ‘important’ saves during the German onslaught either side of Jarir’s opener as Morocco clung on to their lead until the break. Despite pulling off a string of impressive and acrobatic stops, the keeper was eventually beaten ten minutes into the second half when Sigfried ‘Sigi’ Held went on a solo run through the Africans’ defence before floating a to Gerd Müller, who skilfully laid the ball off for Uwe Seeler to hook a low, first-time strike into the bottom-right corner. The inevitable winner came with just 12 minutes left to play. Substitute Hannes Löhr lost his marker to meet a deep cross from the right at the far post. The forward couldn’t make the cleanest connection with his header from a tight angle and the ball looped up to hit the top of the crossbar, confusing BenKassou, before dropping back into play. Quickest to react was Müller, who pounced on the fortuitous ricochet and couldn’t miss from a yard out. ‘No one likes losing but when you lose to one of the best football nations in the world, who at the time were playing some great football, 2-1 wasn’t such a bad result,’ itted the beaten goalkeeper. Buoyed by the performance, Morocco felt they had a chance to get something from the remaining games and maybe, just maybe, advance to the knockout stage. However, tragedy struck as Morocco’s next opponents Peru were left reeling when the devastating Ancash earthquake occurred in their homeland. With an estimated 70,000 casualties, it was the country’s most catastrophic natural disaster and the grieving South Americans understandably made immediate plans to head home from the tournament. Not for the last time of course, Morocco manager Blagoje Vidinić would be caught up in unusual circumstances at a World Cup. Under the impression his side were about to be given a walkover, the Yugoslavian allowed his players a break from training. However, in a change of heart, Peru decided to remain in Mexico and continue

playing. The u-turn took Morocco by surprise and going into the game clearly under-prepared, three second-half goals in the space of ten minutes for the South Americans saw Vidinić’s side crash out of the competition. ‘We had a day off from training and lost the psychological edge,’ midfielder Said Ghandi revealed in an interview with the BBC. ‘The team lost focus and were completely thrown off balance.’ The final match against Bulgaria presented Vidinić and his team with the opportunity to end their campaign on a positive note but five minutes before half-time, poor defending from a free kick allowed Dobromir Zhechev to finish from close range to put the Europeans in front. Staring down the barrel of a third defeat, Morocco rallied and in the second half, Maouhoub Ghazouani pounced on a weak defensive header to hit a speculative half-volley from the edge of the penalty area. The shot took a wicked deflection to confuse goalkeeper Stoyan Yordanov, who could only watch as the ball crept over the line for 1-1. It was a goal to seal a first draw and first point at a World Cup for an African side. Coupled with the performance against West , Morocco could return home proud of their efforts. ‘We didn’t qualify for the second round but we played some good football and showed the rest of the world that African football had to be taken seriously,’ beamed Ben-Kassou. Leaving aside Zaire’s performance four years later, 1978 would see a continuation of this progress when Tunisia made their first World Cup appearance at the tournament in Argentina. Facing another marathon qualification process that involved winning three rounds of fixtures before then having to navigate a three-team group, the most notable of their ties came, once more, against their qualifying nemeses Morocco in round one. Yet again, the teams cancelled each other out with two 1-1 draws, but this time, the winner wouldn’t be decided by random draws or coin-tosses. Instead, the penalty shootout, which had been introduced to the sport earlier in the decade, saw Tunisia finally overcome their Maghreb rivals, winning 4-2 in Tunis before embarking on the rest of their successful qualification journey. Between Egypt, Morocco and Zaire, African sides had featured in seven previous World Cup matches without a victory between them. Tunisia would end that run in emphatic fashion as Africa’s sole representative in 1978. Facing Mexico in their first group match in Rosario, the Eagles of Carthage thought they had held their supposedly superior opponents to an impressive, if scoreless

first 45 minutes. However, on the stroke of half-time, Scottish referee John Gordon awarded the Mexicans a penalty after Antonio de la Torre’s cross hit the outstretched arm of Amor Jebali. A lapse in concentration by the defender to simply feed the narrative of ‘naïve’ African football allowed Vazquez Ayala to put Mexico in front from 12 yards and Tunisia went in a goal down at the break. Rather than wilt, Tunisia rallied and found themselves level early in the second half when defender Ali Kaabi’s daisy-cutter from the edge of the penalty area crept beyond Jose Pilar Reyes in the Mexico goal. Almost unbelievably, Tunisia took the lead with just over ten minutes to play. A wonderful from captain Témime Ben Abdallah in midfield found Tarak Dhiab, who in turn laid the ball off for the unchecked run of Néjib Ghommidh on the left-hand side of the penalty area before the midfielder calmly stabbed the ball with his right foot beyond Reyes. Ghommidh then turned provider when his incisive through picked out marauding right-back Mokhtar Dhouib, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net with three minutes to play to confirm the win in style. An African team had won a match at the World Cup. Not through luck, nor in any way undeserved, but rather by taking the game to their opponents and scoring three goals even the world’s best teams would have been proud of. A draw between Poland and West meant Tunisia actually led their group following the opening set of fixtures and the immediate aftermath of their landmark victory. Any sort of result against the Poles in their second match would leave them well-placed for an unlikely and unexpected second-round berth. Sadly, a 1-0 defeat left Tunisia needing a win against the reigning world champions to have any chance of progressing. Despite few people giving them a prayer, Tunisia managed to frustrate their opponents with goalkeeper Mokhtar Naili channelling Morocco’s Ben-Kassou eight years earlier by pulling off numerous saves to deny the Germans. On a rare foray forward, they might have even achieved the unthinkable when a stunning one-two between Hamadi Agrebi and Mohamed Akid arrived back at the feet of the former to hit a brilliant halfvolley from the left-hand side of the box beyond the stranded Maier. Agonisingly, the ball flew the wrong side of the far post by mere inches. The 0-0 scoreline may have resulted in elimination, but a solid draw against one of the world’s best teams might have felt almost like a win. The Observer described Tunisia as providing ‘alert and lively opposition for the strolling Germans’ while The Mirror said, ‘The Tunisians rocked the Germans with some hard tackling and veteran coach Helmut Schoen looked a misery at times as the north Africans roared down on the German goal.’ It was another performance to make the world

stand up and take note. While the failings of Zaire wouldn’t have been quickly forgotten, Tunisia’s showing and spectacular first victory went some way to repairing the reputation of that disastrous display of 1974 – which now could actually be viewed as an outlier during what some might say was a fruitful period of growth for African football on the international stage. This was no ing fad either, as the growth of the game would now continue well into the 1980s and beyond.

3

Roaming Foxes and the Disgrace of Gijon

THROUGHOUT HISTORY, the path to independence for many nations hasn’t exactly been a stroll in the park with gallons of blood spilled and countless lives lost as states have long battled for recognition and autonomy. Algeria is no exception, with the ferocious Algerian War of Independence starting in 1954 resulting in an estimated one to one and a half million deaths before the country finally won its freedom from . The French originally invaded and conquered the region in 1830, slaughtering and massacring much of the indigenous population in a brutal campaign to establish supremacy. For the next 100 years, European settlers, or ‘colons’, moved to the country en masse, exploiting resources and pushing the local, mostly Muslim population to the periphery of society. Not only were the Algerian Muslims also forced to pay higher taxes than the colons, they were also deprived of much-needed funds for proper schooling and education, forcing them further down the social ladder as well as having virtually no say in the politics of the country. After the Second World War, the anti-colonialist sentiment understandably grew and saw the mobilisation of a number of nationalist factions. In 1954, the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) was formed and immediately called on Algerian Muslims to the fight for the ‘restoration of the Algerian state’, leading to the start of the war within weeks of the group’s creation. Eight brutal years of fighting eventually saw French president Charles de Gaulle grant Algeria its independence in the spring of 1962. Curiously, Algeria’s fight wasn’t restricted to the battlefield. The war also had a major impact on the football pitch. French club sides were certainly not averse to taking advantage of their north African territory throughout the 20th century and the region often served as their own personal mine for talent. By the mid-1950s there were a number of would-be Algerian players plying their trade in Ligue 1 with some even potentially set to represent Les Bleus at the 1958 World Cup in

Sweden. But before that could happen came an event that had all the makings of a Hollywood heist movie, or maybe even Marvel’s omnipresent Avengers film series. In the Charlie Croker or Nick Fury role of recruiter was Mohamed Boumezrag. The Algiers-born midfielder spent the majority of his playing career in , turning out for the likes of Valenciennes, Bordeaux and Le Mans, before moving into coaching. Politics and in particular Algerian nationalism was something which coursed through Boumezrag’s veins. His grandfather, an Imam, served jail time due to his opposition to French rule and it would be this revolutionary spirit that drove him to set up the FLN football team – the first incarnation of what would later become the Algerian national side. Returning from the 1957 World Youth Festival in Moscow where he had taken charge of a team essentially representing Algeria, the seed had been sown in his mind to create a national side at senior level where none presently existed. While a battle was raging for the very existence of the country itself, this wouldn’t be an easy task. Boumezrag devised a plan in secret, which would result in prosecution from the French authorities not just for himself, but for anyone seen to be collaborating with him. Boumezrag successfully managed to convince 12 players to abandon their clubs, and perhaps friends and family, leaving to meet at designated checkpoints across the Swiss and Italian borders before travelling back to Africa to rendezvous in Tunis. The aim was to show for the FLN movement and send a very clear message to , as well as show they could stand alone as a football team. The group included some of the biggest names in French football at the time. Monaco’s Mustapha Zitouni and Abdelaziz Ben Tifour, SaintEtienne’s Rachid Mekhloufi, and Said Brahimi of Toulouse had all represented the national team at one stage or another. Zitouni and Mekhloufi were even earmarked for the World Cup squad but would never pull on the famous blue shirt again. On the scheduled matchdays of 13 and 14 April 1958, with a full calendar of fixtures due to take place, the players made their excuses, left immediately after games or failed to show up at all before making their dash for freedom. While the revolt wasn’t strictly illegal, as French citizens some of the players would have been required to carry out military service for their adopted nation and as such could have been imprisoned for desertion if caught. While most of the

players made a successful escape, things didn’t always run smoothly. For examples of dramatic second-act jeopardy, Hassen Chabri, another Monaco player, was arrested on suspicion of smuggling arms for the FLN and spent a year in jail. Elsewhere, Mekhloufi suffered a head injury in his match for SaintEtienne and was in hospital the night he was due to be travelling to Switzerland. After being smuggled out by team-mates – while still in bandages – he and his designated group eventually made it to the scheduled meeting point undetected, albeit a day later than planned. This hitch had a knock-on effect, however. Mohamed Maouche, the Stade Reims star and one of the ringleaders of the plot, was unaware of the delay involving Mekhloufi and company. After waiting in Lausanne with no sign of his fellow rebels, Maouche returned to Paris only to be arrested and jailed while trying to leave the country a second time. As Maouche remained in following his release, he was tasked by the FLN with finding a second wave of players. In a scene absolutely befitting of the silver screen, he and his new wife Khadija would race around in their green convertible MG, under the guise of being on their honeymoon, recruiting more potential defectors before eventually making it to Tunis in 1960. It’s not difficult to picture the credits rolling as the couple speed away into the sunset. But this was not the end of the story, with the ‘sequel’ following in the form of a sports epic. The FLN team, despite not being recognised by FIFA, embarked on a series of tours around the world playing unofficial matches while raising awareness and gaining in the fight for independence. Decked out in their green kit, they would travel as far as Asia, as well as the Middle East, eastern Europe and already-liberated fellow north African nations, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya. By all s, the team was an impressive outfit, with Boumezrag implementing a fluid attacking style of play that would see them thrashing many of their opponents. Tunisia were beaten 8-0, Libya 7-0 and, in one of their most high-profile victories, the FLN team beat a Yugoslavia representative side 6-1. ittedly, a lot of the other teams they faced weren’t of the best standard but given the level at which the players had previously been competing in , their talent and ability was of little surprise. According to the football statistics organisation the RSSSF, by the time the team disbanded following Algeria’s independence in 1962, they finished with a record of 65 wins, 13 draws and 13 defeats from their 91 matches over four years, scoring 385 times. For Algerians, the impact of the team cannot be overstated. Ferhat Abass, the first president of

the Algerian Provisional Government from 1958–60, was said to have credited the team for advancing the country’s independence by ten years. The official Algeria team was finally established and formally ed FIFA in 1964 but the efforts of their forebears will never be forgotten, having quite literally played their part in the struggle for the country’s freedom. It’s not uncommon to hear people decry the mix of politics and sport but it is often difficult to separate the two and the exploits of the FLN football team are a prime example of where the two worlds collide. ‘Not a lot of athletes put their politics before their careers,’ explained Algerian sports journalist Maher Mezahi, putting the players’ actions into context. ‘And when they do, they’re usually revered, like Muhammad Ali, like Colin Kaepernick, and they did that.’ Algeria’s Desert Foxes nickname feels quite apt following this whole episode involving their roaming predecessors. Of course, the relative success of the globetrotting FLN wasn’t expected to be instantly transferred to the new national side. The jump to competitive matches was always going to be a challenge for players who had gone years solely playing exhibition matches. With some trying to find their feet back at club level, as well as a significant portion choosing to retire, it would take some time for the new Algeria side to establish themselves as a football force. The team qualified for the AFCON in 1968 but wouldn’t make another appearance at the tournament until 1980, by which time the team had improved massively and were now among the best sides on the continent. Reaching the final in just their second AFCON, the Desert Foxes were beaten by hosts Nigeria in the final. This setback did little to halt their progress and after sweeping aside Sierra Leone, Sudan and Niger, Algeria took revenge on Nigeria, winning 4-1 on aggregate, in the final round of qualifying for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Competing at the tournament for the first time in their history, Algeria were drawn in Group Two alongside Austria, Chile and, like Morocco and Tunisia before them, also had the daunting task of facing a formidable West in their opening game. Back in 1964, in what was their first match against a European side on home soil, Algeria had actually beaten the Germans 2-0 in a friendly match but faced a very different proposition this time around. The reigning European champions boasted the likes of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Paul Breitner, Klaus Fischer and Horst Hrubesch in their ranks. West also made the short trip south to Spain off the back of a dominant qualifying campaign in which they won eight matches from eight to top their group, scoring

33 goals and conceding just three, predictably placing them among the pretournament favourites. ‘If we lose this match, I will throw myself into the Mediterranean Sea,’ German coach Jupp Derwall is reported to have said beforehand. ‘We will dedicate our seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs,’ ‘we will score four to eight goals to warm up’ and talk of beating their less fancied and naïve opponents while ‘smoking cigars’ were just some of the disparaging remarks that are said to have emanated from the unusually cocky West German camp ahead of the game against the supposed African minnows. While German confidence in their own ability was perhaps not misplaced, to be so dismissive of their opponents seemed at odds with their usual high standards of preparation. Derwall would later it that he didn’t even bother showing his players videos of their opponents in the build-up to the match for fear of being laughed at. As such, they were almost completely in the dark about the Desert Foxes’ star players. Striker Rabah Madjer, at 23, had already made a name for himself on the continent and would go on to earn a move to Europe years later where he would become a major star. Salah Assad was a feared, pacy left-sided forward. Veteran midfield star Mustapha Dahleb was earning legendary status at Paris Saint Germain, while reigning African Player of the Year Lakhdar Belloumi – the Wizard of Maghreb – was already dazzling crowds domestically before being handed the opportunity to showcase his talent to the world in Spain. As the two teams made their way on to the pitch in Gijon on 16 June, Belloumi and his team-mates were understandably fired up. It was goalless at the break and then, in the 54th minute, Djamel Zidane picked up the ball in midfield and went on a driving run before slicing through the West defence with a perfectly weighted precision for the run of Belloumi to take on the shot. Although the onrushing Harald Schumacher managed to deflect the effort away, Madjer was quickest to react and stabbed the ball goalwards from six yards to give Algeria a shock lead. Interestingly, Madjer would be the source of more German misery five years later, scoring a famous back-heeled equaliser in the 1987 European Cup Final as FC Porto came from behind to beat Bayern Munich 2-1. Back in Spain, West were stunned into life and equalised in the 67th minute when a low left-wing Felix Magath cross was turned in by Rummenigge from close range. Undeterred, Algeria were back in front barely a minute later.

Patiently building from the back, a flowing ing move eventually reached Assad on the left side. The winger found space before drilling a low ball across the penalty area, picking out Belloumi who made no mistake. West 1 Algeria 2, and that was how it stayed. An African team had won at a World Cup for just the second time and had done so in unforgettable fashion. Beating a twotime former champion and one of the best teams on the planet is the kind of result that forever sticks in the memory. Dogs and wives were left disappointed and the coastguard in Gijon started panicking while trying to find a large enough net to possibly pull an embarrassed Derwall from the ocean. The Daily Mirror reported that the West manager had his ‘brash pre-match quip rammed down his throat’. ‘Those comments spurred us on and gave us motivation to beat them,’ Belloumi itted in an interview with FIFA years later. In the dugout, Algeria also happened to have a certain Rachid Mekhloufi, he of FLN fame, so the idea of defying and denying European supremacy was more than likely drummed into the players right from the moment they were called up to the squad. On the coaching staff alongside Mahieddine Khalef and Rabah Saâdane, footballing freedom fighter Mekhloufi had helped mastermind a result that went down in African football history and made huge waves back home. ‘People said it felt like a second Independence Day,’ said journalist Mezahi. ‘My dad told me about the funniest scene he saw that day. People had painted the scoreline of the match on the side of a donkey and were just walking it around.’ Algeria might have felt they had one foot in the second round at this point. If you can beat West , you’re probably capable of beating anyone. But as we know, football is rarely that black and white and in the second game against Austria in Oviedo, Algeria went down 2-0 to a team who had presumably bothered to actually prepare for the game. ‘We let that historic victory over West go to our heads,’ Mekhloufi told FIFA in 2008. Others observed that the Foxes looked tired. Meanwhile, were kick-starting their tournament with a 4-1 hammering of Chile. With Austria having already beaten the South Americans 1-0, Algeria knew a good performance in their final match against the already eliminated Chile would be enough to see them achieve an unprecedented second-round berth. Just seven minutes into the match at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere, a sweeping

counter-attack saw Madjer drive down the left before his cross picked out Tedj Bensaoula to pull the ball back across goal for Assad to finish. On the half-hour, Assad had another sight of goal and his shot from inside the box took a wicked deflection off Chile skipper Elías Figueroa for 2-0. Algeria now had a positive goal difference in the group and extended it further four minutes later when Bensaoula’s low drive from just outside the penalty area crept into the bottomright corner. Going into the break, thoughts of round two would have been unavoidable but complacency led to a sloppy second-half display as Chile pulled a goal back through a Miguel Ángel Neira penalty before Juan Carlos Letelier made it 2-3 with 15 minutes to play. Thankfully, Algeria held on for victory and found themselves second in the group, behind Austria on goal difference and ahead of West in third. But despite having completed their three matches, Algeria’s fate was still yet to be determined. The Chile match had taken place on 24 June while the decisive game in the group between the two European sides had been scheduled for the following day. Algerian players would be able to watch the game knowing that a draw or Austria win would see them through. Alternatively, a West win by more than two goals also meant the Africans would advance. Unfortunately, these permutations were of course known to the two competing sides, leading to the now infamous events that went down. Traditionally, Austrians aren’t particularly fond of their neighbours and this simmering acrimony actually played out at the previous World Cup in Argentina. In the final match of the second group stage, bottom-of-the-table Austria secured a dramatic late 3-2 win over West , denying their rivals, and reigning world champions at the time, the chance to reach the third/fourth-place play-off. For Austria, despite the relatively low stakes involved, this was one of the biggest results in their history and was dubbed the ‘Miracle of Cordoba’. Presented with the opportunity to repeat these heroics, Austria ed up the chance rather emphatically. West were in front after just ten minutes through Hrubesch’s close-range header and at this point Algeria would have been forgiven for expecting a fiercely competitive game that would also go some way to aiding their progress. But with no more goals before the break, footage of the match then appears to show a quick shot of two unidentified players, one from each side, calmly putting an arm over each other’s shoulders as Scottish referee Bob Valentine brings the half to a close. Not exactly the sort of behaviour one would expect to see in a match of such importance between two supposedly

bitter rivals. The second half was a football match in name alone as both teams effectively slowed to a walking pace. Meaningful attacks were notable by their absence as each team simply chose to the ball between themselves while in possession. To call attempts to win it back half-hearted would be an understatement. Neither side showed any desire to try and affect the scoreline as it stood, and simply ran the clock down to preserve West ’s narrow lead. While it might even be defamatory to suggest there was any formal collusion, it is undeniable that the two teams realised the 1-0 result benefitted them both. For Algeria, it was painful viewing. ‘Their game was an embarrassment,’ Belloumi raged. ‘Everyone knows it.’ In the stadium, the fans were far from impressed with what they were witnessing. The increasingly frustrated Spanish neutrals in attendance aired their frustration by chanting for Algeria and, amusingly as the dour half wore on, ‘Que se besen’ which translates to ‘let them kiss’. The watching commentators were equally angered and refused to hold back. Robert Seeger, covering the game for Austrian TV, actively encouraged viewers to switch off and stayed silent for the final portion of the match. His German counterpart Eberhard Stanjek also engaged in a silent protest, refusing to call the action, or what was supposed to be action, for a full four minutes. He did, however, offer his opinion that he considered the match a ‘disgrace’ that had nothing to do with football. ‘You can say what you like, but not every end justifies the means,’ Stanjek fumed on the ARD broadcast of the game. On English television, ITV commentator Hugh Johns delivered his stinging rebuke as time wound down, ‘A few seconds on Bob Valentine’s watch between us and going-home time. And what a relief that’s going to be. Breitner for Briegel for Stielike, names that run off my tongue at the moment and leave a nasty, nasty taste. Stielike … quality players who should all be put in the book of referee Bob Valentine for bringing the game into disrepute. This is one of the most disgraceful international matches I’ve ever seen.’ The full-time whistle may have sounded but was effectively drowned out by the chorus of jeers, boos and whistles coming from the 40,000 irate fans in the stands. Some s claim one West German er set fire to his own

country’s flag in disgust. The Algerians who had made it into Estadio El Molinón to watch what should have been a significant match for their side responded to the farcical scenes by waving money at the players, with some reportedly having to be held back by police as they attempted to storm the pitch. ‘This crowd, disgusted that West can come here and win so gently, so easily by an Austrian side who never got into anything approaching second gear let alone top gear,’ continued commentator Johns. ‘Austria never set out to win this game at all. They knew that 1-0 to West would ensure that both of them would go through to the second stage.’ Austria’s ‘Miracle of Cordoba’ four years earlier had been eclipsed by the ‘Disgrace of Gijon’ and this is now the first thing people think of whenever Austria v West is mentioned, rather than that glorious victory in 1978. The result meant West , Austria and Algeria all finished on four points, but the African side were pushed down into third place and eliminated from the competition by virtue of an inferior goal difference. Statistics from the game were damning. According to Opta, the second half contained just three attempts on goal with none coming close to hitting that target. The Austrians finished the game with an astonishing 99 per cent success rate for es in their own half for that second 45 minutes, while West ended on 98 per cent. The fall-out was seismic. Algeria demanded an investigation with Algerian Football Federation president Benali Sekkel accusing the two European sides of ‘violating the principle of sportsmanship’ and suggesting it was all part of a ‘sinister plot’. Condemnation came from all corners. Back in West , former international defender Willi Schulz ruefully described the team of his successors as ‘gangsters’, while local Spanish paper El Comercio chose to file the match report in its crime section. The Austrian manager Georg Schmidt actually showed some sense of remorse, itting it was a ‘shameful showing’, but his opposite number Derwall instead doubled down, describing any accusation of skullduggery as ‘a grave insult’ and that they would contest any charge. West German players too were unrepentant and after their own fans went to the team hotel to protest, the players responded by pelting the ers with water balloons from their vantage point in the building. It seemed as though they were determined to play the role of comic-book villains

in 1982. This was the same tournament where goalkeeper Schumacher committed one of the most heinous challenges in the history of the game during the semi-final against , charging out of his goal, throwing his body full into the face of Patrick Battiston, knocking the rival player out cold and causing him to lose three teeth. Somehow, Schumacher managed to escape a red card for the assault in another incredible injustice, but thankfully, West would get their comeuppance in the final, going down 3-1 to Italy at the Santiago Bernabéu. FIFA ruled that neither they nor Austria had a charge to answer. ‘FIFA cannot sanction a team if they did not fight properly,’ said one of the organisation’s officials, Hermann Neuberger – who just so happened to also be president of the West German Soccer Federation. FIFA did, however, change the rules going forward to ensure that for every subsequent World Cup, the final group matches would always take place simultaneously in order to prevent similar events from occurring again. Belloumi claimed that this rule change meant that he and his team-mates have ‘left an indelible mark on football history’ which is unquestionably true. Sadly, they still returned home early and as of the 12th World Cup no African side had progressed beyond the first round. For the first time, this wasn’t down to a lack of ability on their part, but rather the underhand tactics of others. ‘There is a growing feeling among the so-called Third World countries that Europe, FIFA and indeed referees are out to stitch them up. They may be right,’ wrote The Guardian’s Stephen Bierley in his match report. The idea that the football elite from Europe still looked down their noses at African football was further reinforced by some astonishing and quite frankly racist comments from the head of the Austrian delegation, Hans Tschak. ‘Naturally, today’s game was played tactically. But if 10,000 “sons of the desert” here in the stadium want to trigger a scandal because of this, it just goes to show that they have too few schools. Some sheikh comes out of an oasis, is allowed to get a sniff of World Cup air after 300 years and thinks he’s entitled to open his gob.’ Despite the great progress made by African football, this attitude from Tschak was unfortunately probably not uncommon within footballing circles, although few would have expressed it in such extreme language. The good news, however, was that rather than being seen as something of a joke, teams from the continent were now unquestionably a threat to the established order. In the space of ten days, West had gone from dismissing Algeria as something of a

nonentity, to effectively resorting to cheating in order to halt their progress, something which Desert Foxes defender Chaâbane Merzekane has been keen to point out. ‘We weren’t angry, we were cool,’ he says. ‘To see two big powers debasing themselves in order to eliminate us was a tribute to Algeria. They progressed with dishonour; we went out with our heads held high.’ Algeria weren’t the only African side in what was a landmark edition of the World Cup in 1982. João Havelange was good to his word in firstly expanding the tournament, and then increasing the number of qualifying places for the continent. With the total number of participants up from 16 to 24, two spots now went to Africa. History might have convinced many observers that Algeria were going to be ed by one of their northern neighbours in Spain, and when Morocco reached the final round of qualifying for a showdown with an unfancied but improving Cameroon, this seemed inevitable. Beyond the Sahara, west African football was best known for the great Ghana side of the 1960s, and the emerging force of Nigeria. The two nations also swapped three AFCON wins in 1978, 1980 and 1982, with Ghana triumphing twice and Nigeria once. Cameroon, meanwhile, could barely qualify for the continental tournament let alone threaten a World Cup. But despite going into the game against Morocco as underdogs, the Indomitable Lions pulled off a shock to win 4-1 on aggregate to book their place at the tournament for the first time. Their preparations didn’t exactly go smoothly. Manager Branko Zutic left his post after sealing qualification and was replaced by Frenchman Jean Vincent. The thought of a black African side heading to the World Cup with problems pre-tournament could only conjure up memories of Zaire with Cameroon expected to suffer a similar fate in a group featuring Peru, Poland and Italy. In their opening match, Cameroon were very much equal to the Peruvians and played out a hard-fought if uneventful 0-0 draw. Poland were next and some dogged defending saw Cameroon grind out another goalless draw against a team who would actually end up reaching the semi-final. With Poland having already drawn with Italy and the Italians held 1-1 by Peru, all four sides were in with a shout of qualification ahead of the final set of matches. Poland secured their place in round two with a 5-1 thrashing of Peru, presenting Cameroon with the opportunity to achieve the unthinkable if they could pick up a win against the two-time winners. Italy only needed a draw in Vigo thanks to their superior goal difference, but the pressure was still on to make a statement after a poor start to the competition. It took until the hour mark

for the favourites to find a goal after another stubborn display by the Africans. Paolo Rossi sent in a deep cross from the left which picked out sco Graziani, whose looping header back across goal caught the normally reliable Thomas N’Kono on his heels. The goalkeeper slipped and could only watch as the ball sailed over him and into the top-left corner. While the Italians were still celebrating, Cameroon found an instant response, charging forward from kickoff before Grégoire M’Bida was able to stab home from close range. The game ended all square but Cameroon, remarkably, ended their first World Cup journey unbeaten and perhaps more impressively, secured a draw against an Italy team who would win all their remaining matches in the tournament as they lifted the trophy two weeks later. While the fiasco with Algeria and their controversial elimination left a bitter taste, in all, it was a decent showing and one that won Africa more iration. The teams and players wouldn’t be taken so lightly in the coming years, although one man who might have come away somewhat disappointed was a 30year-old Roger Milla. Considered Cameroon’s star man, the former African Footballer of the Year and the team’s all-time top scorer would leave little impression in Spain. It was an opportunity missed to really showcase his talent to the world and given his advancing years, it looked at the time as though he wouldn’t get another chance.

4

Morocco’s History Boys

THE TREATMENT of Algeria may have been hugely problematic but the fact it led to an actual change in the rules was pretty significant, if not of scant consolation. The Desert Foxes would return four years later in Mexico, achieving another milestone as the first African side to play in successive World Cups, but sadly they failed to repeat their heroics from Spain. Rabah Saâdane, part of the coaching setup in 1982, was now in sole charge but oversaw a fallow period in an otherwise successful footballing decade for the country, as 1986 would also be the only time in six AFCON tournaments between 1980 and 1990 in which Algeria failed to reach at least the semi-final. After crashing out at the group stage, it was the same story when they made the trip across the Atlantic in the summer. Starting their campaign against Northern Ireland in Group D, Saâdane’s side were behind after just five minutes courtesy of a deflected Norman Whiteside free kick. Algeria responded in kind from an almost identical position in the second half when Djamal Zidane also scored from a set-piece following a clever routine to secure a 1-1 draw. Whereas goals weren’t a problem in their first appearance at the tournament, Zidane’s free kick would be the only thing Algerian fans would have to celebrate in Mexico. A narrow but respectable 1-0 defeat to Brazil followed, and while qualification was still a remote possibility as Algeria went into the final game against Spain, they were overwhelmed as Ramón Calderé scored either side of half-time before Eloy made it 3-0, sending the Desert Foxes home. Following the controversy four years earlier, Algeria again had a valid reason to feel aggrieved at the manner of their exit. Spain’s two-goal hero Calderé had actually failed a doping test before the match, returning a positive result for banned stimulant Ephedrine. The Barcelona midfielder somehow escaped a ban after it was determined the substance came from a medicine recommended by

the team doctor to combat diarrhoea. The Spanish Football Federation merely received a fine as Calderé was allowed to continue playing – much to the dismay of Algeria. The Desert Foxes’ underwhelming showing wasn’t the story of Africa at these finals, however. Sixteen years after their first World Cup appearance in the same country, Morocco were back in Mexico for their second get-together with world football’s elite. The team were managed by the Brazilian José Faria who, having taken the job in 1983, had ushered in a period of stability and growth. His three years at the helm by the time of the World Cup was considered relatively lengthy given how frequently international sides are prone to changing managers. The experienced Faria had previously taken charge of Fluminense’s youth teams in Brazil for over a decade before moving to the Middle East to coach the Qatar under-19 side. He then managed Al Sadd for three years before eventually arriving in Morocco. While in charge of the national team, he performed double duty, also managing FAR Rabat, who he led to a historic African Champions League win in 1985 – a first for any Moroccan side. In total, the Brazilian remained in his post for five years, leaving in 1988. Faria received Moroccan citizenship and converted to Islam during his stay in the country, even adopting the middle name Mehdi. ‘Even though I am a Roman Catholic, I expect to convert to the Muslim religion,’ he claimed. ‘Both have the same God.’ Given his achievements, Faria would almost end up being lauded as a deity himself. His Morocco team was built on organisation and a strong defence, conceding just one goal in eight games as they cruised through their qualifying campaign. However, Faria and his team would have themselves been forgiven for wishing for divine intervention when the draw for the finals was made. Put into Group F, Morocco were set to face a Poland side who had finished third four years earlier, Euro 1984 semi-finalists Portugal, and England. Every indication suggested the back line comprising Mustafa El-Biyaz, Labid Khalifa, Abdelmajid Lamriss and Noureddine Bouyahyaoui, as well as goalkeeper Zaki Badou, would have their work cut out. Starting against Poland in Monterrey, caution was the order of the day as Faria’s team adopted a rigid defensive strategy to subdue their opponents, hoping to exploit any gaps on the counter. Chances were few and far between in a match that certainly won’t go down as a World Cup classic. Poland substitute Jan Urban tested Zaki from range but the Moroccan keeper pulled off a flying save

to keep the game goalless. Zaki was beaten late on but the north African side were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief as Urban’s low shot from the edge of the penalty area came back off the right-hand post and the game ended 0-0. David Lacey in The Guardian praised Morocco’s ‘discipline and organisation’ while suggesting they may have even taken more from the match with ‘a degree more confidence as they neared goal to put the Poles in serious trouble’. While few would have been particularly taken with what they had seen, Faria was defiant, ‘We’d like to play good football but you can’t always do that, especially coming into a big tournament. You have to protect yourselves a bit.’ Morocco took on England at the Estadio Tecnológico, where the Monterrey heat had done a number on the turf with huge patches giving it the appearance of a pubescent teenager attempting to grow a beard. Whether this had an impact on the flow of the game is open to debate, but it was another encounter that failed to get going. Faria again sent out his team to frustrate and deny the opposition any space in the final third. Towards the end of the first half, a very rare England attack saw Bryan Robson go to ground after a firm but fair coming together with El-Biyaz. As Morocco prepared the reset from a goal kick, England players wore a look of concern on their faces as Robson stayed down having re-aggravated an injury to his right shoulder in the fall. The England captain limped off with his arm in a sling and things went from bad to worse a minute later. Ray Wilkins chased a forward towards the left-hand corner but was flagged for offside by the linesman on the opposite side of the pitch. Angered by the incident, the midfielder allowed his emotions to get the better of him and he threw the ball at the feet of referee Gabriel González. Unimpressed by this show of petulance, the Peruvian responded by instantly brandishing his red card to send Wilkins off. ‘I thought we had been given a free kick for a foul,’ Wilkins said afterwards. ‘When I saw offside had been given, I threw the ball at the referee. I feel a fool.’ Despite these advantages handing the initiative to the Moroccans for close to 50 minutes, they remained ‘pathologically cautious’ as described by Cris Freddi in The Complete Book of the World Cup, and the game petered out to another stalemate. Speaking afterwards, Abdelkrim ‘Krimau’ Merry suggested that their supposedly more illustrious opponents were to blame for the poor quality of the match and taunted England by claiming Morocco had just faced ‘a team from the Middle Ages’. The English media, equally critical of Bobby Robson’s dour under-achievers, concurred with the sentiment of Krimau’s scathing attack. ‘Barely in the chequered history of English international football has a nation been so badly let down by its sporting ambassadors abroad,’ fumed Steve Curry

in The Express. While a point against England was by no means a bad result, the conservatism of the performance seemed to stifle Morocco when a famous victory was there for the taking. Two draws presented a fantastic opportunity but qualification for round two was very much in the balance. A tight group meant all four teams went into the final round of matches still all harbouring hopes of advancing, very much neck-and-neck in a four-house race. Morocco and Faria simply weren’t prepared to place and went straight for the winning post on a memorable day in Zapopan. The perceived negativity of the previous two games was nowhere to be seen against Portugal as the Atlas Lions were finally freed from catenaccio-like captivity. Twenty minutes in, midfielder Mustafa El Haddaoui attempted an ambitious cross with the outside of his right foot into the penalty area and, with Portugal only half managing to clear, the ball fell at the feet of Abderrazak Khairi some 25 yards out. With time and space to shuffle the ball on to his right foot, Khairi unleashed a powerful low drive which appeared to pick up speed on its travels as it flew beyond the despairing dive of Vítor Damas. The African side had taken a deserved lead with their first goal of the tournament. A little over five minutes later, Morocco and Khairi had a second. The midfielder this time got on the end of a deep cross from the full-back Khalifa to hit an almost sliding half-volley across the helpless Damas into the far corner. ‘And now you can see just how far African football has developed,’ shrieked BBC commentator John Motson, he of the famous ‘ignorance’ comment about Zaire 12 years earlier. ‘You won’t see a more clinical finish in the 1986 World Cup than this,’ he gushed. If Motson and the watching world were impressed by that strike, the third just after the hour would have sent them delirious. The creative heartbeat of the Morocco team was one Mohamed Timoumi. The ‘Maghrebi Platini’ was named African Footballer of the Year in 1985 having starred in FAR’s African Champions League-winning side, remaining the last player to win the award while still playing for a club on the continent. After two relatively subdued games against Poland and England, Timoumi was unshackled against Portugal. Linking up with Lamriss, the two players weaved a web of es through the Portuguese team to advance up the left flank. Teammate Bouderbala was then invited to the move and responded with a clever turn and run before returning the ball to Timoumi on the touchline. The

playmaker completed the flowing ten- sequence with a perfectly weighed cross to an unmarked Krimau who took a touch to set himself before calmly slotting the ball beyond the onrushing Damas from the edge of the penalty area for 3-0. It was an outstanding goal that wouldn’t have looked out of place if scored by the famous Dutch side of a decade earlier or Pep Guardiola’s allconquering Barcelona team years later. In fact, a young Pep would have been just 15 years old at the time of the tournament so it’s not inconceivable to think he could have been taking notes. Diamantino Miranda’s consolation goal for Portugal, capitalising on a rare Zaki error, couldn’t put a dampener on a special day for African football. Not only had Morocco secured a age to the second round, they had done so by winning the group outright. Quite the turn-up given their understandable fears when the draw was made. ‘For the first time in World Cup history an African nation is through to the second phase, proof that the much prophesied soccer revolution is upon us,’ David Emery wrote in The Express. Faria was just as pleased. ‘Never in the history of world soccer has a Third World or African team come first in its group,’ he said afterwards. ‘And this was a strong group. Lots of people expected us to lose and lots of people lost on the lottery. We could go home now. It’s as if we’ve won the world championship already.’ Of course, as brilliant as it was, winning the group wasn’t like winning the tournament. Like attempting to scale the Atlas Mountains that make up a large portion of their homeland, Morocco might have incorrectly thought they had reached the summit, before discovering a greater peak to conquer. The so-called reward for winning the group came in the form of West . Finalists four years prior and among the favourites this time around, the Germans stuttered through their group and finished second to Denmark, following a 2-0 defeat to the Danes in the final round of matches. By now, African sides must have been sick of the sight of West at the World Cup and vice-versa. With the two-time world champions not quite hitting their stride at this point, Faria’s side would have fancied their chances. In contrast to the cocky attitude of the Germans when facing Algeria four years earlier, manager Franz Beckenbauer was taking nothing for granted. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had only featured as a substitute in West ’s group games after struggling with a knee injury but was brought back into the starting line-up to face Morocco. The 36°C heat in Monterrey would also have been more suited to the Africans

than their European counterparts and so it proved in the relatively subdued early exchanges. West , as expected, dominated possession but Morocco were comfortable in defence, even with the absence of the injured El-Biyaz. Faria’s team reverted to the safety-first approach of their earlier matches, restricting their opponents to hopeful crosses and speculative long shots. The one time the defence was breached in the first half, Klaus Allofs was able to skip past Khalifa on the left-hand side before drilling a low cross to the unmarked Rummenigge in the six-yard box. The legendary forward was left stunned as he could only watch his effort brilliantly palmed into the air at point-blank range by the agile Zaki to keep the score at 0-0. In response, Morocco moved the ball around confidently and calmly as they looked to hit the Germans on the break. But like their opponents, the best they could muster was shots from distance, ultimately providing nothing too taxing for Harald Schumacher. West upped their game in the second half but still couldn’t find the breakthrough as Morocco looked to play for extra time against their tiring opponents. Unfortunately, the additional period wasn’t required. Lahcen Ouadani, who had come in for El-Biyaz, performed irably but caught Rummenigge with a reckless lunge about 35 yards from goal with just three minutes remaining. With only three players creating the defensive wall for Lothar Matthäus’s centrally positioned free kick, the German legend was allowed enough of a sight of goal to arrow a fantastic shot into Zaki’s bottomleft corner. Morocco were behind for the first time in the tournament and had no time to recover from this late hammer blow. Yugoslavian referee Zoran Petrović soon brought the match, and Morocco’s World Cup dreams, to an end. West had snatched the win and there was no revenge to be had from 1970. The Atlas Lions had put up an impressive fight but again were perhaps too ive and failed to capitalise on what was a lacklustre display from a West side that would once again go on to reach the final. ‘Yet again (it becomes repetitive) they’d looked the better side but were too defensive,’ bemoaned Freddi in his write-up of the match. Despite the disappointment of defeat, Morocco had made history by becoming the first African side to reach the second round of the tournament, a feat all the more impressive given the difficulty of their first-round group. Faria and his team were now a symbol of African football’s progress and had laid the groundwork for something approaching a footballing revolution. The World Cup’s later rounds were no longer out of reach. Morocco had navigated their way to previously uncharted lands, paving the way for others to tread the same path for

years to come.

5

Roger Milla’s Italian Job

OVER THE course of three successive tournaments, African football had made notable progress and the 1990s would see the continent make further inroads in the footballing world. Far from being considered inferior, African players started to swarm to Europe in waves, not merely as cheaper options to make up numbers, but to actually feature and star for some of the world’s biggest clubs. The apex of this influx perhaps came in 1995 when Liberian forward George Weah dazzled in the famous red and black of AC Milan, going on to secure an unprecedented individual treble when he was named FIFA World Player of the Year, European Player of the Year and awarded the Ballon d’Or. Unfortunately, despite picking up this vast array of shiny trinkets for his personal collection, Weah’s considerable talents were never seen at a World Cup for his native Liberia. However, another west African side would grab global attention in spectacular fashion at the start of the decade at the 1990 tournament. An eventful summer in Italy will arguably go down as the watershed moment when one man in particular helped increase awareness and interest in footballers from the continent, ultimately playing a significant if indirect role in the rise of Weah and others in the years to follow. While Africa had been under-represented at World Cups, one could argue that north Africa had actually been over-represented to date given the vast size of the rest of the continent. As we’ve seen, the major African achievements of the preceding tournaments all notably involved teams from the Maghreb region, but while Zaire’s 1974 appearance was of course a disaster, sub-Saharan Africa did attain a level of respectability through Cameroon’s unbeaten campaign of 1982 – despite their three group stage draws still leading to a first-round exit. Following a 3-0 aggregate win over Tunisia in the final round of qualifying for Italia 90, the Indomitable Lions were back among the big boys, and those boys came no bigger than Argentina and the great Diego Maradona.

Drawn in Group B, Cameroon would start their campaign in front of 73,000 ers at Milan’s famous San Siro against the world champions led by, in the minds of many, the greatest player of all time. Maradona had famously lit up the competition in Mexico four years earlier and, having just won Serie A for the second time with Napoli, he looked destined for more glory on Italian soil. In the opening match of the tournament, the holders were heavy favourites and a sense of cockiness or complacency was perhaps symbolised just before kick-off. After shaking hands with Cameroon skipper Stephen Tataw, Argentina’s captain and number ten looked to continue the festivities of a colourful opening ceremony by flicking the ball up in the air from the centre spot and impressively juggling it off his left shoulder five times as team-mates, officials and fans gawped in amazement. But if the watching world thought this display of skill was a sign of things to come, they would be sadly mistaken. The Cameroonians were nonplussed by the display and neither Maradona nor his team-mates were given any opportunity to showboat further. The west African side adopted a physical and robust approach against their supposedly superior opponents, restricting space and unsettling the Argentinian rhythm. Combative defenders Benjamin Massing and Victor N’Dip both earned early bookings for fouls on Maradona – the latter fortunate to escape a red after planting a high kick into the chest of the diminutive forward. ‘From the kick-off a huge black guy stayed right next to me, number 4, Massing,’ Maradona wrote in his autobiography, El Diego. ‘First he said hello, patted me, and then… he kicked the shit out of me.’ An inevitable sending-off did eventually arrive on the hour when André KanaBiyik cynically and deliberately tripped substitute Claudio Caniggia as the forward made a run towards the Cameroon goal. Rather than a cause for concern for the African side, the decision somehow actually had more of an effect on the favourites. ‘Everything was under control until Cameroon went down to ten men and we got disorganised,’ claimed Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo. Minutes later, the Africans exploited this disorganisation when Cyrille Makanaky drew a foul from Néstor Lorenzo by the left-hand touchline in Argentina’s defensive third. The resulting free kick was sent towards Makanaky and Lorenzo still engaged in battle in the penalty area. As the two continued to tussle, the ball struck the defender and spun high into the air towards the sixyard box. Striker François Omam-Biyik leapt up, soaring in the air unchallenged

by the nearby Roberto Sensini, remaining airborne as he directed his downward header towards goal. The effort initially appeared to lack the power to beat Nery Pumpido on his goal line but in a moment of misjudged hesitation the Argentina keeper lost his bearings. Expecting the header to drop close enough to collect comfortably, Pumpido instead somehow allowed the ball to squirm under his body and into the back of the net. Against all odds, Cameroon were in front and the Italian ers in the ground celebrated the underdogs’ goal as if it was their own. Argentina were of course seen as a likely rival for the hosts later in the tournament, and so it would prove as the two teams went on to meet in the semi-final. The Milanese, who had been jeering Maradona’s every touch, also sought a measure of payback after his Napoli side had beaten AC Milan to the Scudetto a little over a month earlier. ‘The only pleasure I got this afternoon was to discover that thanks to me the people of Milan have stopped being racist,’ Maradona sniped after the game. ‘Today, for the first time, they ed the Africans.’ Argentina, understandably given their man advantage, took control for the remainder of the match, but for all their possession and talent, they couldn’t penetrate a determined Cameroon defence. The holders were poor and did very little to threaten the goal of the Indomitable Lions’ Thomas N’Kono. Chasing an equaliser in the dying minutes, Caniggia picked up the ball in his own half and went on a darting run through the midfield, attempting to kick-start a counterattack. After first evading a challenge from Emmanuel Kundé, the long-haired forward was then barely able to stay on his feet after leaping over a wild lunge by N’Dip. Stumbling on like Willem Dafoe’s Sergeant Elias in that epic scene from Platoon as his body is being riddled with bullets, the final fatal ‘shot’ in this Milan remake came from Maradona’s new friend Massing. Rather than an AK-47, the brawny defender propelled his own body into Caniggia’s, taking him out with so much force and brutality, the offender actually lost his left boot in committing the foul. As a battered Caniggia lay prone on the turf, French referee Michel Vautro was left with no option other than to issue a second yellow card to Massing, although few would have argued if he had been given a straight red. The nine men managed to hang on and the final whistle saw scenes of unrestrained celebration from the Cameroon camp. They had just beaten the world champions in arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history. North Korea’s 1966 win over Italy, USA’s victory against England in 1950 and of

course, Algeria’s win over West eight years prior may have all had a strong claim for that honour, but given Argentina’s status as reigning champions, as well as the Maradona factor, this match had to take the prize ahead of the rest. ‘This was no fluke, the better team won. They won, moreover, after finishing with nine men on the field,’ wrote The Guardian’s David Lacey in his match report. ‘The French referee sent off two Cameroon players but such was their superiority that the Africans still finished looking as if they had more men on the pitch than their hapless opponents.’ While there was some focus on the roughhouse tactics deployed by the Cameroon side, suggesting some sort of primitive, crude approach to the game that played to negative stereotypes of the continent, this was actually more of a defensive masterclass. Valery Nepomnyashchy, the Russian in charge of the Africans, set them up to frustrate and succeeded emphatically. Besides, it’s not as if Argentina were football’s shrinking violets. One only has to look at the final a month later in which the South Americans themselves had two men sent off as they lost an ill-tempered match 1-0 to West . Equally, Bilardo himself would have little room for complaint about any over-physical play having been a member of the notorious Estudiantes side of the 1960s – widely considered one of the dirtiest teams of all time. Even Maradona was conciliatory in defeat, ‘Cameroon had really given us a kicking but to talk about that was to make excuses.’ It was a stunning result but the embraces between the Cameroon players and management at full time actually masked the reality of a team that arrived at the tournament in a state of unrest. Until the AFCON was moved to odd-numbered years in 2013, the competition often served as an appetiser and early indicator for teams heading to the World Cup. Having lifted the trophy in 1984 and ’88, as well as losing the ’86 final, Cameroon had emerged as kings of the continent. By 1990, the crown looked to have slipped as they bombed out in Algeria three months before heading to Italy, exiting at the group stage following humiliating defeats to Zambia and Senegal respectively. There were problems within the squad too. Dispelling myths and shattering negative perceptions about black goalkeepers, Cameroon were blessed with two talented players between the sticks who were subsequently involved in a lengthy and often bitter battle for the number one shirt. N’Kono featured in 1982, but Joseph-Antoine Bell staked his claim during the AFCON success two years later.

N’Kono had the shirt again in ’86 but lost it to Bell for ’88. While N’Kono played in the disappointing jaunt to Algeria and leading up to the finals, it was unclear which of the two would get the nod for the Argentina game. The oftenmouthy Bell inadvertently surrendered his spot by giving an interview before the tournament openly criticising Cameroon’s preparations. ‘He was right about the preparations, of course, but you can’t say things like that in the press,’ Nepomnyashchy revealed in an interview with The Blizzard years later. Bell wasn’t expelled but was demoted to third choice for the tournament. Nepomnyashchy claimed the Cameroon hierarchy needed to concoct a story to explain their decision, ‘Our kits were made by Adidas, while Bell had a personal contract with Reusch. We said that Bell refused to play in Adidas gloves and therefore couldn’t take the field. That’s the version all the players believed during the World Cup.’ As an interesting side note, Cameroon’s victory in Milan and N’Kono’s performance in particular would go on to have an even more far-reaching effect on Italian football. Legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who lifted the World Cup with the Azzuri in 2006, told The Players’ Tribune in 2019 that watching N’Kono for the underdogs that day as a 12-year-old was what actually inspired him to play in goal. ‘That day I decided to switch my position because I was struck by Thomas N’Kono’ he claimed. ‘I said, I would like to become that kind of goalkeeper.’ Buffon also named his first son Louis Thomas. The warring goalkeepers weren’t even the biggest story. After a stellar career that saw him win trophies both domestically and while playing for a number of years in , the country’s best player and top scorer, Roger Milla, had retired from international football in 1988 following Cameroon’s second AFCON win in Morocco. By 1990, Milla was playing for JS Saint-Pierroise in the French overseas territory Réunion. ‘I went there for a bit of a rest,’ Milla explained in a BBC interview. ‘Then I started playing for a little club run by my friend just for a bit of fun.’ The tiny tropical island sandwiched between Madagascar and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean is around 970 square miles in size and at the time had a population of only around 600,000. With year-round average temperatures of between 20°C and 30°C, it seemed like an idyllic paradise for a football legend to play out his days in semi-retirement – that was until Cameroon’s president, His Excellency Paul Biya, decided to intervene. Off the back of the shambolic AFCON showing,

fans demanded the return of their hero and Biya personally called Milla to convince him to play again at the World Cup. The now-38-year-old star obliged but his selection wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms by the squad. Bell, of course, was among the most vocal in questioning the ageing striker’s inclusion. ‘Joseph-Antoine Bell acted in bad faith as he said that I was old,’ Milla said in an interview for the documentary series History of Football – The Beautiful Game in 2002. ‘He forgot that he too was old, that there were only two years difference between us.’ Given that Milla had basically been playing in a holiday camp for a year, the grumbles were arguably justified but also hinted at an unsettled group of individuals. The trip to Italy had all the hallmarks of a repeat of Zaire’s disastrous expedition to Europe 16 years earlier, right down to the political influence. After dictator Mobutu effectively controlled the team in 1974, the fact that a retired Milla was called up to the Cameroon squad by President Biya, going over the head of manager Nepomnyashchy, wasn’t a unique occurrence as far as African football was concerned. Another parallel with Zaire comes from the allegation that money owed to the players mysteriously disappeared amid a larger than necessary delegation of staff and officials accompanying the squad to the tournament. It is said the travelling party totalled as many as 80 people and a reported £400,000 of cash due to the players went ‘missing’. Rather than allow these issues to affect their performance, however, they instead somehow found extra motivation and achieved one of the most remarkable results of all time on that special afternoon in Milan. Next up for Cameroon was a match against Romania in Bari. Despite the shock opening-day win, the African side apparently hadn’t yet captured the imagination of the locals and with a reported attendance of just 38,687, the sparsely populated Stadio San Nicola was actually 15,000 people shy of capacity. Entire blocks of empty seats can be seen on television coverage of the match but for those present, they can forever say they had the good fortune of witnessing the mercurial Milla truly arrive in the global consciousness. Given his age and the level of football he had been playing leading up to the tournament, completing a full 90 minutes would have been well beyond the capabilities of the veteran, especially with three group games in quick succession and possibly more knockout fixtures to follow. Having been brought on in the final ten minutes against Argentina, Milla was introduced with half an hour left against the eastern Europeans with the score goalless. On 76 minutes a huge,

hopeful hoof upfield by defender Bertin Ebwellé saw Milla get the better of Ioan Andone and calmly place the ball beyond Silviu Lung to give Cameroon the lead. What followed was a moment that for many is more memorable than Milla’s actual goals at the tournament. As the ball hit the back of the net, the ageless frontman made a beeline for the corner flag. With his right arm in the air and his left hand on his abdomen, Milla proceeded to break into an unusual hipwiggling dance that would go on to be replayed, and replicated, the world over for years to follow. The beauty of the celebration is that it shouldn’t work. Objectively, it looks silly. But rather than coming across as a cringeworthy act from someone old enough to know better, it is an endearing show of spontaneous joy and spirit from a man who was defying the odds, both as an individual and on behalf of his country. The move was almost pointed, as if to counter any doubts about his own physical capabilities, which would resonate with many watching. If you were a middle-aged man worried about being ‘over the hill’, this was for you. ‘It came to me in the moment,’ Milla later revealed. ‘It was instinct.’ The first time may have been on impulse but Milla would repeat his now patented dance after hammering in a stunning second goal with four minutes to go. Gabi Balint pulled one back for Romania in the dying moments but Cameroon held on to win their second game of the tournament and secure unlikely age to the second round, matching Morocco’s feat of four years prior. Nepomnyashchy’s side could even afford to lose their final match against the Soviet Union 4-0 and still advance as group winners, setting up a clash against Colombia in Naples. Milla again started on the bench and was again introduced in the second half but neither side was able to break the deadlock in 90 minutes. Milla then took control in the second period of extra time, smashing in another powerful effort to give Cameroon a valuable lead. The corner flag jig followed and in a matter of minutes, fans would see the trademark celebration for a fourth time in the tournament. Colombia’s madcap keeper Rene Higuita inexplicably took it upon himself to step up and play well outside his area, effectively lining up side-byside with his defenders. Seizing on a poor touch by the wandering stopper, Milla nicked the ball from Higuita’s feet and gave himself a free run at goal. The keeper’s famous curly, dark mane bounced in the wind as he chased down the Cameroon striker, but it was all in vain as Milla rolled the ball into an unguarded net for 2-0. Colombia’s late consolation failed to prevent a remarkable

footballing first; an African side in the World Cup quarter-finals. All of a sudden, Cameroon found themselves just three games from glory. The Indomitable Lions’ unexpected exploits were the highlight of an otherwise underwhelming World Cup, with their last-eight opponents encapsulating the dreariness of the tournament up until that point. Following two uninspiring group stage draws against Ireland and the Netherlands respectively, England squeaked into the second round thanks to a 1-0 win over Egypt, the other African side in the competition. Another 1-0 win over Belgium in round two followed and although Bobby Robson’s side went into the Cameroon clash in Naples as favourites, it was clear who the neutral wanted to see progress. There was now a debate over whether Milla should be unleashed against England from the start but almost counterintuitively, it still made sense to limit his time on the pitch in order to get the best out of him. And so it proved. After David Platt powered a header beyond N’Kono to put England in front in the first half, Milla was introduced after the break. On the hour he was involved in an incisive ing move to carve open the England defence, and after playing a one-two with Jean-Claude Pagal, Milla was upended by Paul Gascoigne in the area. The penalty was awarded and Kundé made no mistake from 12 yards to restore parity. Amazingly, less than five minutes later, Cameroon were in front with Milla again at the heart of proceedings. Allowed to turn in the final third, the forward then played a perfect through ball for the run of fellow substitute Eugène Ekéké, who lifted the ball over the onrushing Peter Shilton to make it 21. The world was now looking at the previously unimaginable scenario of Cameroon in a World Cup semi-final. All they had to do was hang on for 25 minutes. But rather than try and shut down the game as they had done against Argentina, Cameroon, perhaps naïvely, pushed on in search of more goals against a shell-shocked England. This would be their undoing as, not for the first nor last time at a World Cup, an African side would be punished by a late goal. With 83 minutes on the clock, England advanced forward, and Gary Lineker needed little encouragement to go down in the box under a rash Massing challenge. How much actual there was is still up for debate today, but the defender’s reckless lunge unfortunately gave Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal a decision to make. Lineker sent N’Kono the wrong way from the spot to take the game to extra time, and just before the end of the first period, he was at it again to break Cameroon hearts. Feeling the slightest caress of N’Kono’s glove against

his boot as he looked to go round the floored goalkeeper, Lineker again dropped to the turf somewhat theatrically. Having gone to N’Kono’s left with his first effort from the spot, the striker this time hammered the ball straight down the middle of the goal. It was 3-2 to England and that was how it finished. After what turned out to be the match of the tournament, the England manager itted his side were lucky to go through. ‘At one time I thought we were on the plane home,’ Robson confessed. ‘We never under-estimated Cameroon but they still surprised us. We pulled it out of the fire and I don’t really know how.’ Despite the defeat, Cameroon were not too downcast. ‘There were no tears after we were eliminated,’ said Nepomnyashchy. ‘The players take defeats rather easily and forget them pretty fast.’ A reported 20,000 fans waited at Douala airport to greet the players’ return and their achievements were not just celebrated in Africa but across the world. There is an apocryphal and tragic tale of a woman in Bangladesh taking her own life following the England defeat, writing in her suicide note, ‘the elimination of Cameroon means the end of my life’. So impressive were Cameroon’s history-makers that FIFA would allocate a third spot to CAF for the next tournament in the USA. It was a significant milestone for football on the continent. Far from simply waiting anxiously in line only to be turned away at the door, African football was now being actively invited into the party. Milla’s eye-catching display, unquestionably the best of any single African player at the tournament at that point, also alerted Europe to the untapped talent Africa had to offer, kicking down the door and allowing a number of players to make their names beyond the continent’s borders. Cameroon were not the only African team at the tournament to suffer at England’s hands. As Africa’s first World Cup representatives in Italy back in 1934, it was a curious coincidence that found Egypt back in the same country for only their second appearance, 56 years after Abdulrahman Fawzi had given Hungary that major scare in Naples. Africa’s original football trailblazers were drawn alongside Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, and of course Lineker and Gascoigne et al in Group F. Like Cameroon, the team went in as underdogs, and like Cameroon, almost pulled off a major shock in their first match. Magdi Abdelghani’s late penalty cancelled out Wim Kieft’s opener in Palermo as the Pharaohs salvaged an unexpected 1-1 draw against a Dutch side that were crowned European

champions just two years earlier. After a goalless draw against the Irish, Egypt were still in with a shout of qualification when they faced England in Cagliari. Ahead of the final fixtures, every game prior in the group had ended in a draw and with Ireland versus Netherlands also set to finish 1-1, another stalemate – or better – would leave Egypt in a position to progress, depending on goal difference or even the dreaded drawing of lots. It wasn’t to be, however, as goalkeeper Ahmed Shobair misjudged the flight of a 58th-minute Gascoigne free kick, allowing the rising Mark Wright to head home the only goal of the game. Despite failing to even come close to matching the entertainment value of their African counterparts Cameroon, Egypt also returned with their heads held high having momentarily stood toe-to-toe with more high-profile teams. Their appearance at the tournament may not have been particularly enthralling, but few would argue their age to the finals was anything but. Simmering tensions with neighbouring Algeria eventually boiled over during the qualifying campaign in an ugly showdown known ever since as the ‘Hate Match’. The animosity was years in the making. As Algeria fought for its independence in the late 1950s, they had an ally in the form for Egypt and their President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who even provided military aid for the Front de Libération Nationale. However, when the FLN football team famously travelled the world playing matches and promoting the country’s independence movement, Egypt were notably one of the few teams who refused to face them, not wanting to compromise their relationship with FIFA as one of the founder of CAF – this despite the Algerians making the long journey to Egypt for the assumed fixture. ‘At the time they took a bus ride from Tunisia to Egypt, [which took] three or four days,’ according to Algerian sports journalist Maher Mezahi, hinting at one of the reasons for the early discord between the two. Years later, when Egypt’s match against Libya in the football tournament of the 1978 All Africa Games in Algeria descended into a mass brawl, heavy-handed policing by security forces from the host nation left Egyptian fans and players injured, resulting in the team withdrawing from the event in protest. Egypt and Algeria players also came to blows during a vicious 1984 Olympic qualifier with ugly scenes marring a 1-0 win for the home side in Cairo. In late 1989, both teams topped their respective World Cup qualifying groups, setting up a two-legged play-off to determine who would be going to Italy. A 0-0 draw in Constantine meant everything was on the line for the return game in

Cairo on 17 November. For Algeria, it was a chance to reach an unprecedented third successive World Cup and consolidation of their position as the team to beat in Africa. For Egypt, an emergence from the shadows of international football and an end to an overly long wait for a return to the tournament. The importance of this match was not lost on the home ers who filled the 100,000-capacity Cairo Stadium, with some s even claiming thousands more made it into the ground. ‘“Get there early” was the message from Egypt’s FA to the few foreign journalists who had travelled to Cairo,’ wrote Brian Oliver in The Guardian in 2009. ‘So they took us in by bus at 10.30am. For a 3pm kickoff.’ Amid vociferous , the home side started the brighter, and the fans got their reward just four minutes in when the Pharaohs’ all-time top scorer Hossam Hassan headed in from close range. If noise could generate electricity, the reaction to the goal in the stadium would have powered the entire country for weeks. However, while the locals celebrated, the visitors were convinced the striker had unfairly challenged their keeper El Hadi Larbi in the process of scoring. Larbi even required treatment following the collision and was replaced at half-time by Antar Osmani. As the match wore on, the visitors would be further agitated by the referee, believing more decisions were going in favour of their opponents. The score remained 1-0 and as the final whistle blew, the Egyptian bench and assorted staff flooded the pitch. Almost six decades of hurt had come to an end in the most satisfying manner. Their beaten rivals were less than pleased at the outcome and took their frustrations out on anyone in their immediate vicinity. After surrounding the referee, it then kicked off between both sets of players with the Algerians even resorting to using decorative pitchside plants as weapons. Hostilities spilled over to the hotel Algeria were staying in and more scuffles led to an Egyptian doctor being hit in the right eye and blinded. Reports claim a bottle was involved and Algeria legend Lakhdar Belloumi was fingered as the culprit. Despite fleeing home, Belloumi was convicted by an Egyptian court in his absence and even had an Interpol arrest warrant on his name for the next 20 years. Belloumi has always denied the accusation, claiming the Egyptians merely sought to blame him on of his status as his country’s most highprofile player at the time. Whatever the truth of the incident, it somewhat sullied what should have been a momentous occasion. In 1934, the Pharaohs required a

four-day boat trip to reach Italy for the World Cup. Over half a century later, their actual means of travel may have improved but having gone through such drama to qualify, the journey in 1990 was just as taxing in a very different sense.

6

All Eyes on the Eagles

IN THE summer of 1993, my parents decided to take the family on a month-long trip back to Nigeria. Flying in to Lagos at the start of August, we then travelled to Calabar in the south-east, and finally on to neighbouring Ugep where my mother’s family were, spending a couple of weeks there before returning to Lagos and eventually back to London. At ten years of age, I had just started to become keen on football in the obsessive way that has manifested itself partly in the very book you are reading, and despite my holiday excitement, I would rue the fact I would be missing the start of the latest Premier League season as we were flying out. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, the taxis for Heathrow airport arrived in the middle of the Charity Shield match between Manchester United and Arsenal. In those pre-smartphone, pre-internet days, I actually wouldn’t discover the result – United winning on penalties – until the following day when I was fortunate enough to hear it mentioned on the BBC World Service at my dad’s place in Festac Town, Lagos. We listened to the radio a lot on that trip. The TV stations that were available, and with reliable signal, would only broadcast for a few hours in the evening. Needless to say, any hopes I had of seeing any highlights from the Premiership as it was then known were quickly dashed, equally because the league itself also hadn’t hit the levels of global popularity it would go on to reach in the years to come. Given the circumstances, I would have been happy for ANY type of football and thankfully, eventually, my prayers were answered later in the trip during the return leg from Ugep, back in Calabar. In the house we were staying, one of the adults tuned the small black and white TV to find, of all things, the World Cup. This wasn’t the World Cup but the Under-17 World Championship taking place in Japan. Why the interest from this corner of the world for a youth tournament, you ask? Well, Nigeria’s youngsters had actually won the first edition of the

tournament eight years earlier in China and were performing well again in this latest edition. I would be lying if I said I had a vivid recollection of these games but the Nigerian kids – including the future stars Celestine Babayaro and Nwankwo Kanu – topped their group with maximum points, scoring 14 times and conceding none. Results included an 8-0 thrashing of Canada and a 4-0 win over Argentina. After a 2-1 win to eliminate the hosts in the quarter-final, the team progressed to the final after beating Poland by the same scoreline. The decider would be an all-African affair with Nigeria facing bitter rivals and defending champions Ghana in Tokyo. This match I do watching back in Festac with fellow ecstatic family as another 2-1 win saw Nigeria crowned world champions. It is, of course, a huge coincidence to have witnessed this while in Nigeria itself and chances are I wouldn’t have even found out about it at all had I been back in London. Wall-to-wall football coverage featuring these kinds of relatively minor tournaments was still years away. The success didn’t quite prompt scenes of people lining the streets to celebrate either, but although only a handful of the 18-man squad would go on to make any appearances for the senior squad, in my young mind I concluded this triumph would be the springboard for success at senior level in the near future. Nigerian football had taken time to get going. Africa’s most populous country declared its independence from the British on 1 October 1960 but famously sent what is seen as the first incarnation of the national team to play matches against their colonisers on a tour of England back in 1949. Captained by Etim Henshaw, the team officially named UK Tourists boarded the MV Apapa and set sail from Lagos on a 13-day journey, arriving in Liverpool in late August. Nigeria’s finest were set to test themselves in nine friendlies against amateur sides from the English football pyramid. To the astonishment of their hosts, the Nigerians would take to the field without boots, cutting off their socks at the foot and merely using tape to protect their toes. ‘It may make you shudder but it’s nothing to these chaps whose feet can drive a ball 70 yards, so perhaps it’s just as well they’re not wearing boots,’ mused the narrator over a black and white British Pathé archive video of the team training at Arsenal’s old Highbury stadium. Boots or not, the team started their tour of England with a bang, emphatically beating Marine Crosby Football Club 5-2. Crowds flocked to see this bold and

exciting team of unknowns showcase their talents even if results didn’t always go their way. Overall, the team won two, drew two and lost five of their matches, including an 8-0 thrashing by an Athenian League XI. This emphatic scoreline was due in part to heavy rain which turned the pitch surface into a muddy bog, making it difficult for the Nigerian players to run while bare-footed. Some of the team caved and changed into boots during the game but being so unaccustomed to the alien footwear while playing just made things more difficult. Despite this, the tour was seen as a success with the team treated well, attending a number of dinner functions with senior local officials and watching top-flight matches as guests. On their way home, the Nigerian team stopped in Sierra Leone where they would play their first official international friendly match, winning 2-0. The month-long trip led to the first migration of Nigerian players to English football. Teslim Balogun, considered the star of the team, later went on to sign for Peterborough United in 1955 before spells with Skegness Town, Queens Park Rangers and Holbeach United over three years before returning to Nigeria. The early years were not particularly fruitful with several friendly defeats against local rivals Gold Coast – later known as Ghana – all they had to show for their efforts. The Nigerian Football Association ed CAF in 1959 and FIFA a year later. After years in the relative football wilderness, it was only in the late ’70s that the nation started to make minor waves with back-to-back Nations Cup third-place finishes in 1976 and 1978. The Green Eagles, as they were first known, had previously qualified for just one of the first nine editions of the tournament, finishing bottom of their first-round group in 1963. Less than 20 years later, they would lift the trophy on home soil in 1980, cruising to a 3-0 win over Algeria in Lagos. Three more final appearances followed in 1984, ’88 and ’90, although all would end in defeat. But having sown some fertile seeds over that ten-year period, the next decade would see the now-Super Eagles truly blossom as a footballing force. In 1991, the women’s team, the Super Falcons, became the first senior Nigerian team to play in a World Cup, competing in the first FIFA-sanctioned women’s tournament. Less than three weeks after the youth triumph in ’93, the men’s senior side hammered Ivory Coast 4-1 to all but seal a first finals appearance the following year. Qualification was confirmed the very next month following a 1-1 draw against Algeria to see Nigeria top their qualifying group on goal difference, a historic achievement masterminded by manager Clemens Westerhof. Having taken charge in 1989, the Dutchman had already led the team to the AFCON

Final of 1990 and semi-final two years later. His side finally won the tournament at the start of 1994, beating Zambia 2-1 in the final in Tunisia. The victory lifted Nigeria to the dizzy heights of fifth in the FIFA world rankings and was the perfect preparation for the jaunt to the United States. Nigeria were drawn in Group D with Argentina, Bulgaria and Greece. Having reached back-to-back finals, the South American giants were naturally favourites to progress but with Greece also making their World Cup debut and Bulgaria failing to a win in five previous appearances at the tournament, the Super Eagles had every reason to be confident. That feeling was not misplaced as Westerhof’s side announced their arrival on the big stage in style against the Bulgarians in Dallas. Just 20 minutes in, Daniel Amokachi picked up the ball on the right and split the opposition defence with an incisive to Finidi George. Beating the offside trap, the winger found himself in acres of space before squaring the ball to Rashidi Yekini to tap in from close range. While the finish itself was fairly routine, the goal, Nigeria’s first at a World Cup finals, will forever be ed for Yekini’s iconic celebration. The striker charged into the goal before grabbing and stretching both arms through the net while letting out a roar of pure ecstasy. Like Roger Milla four years earlier, the striker would create one of the tournament’s most enduring images, and one which is all the more cherished today following his tragic death in 2012. Five minutes before half-time, Yekini turned provider, sending in a low cross from the right for Amokachi to turn in for 2-0. The striker would celebrate with his own unique dance, giving off the impression the team were just having fun at their first World Cup. On 55 minutes, victory was secured following another right-wing cross from Finidi, this time finding the two-goal hero of the recent Nations Cup Final, Emmanuel Amunike, whose diving header flew beyond the helpless Borislav Mihaylov. Again, the structure of the group stages meant that the early win had Nigeria well placed for progression to the second phase and they knew a win over Argentina would likely see them through as group winners. Just eight minutes into the game against Maradona and company in Foxborough, impressive pressing by Samson Siasia resulted in Nigeria winning possession in midfield. Carrying the ball forward, Yekini returned a to Siasia to chip over the onrushing Luis Islas. All the memories of Omam-Biyik came flooding back. On a clear, warm

Massachusetts afternoon, the South Americans were behind and fearing lightning was about to strike for a second time in as many tournaments against an African side. But having seemingly learned the lessons from that famous defeat, Argentina refused to dwell on the early setback and rallied to turn the game around. Nigeria, perhaps displaying that damned naïvety, gave up a series of fouls throughout the game. It is not unfair to point out that the former twotime world champions made sure every infringement was given in their favour, going to ground under the most minimal to draw the attention of Swedish referee Bo Karlsson. Argentina would not be bullied as they had been in Italy. The New York Times match report stated the newcomers ‘committed 38 fouls, about 24 outside its penalty area, and twice paid the price’. The equaliser arrived on 22 minutes after Maradona touched the ball from one such set piece, allowing Gabriel Batistuta to fire a trademark rocket of a shot at Peter Rufai. The Super Eagles keeper scrambled to make the save but failed to keep hold of the ball, allowing a quick-thinking Claudio Caniggia to finish from close range. Seven minutes later, Argentina were ahead as a result of another free kick and more smart play from Maradona. While Nigeria were still organising their defensive wall, the irrepressible number ten threaded a to Caniggia once again. Oneon-one with Rufai, the striker placed the ball high into the top left-hand corner from just to the right of the six-yard box. The mental scars, or perhaps physical in Caniggia’s case, from their loss to Cameroon were healed. Nigeria, on the other hand, were crushed. ‘I hope we get a chance to play Argentina again later in the tournament, but with a different referee,’ Westerhof said afterwards, but in truth, the better team won on the day. The match was also notable for the sight of Maradona being led off the pitch at full time, hand-in-hand with a nurse ahead of a random drug test which would come back positive for ephedrine. Banned for the rest of the tournament, the 33-year-old would never represent his country again, meaning his virtuoso performance against Nigeria turned out to be the last World Cup match he would ever play. Westerhof would be cursing his luck the test hadn’t taken place before the game. Ahead of the final game against Greece, various group outcomes were still possible. Approaching half-time in Foxborough, a driving run from Amunike into the Greece half set up an unmarked Finidi who chipped the ball over goalkeeper Christos Karkamanis to give Nigeria the lead and cement second

place. The stunning finish was followed by the winger producing another memorable World Cup celebration, running to the corner flag, inexplicably crawling on all fours and imitating a dog urinating. As both games went into the second half, Bulgaria took a surprise lead against Argentina in Dallas before adding a second in stoppage time which dropped Nigeria down to third place. Whether the players were aware of this is unclear but in the fifth minute of added time, Amokachi took the initiative by collecting the ball in the Greek half and charging towards goal. Evading the flailing tackles of four defenders, the powerhouse forward unleashed a right-footed screamer into the top corner for 2-0. It was a truly phenomenal strike which fired the Eagles ahead of both Bulgaria and Argentina on goal difference, sending them through as group winners. Nigeria’s achievement was further highlighted by the poor displays from Africa’s two other participants. Morocco, making their first appearance since their unforgettable run eight years earlier, finished bottom of Group F with three defeats from three against the Netherlands, Belgium and Saudi Arabia while Cameroon, despite recalling a now-42-year-old Roger Milla to their squad, started with a credible 2-2 draw against Sweden before being swept aside 3-0 by Brazil. Going into the final match against an already eliminated Russia, victory by three or more goals would have been enough for them to squeeze through as one of the best third-placed teams. Ultimately, this outcome was never even remotely on the cards as they were comprehensively dismantled 6-1 in Stanford with Russian striker Oleg Salenko scoring a World Cup record five times. It was the biggest defeat for an African side since Zaire’s 9-0 mauling at the hands of Yugoslavia 20 years earlier. A more positive record would fall as Milla netted his side’s consolation, thus becoming the oldest player to score in the history of the World Cup as well as extending his total in the competition to five – a tally that wouldn’t be equalled or broken by another African player for two decades. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, neither Milla nor his team-mates were in the mood to celebrate this feat. Posing for a photo with fellow record-breaker Salenko after the game, Milla’s despondency is impossible to disguise as he struggles to raise even half a smile. It was quite the contrast to his joy and jovial corner flag gyrations of four years earlier. For Nigeria, the round of 16 brought Italy, armed with reigning European and

World Player of the Year, Roberto Baggio. Against the odds in Foxborough, a rare Paolo Maldini error saw the defender misjudge Finidi’s out-swinging corner and his clumsy clearance sat up nicely for Amunike to capitalise and put his team ahead. When Italy were reduced to ten men with 15 minutes to go following Gianfranco Zola’s red card for a foul on Augustine Eguavoen, many in the Nigeria camp would have been forgiven for making plans for the quarterfinal. After Cameroon’s achievement in 1990, it looked as though Africa was beginning to get a hang of this whole World Cup malarkey. All Nigeria had to do was hold on to their lead and they would be back at the Foxborough Stadium to face Spain four days later. However, with just two minutes to play those dreams were cruelly dashed. A determined Roberto Mussi worked his way into the box on the right before ing to Baggio on the edge of the area. The sense of dread engulfed an entire nation as the wearer of football’s most famous ponytail took aim and unleashed a right-footed drive that crept agonisingly beyond the outstretched hand of Rufai into the bottom corner. Just like that, Italy were back in the game. With so little time left on the clock, this was a body blow that left Nigeria wobbling. Westerhof’s side couldn’t regroup and the heartbreak was complete when Baggio converted a penalty in the first half of extra time after Eguavoen hauled Antonio Benarrivo to the ground. The Super Eagles did almost immediately come close to an equaliser when Michael Emenalo put in a low cross for Yekini but, frustratingly, a heavy touch let him down and Italy were able to clear. The score stayed 2-1 and Nigeria were out but they were hailed as heroes with the consensus that this moment wasn’t simply a one-off. The Super Eagles looked well-placed to take off and soar once again. The team’s future would be without Westerhof, who left his post shortly after the tournament following rumours of disputes both with players and Nigerian FA officials. Part of the disagreement with the latter may have concerned the house he had been promised for his achievements with the team. It would take until 2019 for the association to make good on this agreement, finally presenting Westerhof his house after a 25-year wait. ‘It’s taken a long go-slow, but I feel happy that my second country has fulfilled its promise to me,’ he told the BBC. ‘I always say Nigeria gave me everything as a man and in football. You can see that I wasn’t wrong. I thank everyone involved in making this happen.’ Despite his acrimonious departure, Westerhof is still highly respected in Nigeria and credited with jump-starting the Super Eagles’ rise up the footballing ladder.

Two years later, Nigeria would be back in America, this time with the under-23 squad taking part at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Celestine Babayaro, his brother Emmanuel, Kanu, Mobi Oparaku and Wilson Oruma would all feature having been of that successful under-17 squad from 1993, and the team would make history by becoming the first African side to win football gold at the Games. In the semi-final, Nigeria battled back from 3-1 down against a strong Brazil side featuring the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos among others, to triumph 4-3 in golden goal extra time thanks to Kanu’s stunning winner. In the final, the youngsters exacted a measure of revenge against Argentina, winning 3-2 thanks to Amunike’s 90th-minute goal. Nigeria’s reputation was starting to grow and by the time of the next World Cup, many of the squad who travelled to were now established stars in Europe. Amokachi had won the English FA Cup with Everton in 1995, Babayaro was at Premier League rivals Chelsea, and Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha was making a name for himself at Fenerbahce in Turkey. Having won the Champions League with Ajax, Kanu was playing for Inter Milan alongside defender Taribo West. Finidi, who was also a member of that Ajax team, had moved to Real Betis in Spain, and Victor Ikpeba’s 13 league goals helped Monaco to the Ligue 1 title the year before the tournament. While they were not necessarily among the favourites in an expanded 32-team competition featuring plenty of heavyweight contenders, Nigeria, now under Serbian manager Bora Milutinović, were a good outside bet to make an impact and improve on their second-round showing in the USA. Facing Spain in their Group D opener in Nantes, Nigeria fell behind to Fernando Hierro’s free kick just before the midway point of the first half but drew level just five minutes later when Mutiu Adepoju powered home a header from Garba Lawal’s corner. Spain were ahead again just after the break through Raul but with less than 20 minutes to play, Nigeria turned things around in spectacular fashion. Okocha’s raking cross-field found Lawal on the left from where he fed Yekini. The striker powered his way forward before returning the to Lawal, now in the penalty area having continued his determined run. Skipping over a lunging tackle by Ivan Campo, the midfielder had little room to manoeuvre as his momentum took him to the byline. Left with no option but the fire the ball across the goal, the unexpected low cross wrong-footed veteran Spanish keeper Andoni Zubizaretta who could only fall and palm the ball into his own net.

A draw itself would have been a good result but the Eagles had caught the scent of vulnerability in their prey and secured the kill on 78 minutes. When Hierro sent his defensive header away from the Spain goal, his team-mates might have been convinced it had fallen into a relatively safe area some 30 yards upfield. What happened next would shock the watching world. Midfielder Sunday Oliseh ran on to the loose ball and hammered a first-time right-footed tracer round of a shot through a sea of players, beyond the outstretched arm of the luckless Spanish keeper to put Nigeria ahead and untimately seal a 3-2 win over one of the aforementioned heavyweights. It was a massive result for the African side. Qualification for the next round was sealed with a 1-0 win over Bulgaria in Paris courtesy of a well-worked move which was finished off by Ikpeba – a goal that demonstrated Nigeria were as capable of slick, intricate ing moves as the direct pace and power that saw them beat Spain. A fourth win in just their sixth finals match and Nigeria already had more tournament victories under their belt than any other team from the continent. A draw between Spain and Paraguay meant Nigeria’s win also confirmed top spot in the group, allowing Milutinović to make wholesale changes for their final match. The reshuffle resulted in a 3-1 defeat to the Paraguayans, which was not ideal preparation for the last 16 and perhaps disrupted momentum in the camp ahead of the showdown against Denmark. Nevertheless, Nigeria were still considered the stronger team and favourites to progress to the last eight – a sentiment shared by the Danes’ own Brian Laudrup. ‘They were household favourites to beat us, no doubt,’ the midfielder would later claim. ‘On a great day for them they would have beaten us, maybe easily.’ In front of 77,000 fans at the Stade de , Nigeria got off to the worst possible start as Peter Møller fired the supposed underdogs in front after just three minutes. Laudrup himself doubled Denmark’s advantage less than ten minutes later, finishing from close range after Rufai failed to hold on to Møller’s powerful long-range free kick. In the second half, Ebbe Sand beat West far too easily to drill beyond Rufai for 3-0 and more hapless goalkeeping caused chaos in the Eagles’ box with the ball eventually reaching Thomas Helveg to score a fourth. Nigeria weren’t just beaten, they were horribly exposed and embarrassed in stark contrast to their heroic efforts in defeat four years earlier. Tijani Babangida’s late consolation was an irrelevance as Nigeria crashed out in humiliating fashion. ‘When the pressure is not on, Denmark – a small country – performs to the best

of its ability and we shocked Nigeria, which went a long way to giving us the victory,’ claimed Laudrup. ‘They tried to do all they could but it was impossible.’ But as impressive as Denmark were, Nigeria were equally very much the architects of their own downfall, with reports of furious rows over pay and bonuses as late as the night before the match disrupting preparations. Twentyfour years after Zaire, the same problems with an African nation were rearing their head. However, a different story emerges from defender West, who revealed pre-match distractions were less about how much money they could tro, but rather that certain players were unable to actually keep said tros on. ‘Some players sneaked women into camp, I saw that,’ claimed West in an interview with Nigerian newspaper PUNCH. ‘The women were Africans who came to watch the tournament and fell in love with our team, because of the way we played in the group stage. So, it was easy for these players to woo them to their rooms.’ The defender, perhaps as well-known for his eye-catching coloured plaited hairstyle as his ability, believes his team-mates underestimated their opponents, hence their late-night indulgences. ‘You could see a lot of the players didn’t have the strength to curtail the Danish players. They were tired after overworking themselves the night before with the women. I was yelling at them on the pitch, I was very angry with them. They did all these things because they thought we were going to beat Denmark.’ It’s worth nothing that this uncorroborated claim comes solely from West but ties in with stories from Westerhof about the constant battle to stop his players going out at night during training camps and tournaments, encapsulating the difficulties instilling discipline in a group of sometimes combative and confrontational stars. Whatever the truth, this Nigeria team clearly weren’t fully focused on the task in hand, despite the incentive of facing holders Brazil in the last eight. With the 1996 Atlanta triumph still fresh in the memory, the outcome of this potential clash certainly wouldn’t have been a forgone conclusion. Instead, it was an early flight home following the debacle against Denmark. After close to a decade of steady improvement, this tournament may have been the best chance for this crop of players to seriously shake up the established order in world football. A frequent discussion among many footballing nations is that of a so-called ‘Golden Generation’ and this was unquestionably Nigeria’s. Subsequent World Cup appearances would fail to hit the same heights, and while this team will continue to be fondly ed, it is difficult to shake the

feeling that they could have achieved much more. And I don’t think that’s solely the view of a certain wide-eyed ten-year-old back in Lagos.

***

The increased number of teams at ’98 meant that CAF was now able to send five representatives to the tournament. The years when African sides were treated virtually as an inconvenience as far as the World Cup was concerned were a distant memory. Beyond Nigeria, there was a sense of hope that the rest of the African contingent of Morocco, Cameroon, South Africa and Tunisia could also make an impact. In the end, the Super Eagles were actually the only country to advance beyond the group stage although that doesn’t begin to tell the story of some agonising near misses for the others. Twenty years on from their famous appearance in Argentina and milestone first victory for Africa, Tunisia were back on the big stage but would bow out rather meekly, taking just a single point from their three Group G games. Defeats against England and Colombia meant an early exit despite a 1-1 draw with tabletopping Romania in their final game. Competing in their first World Cup, South Africa arrived with a sense of optimism not far off that of their west African rivals. The end of apartheid in the country and the election of Nelson Mandela as the first non-white head of state in a first fully democratic vote just four years earlier signalled a new dawn for the once-maligned nation. International boycotts and bans across all sports had slowly been lifted, and after the country hosted and won the Rugby World Cup in 1995, the football team repeated a similar trick the following year on home soil, winning their first African Cup of Nations in their debut tournament. Two years on, with the likes of Benni McCarthy, Quinton Fortune, Mark Fish and captain Lucas Radebe among their ranks, Bafana Bafana had good reason to believe they could make an impact in , but sadly didn’t do themselves justice. A 3-0 defeat to the hosts and eventual champions was far from an ideal start but a hard fought 1-1 draw with Denmark gave them a slim hope ahead of their final match against already eliminated Saudi Arabia. Needing a four-goal swing to progress, things started well enough when Shaun Bartlett put South

Africa in front. However, two highly debatable penalties awarded to the Saudis by Chilean referee Mario Sanchez either side of half-time sealed their fate, despite levelling the scores at 2-2 with their own questionable spot kick just before full time. Cameroon would lament a costly 91st-minute Austria equaliser in their opening match as they went on to lose against Italy, making qualification for the last 16 a tough proposition against a strong Chile side in their final Group B game. The South Americans took the lead thanks to a stunning José Luis Sierra free kick, and things would go from bad to worse when Rigobert Song received a red card for a stray elbow on Marcelo Salas early in the second half. But the Indomitable Lions summoned something close to the spirit of Italia ’90 and fought their way back into the game thanks to Patrick Mboma’s fantastic header just minutes after Song’s dismissal. The ers inside Nantes’s Stade de la Beaujoire thought Cameroon had completed a remarkable turnaround when Omam-Biyik fired home on the turn from Mboma’s knockdown, only for the referee László Vágner to rule it out for an apparent foul in the build-up. Watching the replay multiple times, it’s difficult to see how the Hungarian official came to this conclusion and the sense of injustice was fuelled further by a second red card in the dying minutes, this time for Lauren Etame Mayer. The draw saw Cameroon exit the competition by a single point, prompting manager Claude Le Roy to publicly label the referee ‘incompetent’. The country’s Youth and Sports Minister Joseph Owona went further, quoted in the LA Times report of the game describing the tournament as a ‘festival of scandal’ and hinting at a racist, anti-African conspiracy. If those slim margins and controversial calls decided the fates of South Africa and Cameroon, they would be even finer in the case of Morocco in Group A. After twice failing to hang on to the lead against Norway, a somewhat expected defeat against holders Brazil meant it was all to play for in the final match against Scotland in Saint-Etienne. Goals from Salaheddine Bassir and Abdeljalil Hadda set the Atlas Lions on course for round two and things seemed all but confirmed when Bebeto gave Brazil the lead against Norway late on. The party was in full swing when Hadda scored a third with just five minutes to play in St Etienne as Morocco secured a comfortable victory over the feeble Scots. Sitting in second place behind Brazil, the last 16 was so close they could taste it. With minutes left in the other match, Tore Andre Flo equalised for Norway but

they were still behind the Africans on goals scored. Fans who had made the trip across the Mediterranean were in full voice as the minutes ticked down but the cruellest twist of fate saw their celebrations cut short. News filtered back from Marseille that Norway had been given a 90th-minute penalty and before this could even be absorbed, Kjetil Rekdal converted from 12 yards to complete a shock comeback win as Norway leapfrogged Morocco in the group. IranianAmerican referee Esfandiar Baharmast spotted a shirt-pull on Flo by Junior Baiano, but many considered the award to be soft. Added to the costly decisions that led to Cameroon’s and possibly South Africa’s exits, it is not difficult to imagine the African conspiracy theorists being up in arms once more. There has never been any indication that anything untoward was happening, but for fans of the unfortunate nations, the indignation and sense of injustice was right up there with that of Algeria back in 1982.

7

Senegal’s Eastern Promise

BY 2002, the excitement, anticipation and apprehension of a brand-new millennium had been and gone with far less fuss than had been predicted beforehand. Sadly, there were no flying cars, people didn’t live in Jetsons-style ‘Skypad Apartments’ and you couldn’t pop to the local electronic shop to pick up a robot butler. Equally, there was relief across the world that planes hadn’t fallen out of the sky and microwave ovens hadn’t become sentient as the clock struck midnight on 31 December 1999. From a football perspective, the famous prediction from Brazilian legend Pelé that an African side would win the World Cup by the turn of the century also hadn’t come to . Although, a case could cheekily be made that the defending world champions from the last tournament of the preceding century had gone some way to making it something of a reality. The French have never been afraid to take advantage of their colonial rule in Africa when it comes to selecting players for the national team and the 1950s were no different. Born in Marrakech in 1933, Just Fontaine spent the first 20 years of his life in Morocco before moving to to play for Nice in 1953, plundering goals for both the French Riviera club and later, the great Stade Reims side of the era. With Moroccan independence and a national football team still years away, it was probably never the case that Fontaine would play for the nation of his birth and he was instead called up by almost immediately after his arrival in the country. After bagging a hat-trick in an 8-0 win against Luxembourg on his debut, the 1958 World Cup in Sweden would be where he truly made his name with an incredible 13-goal haul in just six matches as Les Bleus reached the semi-final, losing to eventual winners Brazil. Although his remarkable total was not enough to secure the Jules Rimet Trophy, it remains a record for one player in a single tournament and one that will likely never be matched, let alone beaten. Fontaine scored 30 times in just 21 appearances for the French, and that number might have been even higher had he not been forced to retire at just 28 due to injury.

Curiously, the 1958 side would have had two other African-born players alongside Fontaine but Mustapha Zitouni and Rachid Mekloufi had both defected ahead of the tournament to Algeria’s FLN team in controversial circumstances. Some believe that had been able to call upon the two, it would have given them a realistic shot at beating Brazil as well as winning the final. Forty years on, the French team that finally lifted the trophy on home soil in 1998 was seen as a symbol of the country’s ever-increasing multicultural makeup with the successful squad affectionately nicknamed the Rainbow Warriors. Aime Jacquet’s side featured several players from backgrounds beyond the country’s borders, again taking advantage of former and current colonies and territories around the world. African representation specifically came in the form of Accra-born Marcel Desailly; the hero of the Paris final and son of Algerian immigrants, Zinedine Zidane; and notably, midfield general Patrick Vieira, born in Dakar, Senegal. Writing in his autobiography, Vieira recalls little of his life growing up in the district of Sicap before his mother moved the family to Europe. From the age of seven, Vieira would first live in Trappes and then Dreux on the outskirts of Paris before ing Cannes as a teenager. At just 19, a big move to AC Milan followed, before Arsène Wenger and Arsenal came calling in 1996. In 1997 came a first senior call-up for and the rest is history. Having left Senegal as a child, Vieira wouldn’t return to the country of his birth until 2003. Located on the most western point of the African mainland, Senegal was in a prime position for European conquerors looking to transport slaves at the start of the transatlantic trade in the 15th century. After trading posts were initially set up by Portuguese explorers, a tussle for the region ensued for many years, involving the British, Dutch and crucially, the French, who would establish Saint-Louis as its main port in the north-west of the country in 1659, before seizing the country’s Dutch-controlled offshore Island of Goree in 1677. Despite the capture of Senegal by the British during the Seven Years War in 1758, the posts were returned to in 1783 as agreed by the Treaty of Paris. The 1850s would see the French expand their interests inland, creating the region known as French West Africa – a collective group of colonies, formally established in 1895 following the infamous Scramble for Africa. The federation’s capital was Saint-Louis until 1902 when it switched to Dakar,

placing Senegal at its heart. During this period, inhabitants of the Four Communes of Senegal (Saint-Louis, Dakar, Goree and Rufisque) were granted French citizenship while others merely remained subjects of the French empire. Over the course of its existence, French West Africa’s other territories included Mauritania, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. In 1958, in the wake of the violence taking place in Algeria, Charles De Gaulle granted these territories the right to self-govern. Senegal gained its independence in 1960 following a very short-lived union as part of the Mali Federation with French Sudan. The independent Senegal can now be found on the map shaped almost like a mouth on the west coast of the continent, with Gambia locked in its jaws. and Senegal still remained tied, however. French is the official language spoken in the country and Senegal still relies on as its largest European trading partner, with many French companies also based in the West African state. Senegal is one of Africa’s most peaceful countries and has been described as a beacon of stability and democracy on the continent. Unfortunately, poverty is still an inescapable problem and many Senegalese choose to take advantage of their colonial link to move to for work and study. These links between the two countries would provide a very easy age for someone like Vieira to migrate to Europe, with the player readily itting his family moved to ‘escape hardship and poverty’. The 6ft 4in Vieira became a commanding figure on the football pitch. Possessing both pace and physical power, the midfielder would control matches and dominate opponents both for club and country. With great technical ability and intelligence, Vieira stood out among his peers, and was widely considered one of the best players of his generation. After winning three Premier League titles with Arsenal, including captaining the side to an unbeaten league season in 2004, it was no coincidence the club struggled after his departure and have arguably never recovered. At international level, Vieira’s main contribution to that maiden World Cup win of 1998 was an assist for then-Arsenal team-mate Emmanuel Petit to score the third goal in the win over deposed champions Brazil in the final. By the time of the 2000 European Championship success, he was the lynchpin of the French side. Vieira’s origins were never a secret. Quick-witted Arsenal fans let the world

know as much through their famous chant following his Highbury arrival. To the tune of Italian singer Domenico Modugno’s ‘Nel blu dipinto di blu’, ecstatic ers needed little reason each week to serenade their new favourite. ‘Vieira, wo-oh-oh, Vieira, wo-oh-oh. He comes from Senegal. He plays for Arsenal,’ they would belt out from the stands while watching him use his long legs to stride up the pitch with the ball as easily as he would to boot a rival player six feet in the air. The draw for the 2002 World Cup took place on 1 December the previous year. With Japan and South Korea set for t hosting duties, it was a clear sign the tournament was becoming a far more inclusive event. That the first World Cup to have two hosts would also be the first to take place on the Asian continent was a testament to this. Of the 32 participants, four would be making their first World Cup appearances; China, Ecuador and Slovenia would feature from Asia, South America and Europe respectively, while making their bow from Africa were the Senegalese. The African debutants were picked out of Pot D, comprising the lowest ranked teams in the competition, and placed into Group A alongside Denmark, Uruguay and . Despite being the last team picked out, the convoluted mechanisms of the draw meant Senegal were heading to Seoul to face their former colonial rulers for not just the opening match of the group, but also the entire tournament. The parallel with Cameroon 12 years earlier was unavoidable. Having swept to European Championship glory two years earlier to add to their world title, the French, now managed by Roger Lemerre, were naturally among the favourites to win the competition again. Despite the typical football cliches about taking nothing for granted, Lemerre and his team would have looked at the match against their ‘little brother’ as the perfect opener on their way to defending the trophy. But Senegal had something of an ace up their sleeve. The long and deep relationship between the two nations meant that, like Vieira, aspiring Senegalese players would often look to to further their footballing careers and equally, Ligue 1 clubs would regularly seek to raid their former colony for potential talent. Unlike Vieira however, rather than play for , these players instead returned to represent the country of their birth and armed with this newfound football education, produced a team with enough certified talent to qualify for a first World Cup. Of the squad who travelled to Asia, 21 of the 23-man

group were at French clubs. The only exceptions were back-up goalkeeper Kalidou Cissokho of Senegalese side ASC Jeanne d’Arc, and fellow reserve stopper Omar Diallo Olympique of Club de Khouribga in Morocco. Far from a ‘naïve’ group of World Cup newcomers, this was a set of players, of course led by a French manager in Bruno Metsu, who were probably far closer to their European counterparts than their reputation suggested. The Lions of Teranga arrived at the tournament off the back of a best performance at the African Nations Cup held in neighbouring Mali five months earlier. Metsu’s side had reached another milestone by appearing in the final for the first time but were cruelly denied on penalties by Cameroon in Bamako. A showdown between the African and European champions had been snatched away but the World Cup opener hardly needed any more narrative. Going into the game on 31 May, were missing their crown jewel, Zinedine Zidane, through injury, perhaps providing some hope to their opponents. However, despite his absence, Senegal would still have to contend with Thierry Henry who, after a remarkable Premier League and FA Cup winning season with Arsenal, picking up the Golden Boot along the way, was for possibly the first time in his glittering career being spoken of as one of the best footballers in the world. The team also contained many of the stars of ’s two recent international successes such as Lilian Thuram, Desailly and Petit, as well as the one man Senegal had extra motivation to face. Speaking to The Independent beforehand, Vieira was full of praise for his birth nation’s achievement in reaching the finals. The Arsenal star also revealed his excitement to face Senegal and described the draw as ‘a gift from God’. However, while itting he and his team-mates were wary of the threat posed by the debutants, he was also confident enough predict a victory. It wasn’t especially outrageous given the stature and standing of each side going into the game, but it was certainly an opinion that would sharpen minds in the Senegal camp and provided greater incentive for the World Cup newbies. Vieira wasn’t alone in his prediction. Football observers and pundits across the globe would have been laughed at for daring to suggest anything beyond a comprehensive victory for , especially considering the stuttering form of the Senegalese, whose warm-up friendly matches in the weeks leading up to the tournament included a worrying 0-0 draw at home to Guinea and a 3-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia. Their preparations hit a further road bump upon arriving in South

Korea when forward Khalilou Fadiga faced police interrogation over the alleged theft of a $245 gold necklace from a jewellery store in Daegu. Charges were dropped after Fadiga itted he had taken the neckless as part of a prank that had gone wrong. The story had something of a happy ending with the store owner choosing to make peace by sending the player a small golden pig as a good luck charm ahead of the battle with , but taking place just days before the big game, this unwelcome distraction wasn’t ideal. The opening ceremony saw the two host nations jockeying for cultural position in a flamboyant display of singing, dancing, choreography and colour. The spectacle did nothing to distract or affect the mood of the first-timers as they kicked off the game undaunted. Within seconds, wiry 21-year-old Lens forward El Hadji Diouf performed a clever turn in the middle of the pitch to spin away from his marker Marcel Desailly, drawing a foul from the Chelsea defender and setting the tone for the rest of the evening. Minutes later, the reigning African Footballer of the Year again skipped past Desailly on the right-hand side of the penalty area, pulling the ball back to the edge of the box to Fadiga, who could only stab his first-time effort straight at Fabien Barthez. The strategy from the outset was clear: press hard in the centre and release the ball as quickly as possible to the energetic Diouf. Showing all the enthusiasm of somebody very much aware he was playing in his first World Cup match, the pacy striker frequently switched positions, from left to right and then through the middle. His excitement would get the better of him on occasion as his darting runs often came just slightly too early, with his progress quickly halted by the assistant referee’s flag. Still, Diouf’s youthful exuberance made life extremely difficult for the ageing centre-back pair of 33-year-old Desailly and 34-year-old Frank Leboeuf. He soon drew another foul, this time from the latter of that duo, with barely a quarter of an hour played. But this early good work almost became obsolete in the blink of an eye. An incisive from Petit found Henry just outside the Senegal penalty area, allowing him to then feed partner David Trezeguet’s run. The scorer of ’s last tournament goal in the Euro 2000 Final win over Italy then checked back on to his right foot before hammering a powerful shot beyond the reach of Senegal goalkeeper Tony Sylva, only to see the ball come crashing back off the post and away to safety.

Buoyed by this let-off, Senegal continued to take the game to their illustrious opponents and in the most uncanny turn of events, a casual Vieira in midfield was intercepted by Omar Daf stepping up from defence. The full-back predictably sought out Diouf, now operating on the left, causing a panicked Leboeuf to respond with a desperate lunge not befitting a player of his experience. The fleet-footed forward simply skipped over the Frenchman’s trailing leg and raced away. Reaching the byline, Diouf sent a low across the penalty area which took a deflection off the retreating Petit and forced Barthez into a scrambling save. The French keeper could only parry the ball to the feet of Papa Bouba Diop, himself on the turf having attempted to slide home the initial cross, and the midfielder scooped the ball into an empty yet from three yards out. It was the first goal of the 2002 World Cup and Senegal’s first goal on the grandest stage of all. Diop peeled away in celebration. Running to the corner flag, he beckoned to his team-mates, removed his shirt and placed it on the ground before the other players arrived to perform a celebratory dance around it. Not quite Roger Milla, but similarly iconic. Arriving late – for possibly the only time in the match – was Diouf, who shared an emotional embrace with his Lens team-mate. This moment becomes far more poignant when watched again in light of Diop’s tragic death in 2020, aged just 42. Before the half was over, Diouf continued to torment , who seemed unable to cope with his mere presence on the pitch. Djorkaeff, Leboeuf again, and then Petit, were all guilty of committing fouls on the player, with the last of those three receiving a yellow card for his troubles. After the break, came out firing and missed a string of mostly half-chances. One such opportunity almost produced an incredible moment of drama as Vieira of all people met a free header from a corner but could only direct the ball into the grateful hands of Sylva. The holders started to dictate the game, but it was hardly a backs-to-the-wall performance from Senegal, who soaked up much of what their opponents threw at them without too much trouble. In fact it was they who almost scored the second goal of the evening when Fadiga burst forward on the left and unleashed a powerful shot to rattle Barthez’s crossbar. Barely two minutes later, the ball fell to the feet of Henry on the edge of the Senegal box but the Arsenal man’s

trademark right-foot curler which regularly left goalkeepers flailing also crashed off the frame of the goal. struggled to create any meaningful chances and as the final whistle went, the Senegalese bench cleared to celebrate a famous and unexpected victory. Their beaten and dumbfounded opponents skulked off the pitch, wondering what had just happened. Twelve years on from Omam-Biyik’s header, Diouf and company matched the feat of an African underdog opening a World Cup with a surprise win over the defending champions. , and Vieira, were beaten. Stunned. Shocked. Surprised. You would be hard-pressed to find any report of the match that didn’t feature at least one of these words in its headline. Back home, men, women and children flooded the streets of Dakar and throughout the country. Celebrations even took place outside the presidential palace, with President Abdoulaye Wade ing the revellers, sat atop his motorcade, waving the green, yellow and red tricolour flag high in the air. Wade then declared a national holiday, allowing the partying to continue. The team had created a memory that would last a lifetime, but for Metsu and his players, the competition had only just begun. One more win from their remaining two matches would take them into the promised land of the knockout phase. Denmark and Uruguay would both provide formidable opposition but having just beaten the world champions, Senegal had nothing to fear. Against Denmark in Daegu, things didn’t start well. Just 15 minutes in, Salif Diao clattered into the back of Jon Dahl Tomasson, who stepped up to convert the resulting spot-kick. Not to be disheartened, Diao’s surging second-half run saw him pick up Diouf’s through ball at the end of a scintillating counter-attack to level the scores. The midfielder’s eventful afternoon would not end there, however, as a nasty, high, studs-up challenge on the Danes’ Rene Henriksen earned him a red card, crucially ruling him out of the final group game. With ten men Senegal were able to cling on for the draw. Armed with the knowledge could only manage a draw themselves with Uruguay, Senegal knew just one point from their showdown with the South Americans would be enough for a place in the last 16. The clash in Suwon produced one of the games of the tournament. As Diouf’s career would progress, he would mostly garner headlines for the wrong reasons and a sign of things to come occurred after 20 minutes of the game against

Uruguay. Having dispossessed Paolo Montero and driven into the box, Diouf threw himself to the ground in theatrical fashion after evading the attempted challenge of Uruguay stopper Fabian Carini. Dutch referee Jan Wegereef pointed to the spot and issued Carini with a yellow card. Curiously, had Diouf stayed on his feet, chances are he would have been in the clear to open the scoring regardless. Fadiga dispatched the kick to put Senegal ahead and five minutes later, Diop doubled the advantage with an emphatic finish from the edge of the area following a quick counter and from Henri Camara. The same combination was at it again before half-time as Diop extended his long left leg to meet Camara’s cross and redirect the ball off the underside of the crossbar to bounce behind Carini’s goal line. It was 3-0, albeit with a strong hint of offside about the third goal. Sitting in the dressing room at the break, it must have been difficult for Metsu to keep the players grounded. Their commanding lead all but confirmed safe age to round two and all that was needed was to see out the remaining 45 minutes. But Uruguay were not about to let their dimming World Cup flame extinguish completely and with a slim chance of still going through, they flew out of the traps in the second half. Sloppy defending just a minute after the restart allowed Richard Morales to pull a goal back, before Diego Forlan reduced the deficit further with a sensational chest-and-volley effort from the edge of the box with 70 minutes on the clock. Nerves were clearly starting to fray as momentum was with a Uruguay side needing two more goals to complete the most unlikely turnaround. Things were set up for a grandstand finish when Morales went down following a coming together with substitute Habib Baye. It looked another soft call by Wegereef but Senegal hardly had much room for complaint given Diouf’s earlier antics and Alvaro Recoba rolled the penalty home for 3-3. Senegal were now in total disarray and in stoppage time, they gifted their opponents one last chance to steal the game and a place in the next round. Gustavo Varela hit a speculative long-range drive which flew beyond Sylva, but not defender Lamine Diatta, desperately throwing his head in the way of the ball on the line and preventing a heart-shattering Uruguay winner. However, the clearance merely sent the ball looping high up into the Suwon air, and the entire population of two nations held their collective breath as the Adidas Fevernova

dropped from the heavens. An unmarked Morales, barely two yards from goal, sprung into the air attempting to win the game with a dramatic late header. Senegal players froze in fear but to their eternal relief, the striker miscued his jump and sent the ball agonisingly wide when he only needed to direct it goalwards for victory. Incredibly, Senegal were through to the last 16 to face Sweden in Oita where, after falling behind early to a Henrik Larsson header, the never-say-die spirit that had been a hallmark of their tournament so far was soon evident again. Ten minutes before half-time, Camara coolly took down a Diouf flick-on from the edge of the area before shuffling his way beyond two Swedish defenders and drilling beyond Magnus Hedman into the bottom-right corner. Chances would come and go for both sides but when Anders Svensson crashed a brilliant effort off the post in golden goal extra time, Senegal must have known their luck was in. On the stroke of half-time in the extended period, Camara was again the hero, sending his country into a historic quarter-final. Once more demonstrating quick feet to evade Swedish tackles and wriggle into the box, his pea-roller again beat Hedman, again into the bottom corner and this time going in via the post as if to torment Svensson and the Swedes further. At the very least, Senegal had now matched the achievement of Cameroon in 1990 and all that stood between them and a place in the semis were fellow overachievers Turkey, playing in just their second World Cup and first since 1954. The two teams, perhaps overawed both by the occasion and the prize on offer, could not be separated in a lacklustre encounter under the lights in Osaka. Once again, the game went to golden goal extra time but on this occasion, Senegal would be the ones to suffer as Ilhan Masiz managed to get the wrong side of Diatta to convert Unit Davala’s right-wing cross just four minutes into the extended period. Metsu’s team were heading home but with their heads held high. The naïve debutants who were expected to be the whipping boys of their group had shocked the football world. Their achievement was further highlighted by the fact fellow first-timers China and Slovenia finished bottom of their respective first-round groups without a point between them. Ecuador also propped up their group, although they did pick up a 1-0 win over Croatia to take back from their journey east. Like Nigeria four years earlier, Senegal’s exit meant they missed out on a high-

profile meeting with Brazil in the next round. However, the disappointment would not last for many of the players, whose displays in South Korea and Japan saw their stock rise immeasurably. The world, beyond , was now well aware of the talent the country was sitting on. Following the tournament, Diouf, who would retain his African Footballer of the Year award later in the year, moved to a Liverpool side who had just finished second in the Premier League. The player would have an eventful time in Britain, disappointing at Anfield but earning cult hero status at Bolton Wanderers before spells at Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, Doncaster Rovers and Leeds United. Controversy was never far away with the player involved in spitting incidents at both Liverpool and Bolton, and of course, running battles with Celtic’s Scott Brown – as if the Old Firm derby needed any more fuel for that particular fire. The spiky, combative player he would become was a far cry from the tricky speed merchant seen at the World Cup. For Salif Diao, life in England was far more straightforward. After ing Liverpool alongside Diouf, he would move to Stoke City after loans at Birmingham City and Portsmouth, becoming something of a hero for the Potters after his contribution to the club’s successful promotion to the Premier League in 2008. Captain Aliou Cisse would also move to England following the tournament, also ing Birmingham before moving to Portsmouth. In what feels like a recurring theme, Amdy Faye signed for Portsmouth in 2003 before turning out for Newcastle United, Charlton Athletic, Stoke and Leeds. Papa Bouba Diop ed Fulham in 2004 where he earned the nickname ‘The Wardrobe’ based on his strength and imposing physical stature. He is perhaps best ed at the club for a stunning goal against Manchester United before spells at, naturally, Portsmouth and again Birmingham either side of a short stay at West Ham United. Diop lifted the FA Cup in 2008 with Pompey and played a role in the Hammers’ Championship promotion in 2012. His shock death in November 2020 was mourned by all of his former clubs. Fulham striker Ademola Lookman paid tribute to the former star by raising Diop’s famous Senegal number 19 shirt in the air after scoring a goal for the Cottagers in their next game following the tragic announcement. Enhanced player reputations aside, Senegal’s progress in Asia was reflective of what was an upset-heavy World Cup and what felt like a power shift in international football. By the time they faced Turkey, the Africans would have at

the very least been considered on an equal footing with their opponents and the outcome had they progressed to the final four against Brazil was by no means a certainty. They will consider themselves unlucky to have missed out on a historic semi-final place that was very much within their grasp. Nevertheless, the 2002 squad will always be the benchmark and inspiration for future generations who may still ire and laud someone like Vieira, but no longer feel the need to follow the same route to international stardom. This is something the player himself encourages through the Diambars charity and football academy he co-founded in 2003 with Beninese defender Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco and former goalkeeper Bernard Lama. By the time Senegal next appeared at a World Cup in 2018, three of the squad that travelled to Russia – Idrissa Gana Gueye, Kara Mbodji and Badou Ndiaye – were all Diambars graduates. Aliou Cisse, one of the stars of 2002, managed the team in Russia as African sides continued to move away from the reliance on European coaches. However, the impact of Bruno Metsu will never be forgotten in the country. Metsu took control following Senegal’s African Nations Cup quarter-final defeat to Nigeria in 2000. The path to Senegal came via a number of roles in his native and an aborted attempt to manage Guinea at the start of that year. Sporting a long, thick mane of curly hair, Metsu earned the nickname the ‘White Sorcerer’, and was best known for his man management, instilling the belief in his players that would first motivate them to successful World Cup qualification – beating the likes of Morocco, Egypt and Algeria in their group, no less – a first AFCON final, and the unforgettable campaign in the Far East. Despite his spell with the team coming to an end after the World Cup, Metsu remained tied to the country. After marrying his wife Viviane, a Senegalese native, the Frenchman also converted from Christianity to Islam. Sadly, in late 2012, Metsu was diagnosed with colon cancer, to which he would succumb a year later. Following his ing, Augustin Senghor, president of the Senegal Football Federation, paid tribute to the much-loved manager, saying, ‘Bruno Metsu not only made history for Senegalese football but for all of Senegal.’

***

The other African representatives in 2002 struggled to match Senegal’s achievements in a tournament that was ripe for potential dark horses. Nigeria arrived sporting a bright, luminous green home shirt manufactured by Nike but ultimately did very little to light up the tournament themselves. Drawn in Group F alongside Argentina, Sweden, and their own former colonial rulers in the form of England, they never got going. Labelled the ‘Group of Death’, every match turned out to be incredibly tight, cagey and mostly quite dull. Half of the six games ended in draws and of the three that did produce a result, none were by more than a single-goal margin. In fact, Nigeria’s fatal 2-1 setback against Sweden in their second game was the only time in the group any of the quartet scored more than once. Julius Aghahowa’s opener and beautifully choreographed famous multi-somersault flip celebration was the high point of an ultimately disappointing showing for the Super Eagles given the achievements of the previous two tournaments. A 1-0 defeat to pre-tournament favourites Argentina in their opening game meant the Sweden loss saw them eliminated. A credible 0-0 draw against England at least meant they exited with a point to show for their efforts. Equally underwhelming were Tunisia once again. The Eagles of Carthage finished with that same record as Nigeria, as well as matching their own from four years earlier, picking up their sole point from Group H with a 1-1 draw against Belgium. Two 2-0 defeats, to Russia and co-hosts Japan respectively, left them bottom of the group. South Africa were back for a second successive tournament but much like 1998, they would miss out of the second round in unfortunate circumstances. After salvaging a draw against Paraguay, a 1-0 win over Slovenia put them in a decent position ahead of the final match against Spain. Giving their all in a thrilling game, they sadly ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline. The result would have still been enough to see them through but for a dramatic late goal by Paraguay to beat Slovenia 3-1 and steal second place by virtue of goals scored. Cameroon had come into the competition off the back of Olympic gold medal success two years earlier and an African Nations Cup win in the months leading up to the tournament. For many, they were the strongest African nation in the Far East and big things were expected. Ranked 17th in the world, they would have been bullish after being drawn against , Ireland and Saudi Arabia in

Group E. The Irish camp was in a state of chaos after captain Roy Keane was sent home following a major falling out with manager Mick McCarthy – proving such incidents are not solely an ‘Africa’ problem – and when Patrick Mboma gave Cameroon the lead in the opening match between the two sides, it looked as though the rest of the team would soon be following the Manchester United man back to the British Isles. But Cameroon’s failure to kill off the game allowed Ireland to equalise and all of a sudden, qualification was not so certain. In a group where goal difference could be key, they could only manage a 1-0 win over the Saudis – who had just lost 8-0 to . Going into the final game against the Germans needing a win, Cameroon went down 2-0 to the eventual finalists and were sent home. It was a great opportunity to emulate and perhaps even improve on the heroics of 12 years prior, but it was unfortunately missed. It would be left to Senegal to carry that baton this time around.

8

Fresh Faces for

SENEGAL WINNING the hearts of people across the globe in 2002 was perhaps one of the most important moments as far as African football at the World Cup was concerned. Despite an increased presence there was perhaps a concern that talent and subsequent growth was only concentrated in certain countries. North Africa’s ‘big four’ of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt were seemingly now qualifying on a rotational basis while Cameroon and Nigeria were tightening their grip as the dominant powers in the west. South Africa had by now made back-to-back tournaments and were expected to continue marching on, so Senegal’s successful surprise run gave hope to the rest of the vast footballobsessed continent. With the game in Africa now more accessible and players from even so-called lesser nations now plying their trade in Europe and playing for some of the world’s top teams, it was inevitable the quality would increase and spread, making the sport far more competitive at international level especially. New names were in the hunt for World Cup places and with five spots available, it was probably to be expected that we would start to see some unfamiliar faces at the tournament. What wasn’t expected perhaps was that in 2006, as many as four of the five allocated qualifying places would be snatched up by a debutant, with Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo all heading to as Africa’s representatives with the hope of following in Senegal’s footsteps four years earlier. Among the new faces, Tunisia were the only returning African side to the competition. In 1998, Tunisia’s record from their three group games was an underwhelming two defeats and a draw as they failed to qualify for the second round. In 2002 they repeated that tally and again did not go through. Arriving in , there was a sense of optimism that they could improve on those previously disappointing displays. After returning from South Korea and Japan,

the Eagles of Carthage handed the managerial role to Roger Lemerre after he was sacked by following their disastrous World Cup defence, which included that shock defeat to Senegal. The Frenchman oversaw a period of relative growth and even successfully led Tunisia to their first AFCON win in 2004. World Cup qualification followed and Lemerre’s side would have to navigate a Group H that also featured an increasingly improving Spain, a Ukraine side at their first major tournament as a nation since the break-up of the Soviet Union, and Saudi Arabia. Facing the last of those sides first in Munich, Tunisia had an opportunity to lay down a marker against the weakest team in the group and secure a first World Cup win since 1978. Things started well as Ziad Jaziri’s stunning scissor-kick gave them the lead but two second-half goals turned the game in the Saudis’ favour. Lemerre’s side managed to salvage a point thanks to Radhi Jaïdi’s injurytime header to restore parity at 2-2 but sadly, the joy of a last-gasp equaliser was tempered by the fact Tunisia had missed the chance to secure a win against supposedly inferior opposition. Lemerre and Tunisia managed to pick themselves up against Spain, and there was an early prospect of a shock when Jawhar Mnari beat Iker Casillas after just eight minutes. To their credit, the Africans held the lead for much of the game before three Spain goals in the last 20 minutes spun the result in favour of the Europeans. Qualification was still a possibility ahead of the final group match against Ukraine but that too ended in defeat courtesy of an Andriy Shevchenko penalty in the second half. Tunisia were heading home having failed to make any inroads at the tournament, ending their stay in with the record of, yet again, two defeats and a draw as they failed to qualify for the second round. A measly three points from three World Cup appearances and a far cry from the heroes of 1978. Undoubtedly the most surprising of the new breed of African teams making their World Cup bow was the south-western nation of Angola. At number 57, they arrived in as the second-lowest FIFA-ranked team competing in the finals. Kicking off their qualifying campaign in October 2003, they were even further down the table at 85 ahead of a two-legged preliminary match against Chad. Angola’s lowly standing, even in African football, still placed them significantly higher up the food chain than their opponents so it was something of a shock when Chad won the first leg 3-1 in N’Djamena. By African football standards, the result was a huge upset and ultimately led to Angola’s Brazilian

coach Ismael Kurtz losing his job. Kurtz was replaced by the native Luís de Oliveira Gonçalves and the change clearly helped as a 2-0 home win in the return leg in Luanda saw Angola squeak through on away goals and into the group stage of the qualifiers by the skin of their teeth. CAF’s new experimental format saw the groups now made up of six teams, up from four, with only the top side going through to the finals. The ‘Palancas Negras’ – giant sable antelopes – were not expected to cause even a ripple when drawn alongside traditional heavyweights Nigeria and Algeria, as well as Zimbabwe, Gabon and Rwanda. However, after starting their campaign with a shock 0-0 draw against Algeria, Angola stunned Nigeria with a late goal from striker Fabrice Akwá to seal a valuable 1-0 home win. Angola then lost just once and drew twice in their next seven matches, including a vital 1-1 draw away to Nigeria. Going into the final round of matches in late 2005, Angola were level on points with the Super Eagles, but due to a superior head-to-head record, they found themselves on the brink of history. Nigeria thrashed Zimbabwe 5-1, so Angola knew they also needed a victory from their trip to Rwanda. While it is unnecessary to fixate on such financial and structural disparity, Rwanda’s Amahoro National Stadium – once a UN protection site for refugees during that country’s horrific civil war a little over a decade earlier – was a world away from ’s fantastic newly refurbished arenas that Angola were hoping to play in the following summer. And with its shredded surface, unevenly painted lines and slackly hanging goal nets, the ground saw the Antelopes toil. That was until Akwá managed to find a breakthrough with a 79th-minute header to seal an unlikely qualification for Gonçalves’s underdogs at the expense of the Nigerians. The scale of the achievement is even more impressive when you consider the star power of Nigeria and the lack thereof of Angola. Aside from mostly local players, Gonçalves, nicknamed ‘The Professor’, had the brainwave to start mining Portugal’s lower leagues for talent to make up his squad, taking advantage of the historical link between the two nations. Originally part of Africa’s great Kingdom of Kongo, the area’s coastal location on the Atlantic Ocean left it ripe for European occupation. The Portuguese first arrived in 1483, setting up trading posts over the next two centuries and establishing the city of Luanda in 1576. The modern-day capital of the country was the heart of the slave trade in the region until the practice was abolished in

1836. Around one million people from the area were transported during this period, mostly to Portugal’s other colony, Brazil. The borders for the nation as it is recognised today were established at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 and the notorious Scramble for Africa. Despite a brief period under Dutch rule from 1641 to 1648, the country remained in Portuguese control until the war of independence in 1961. Along with nationalist movements in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, fighting lasted for over a decade until 1974 when Portugal began to negotiate with proindependence groups in its African territories following the Carnation Revolution in their own country. On 11 November 1975, Angola was freed from Portuguese rule, although entered its own bloody civil war which would go on for more than 26 years until April 2002. Not unlike the case of and Senegal, a shared language, diplomatic ties, and migration of refugees due to the civil war meant that one side could potentially make valid ancestral claims for eligibility of players from the other. In this case, Angola’s manager used this to his advantage to seek out players of the Angolan diaspora in the European nation, reversing the usual trend of the occupier raiding its former colony. In the strangest of coincidences, history would repeat itself from four years earlier as Angola were paired in Group D with their former rulers for their first ever World Cup match. Of course, Angola went into the game in Cologne as outsiders but after Senegal’s famous victory, the thought of something similar occurring was very much on everyone’s mind. A star-studded Portugal team featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo very quickly poured cold water on such thoughts, determined not to become victims of another World Cup shock. Within five minutes a 33-year-old Figo beat defender Jamba to drive into the box and ed to Pauleta to roll the ball home. Any pre-tournament optimism had been immediately quelled and having conceded so early, there was a fear the floodgates would open. But to his credit, Gonçalves had built a resolute, disciplined side who refused to collapse after the early blow. Although they couldn’t find an equaliser, they managed to repel their opponents for the rest of the game to come away with a 1-0 defeat. Leaving aside fanciful dreams of emulating Senegal, this was possibly as much as they could have expected. Facing Mexico in Hanover, they again demonstrated defensive resolve and despite losing defensive lynchpin André Macanga to two

yellow cards late on, held on for a goalless draw and a first World Cup point. The result meant Angola still had an unlikely shot at qualification for the knockout stages. With Mexico now facing the Portuguese and Angola taking on a mediocre Iran side, the right set of results would have seen the African minnows progress. With both matches in the second half, and Mexico trailing 21, Angola sensed an opportunity. On the hour mark, Zé Kalanga found space on the right to send a deep cross into the area, picking out the unmarked Flávio attacking the far post. The striker, who had not long come off the bench as a substitute, had the freedom of Leipzig to send his header back across goal and over the helpless Iran keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour. Angola had scored at a World Cup. The goalscorer dropped to his knees and beat his chest in celebration. Gonçalves’s side still required a two-goal swing but had given themselves unexpected hope. Sadly, Iran drew level with 15 minutes to play when defender Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh headed beyond Angolan keeper João Ricardo. The game ended 1-1 and Angola were out but not without putting up a fight. Their two draws and respectable performance in their ‘cup final’ against Portugal exceeded any and all expectations. The only team ranked lower than Angola by FIFA at the start of the tournament were fellow African debutants Togo at a lowly 61. Under Stephen Keshi, captain of the Nigeria side in 1994, their unexpected qualification ahead of 2002 heroes Senegal was equally as impressive as that of Angola. Ultimately though, their appearance in was an unremarkable one on the pitch as any ambitions they may have had were undermined by the age-old disputes over bonuses and quite literal in-fighting within the camp. Just months before the start of the tournament, star striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who had just sealed a move to English Premier League giants Arsenal, fell out with Keshi during a disastrous AFCON campaign. After a 2-0 defeat to DR Congo, the two men were reportedly involved in an altercation on the team bus where Keshi had to be physically restrained from confronting his player. The Sparrowhawks finished bottom of their group with three defeats from three – including a 3-2 setback against Angola – leading to Keshi being jettisoned from his role and replaced by German veteran Otto Pfister. Having previously managed Rwanda, Upper Volta, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Zaire, Ghana and Egyptian club side Zamalek, Pfister had a reputation as something of an Afrophile and his long, storied career would finally be rewarded with a trip to a World Cup in his homeland. Unfortunately, his appointment didn’t bring the

stability Togo craved. The squad were said to be demanding nearly $200,000 a man from the Togo Football Federation (TFF) for participating in the tournament as well as $39,000 per victory and $20,000 for a draw. With the situation still unresolved just days before their opening Group G game against South Korea, the players refused to train and Pfister resigned. After a deal was agreed for the players to receive $155,000 each, he was persuaded to return ahead of the match against the 2002 co-hosts. Togo actually took a first half lead in Frankfurt when Mohamed Kader lashed a low shot from the edge of the penalty area across goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae into the bottom-right corner. The goal meant that Togo momentarily topped their group, albeit with only 31 minutes of football played. This was to be as good as it got as a red card for captain Jean-Paul Abalo handed the impetus to South Korea, who scored twice in the second half to inflict a 2-1 defeat. After the game, the players still didn’t receive any of their negotiated payment from the TFF and threatened to go on strike for the second match against Switzerland in Dortmund. Following FIFA intervention, they were persuaded to play but their World Cup interest came to an end following a 2-0 defeat. With only pride to play for, many hoped Pfister’s side could take inspiration from Senegal’s famous win in Seoul against a side who had started another World Cup campaign poorly having drawn their first two matches. Togo was another colony of French West Africa until achieving independence in 1960 so the incentive for victory was certainly there. Sadly, any thoughts of an upset were kicked firmly into touch as they went down 2-0 in Cologne. Patrick Vieira was in inspired form this time around, scoring ’s opener and assisting the second for Thierry Henry, leaving Togo to return home with no points to show from their efforts. They were also slapped with a CHF 100,000 fine by FIFA over the threatened strike action ahead of the Switzerland match, and the whole episode left a sour taste, particularly given that Togo was and remains one of the poorest countries in the world. What should have been a moment for the people of the country to celebrate, was ultimately overshadowed by ugly bickering over money. Of all the new African sides at this edition of the tournament, the arrival of Ghana in was perhaps the most surprising – not in the sense that it was unexpected but rather because it had taken so long to happen. Following their liberation from British rule in 1957, the Black Stars were arguably Africa’s first major footballing force, reaching the AFCON Final in their first four

appearances at the tournament, winning the 1963 and ’65 editions, and finishing runners-up in 1968 and ’70. Such was their dominance that many believe Ghana would have been the team to make it to England in 1966 but for the infamous CAF boycott over qualification places, or lack thereof, as it were. Two more African titles followed in 1978 and 1982 yet Ghana failed to reach the World Cup in either of those years or the years that followed. Often this would be down to structural and organisational issues behind the scenes, with friction between the country’s Sports Ministry and the Ghana Football Association (GFA). Money was also an issue, unsurprisingly, with players who were based in Europe often required to fund their own trips back to represent the national side on the – often unfulfilled – promise they would be reimbursed. It wasn’t until around 2005 and the appointment of lawyer Kwesi Nyantakyi as GFA president that things started to change, and a new wave of professionalism helped the team reach its unrealised potential. The Black Starlets had previously won the Under17 World Cup in 1991 and ’95, while the Black Queens successfully qualified for the Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003. So, when the men’s senior side finally topped their qualifying group to secure a place in , it had felt like a long time coming. According to one of Ghana’s foremost sports journalists, Gary Al-Smith, the appointment of former Black Star Anthony Baffoe as director for international relations was key ahead of the tournament. Born in but the first naturalised player to represent Ghana, Baffoe sought to minimise any potential behind-the-scenes issues, which we know are often present with sides from the continent. ‘He made sure that the typical African stories you hear of disorganisation and all that, none of that was there,’ said Al-Smith. ‘And so, everything was smooth for the Ghana team in of logistics, preparation, all those things. So they had their minds focused on the game alone.’ Led by well-travelled Serbian manager Ratomir Dujković, Ghana took a strong side to the tournament. All but four of the 23-man squad were playing in European leagues, with Michael Essien considered the team’s star man. The midfielder had just completed an impressive first season with Premier League powerhouse Chelsea, helping Jose Mourinho’s side successfully defend their title. Beyond Essien there was also the raw talent of 20-year-old Asamoah Gyan and 21-year-old Sulley Muntari, both cutting their teeth at Serie A club Udinese. The team also had the experience of a player who had lifted the Champions League in former Bayern Munich defender Samuel Kuffour. The captain was the

dynamic and physically imposing Stephen Appiah who, at just 25, was already a stalwart of Ghanaian football having started his international journey as a part of the successful 1995 under-17 squad, aged just 14. By the age of 21 he was given the armband and didn’t look back, culminating in the proud moment he led the team out in Hanover for their Group E opener against Italy. An Andrea Pirlo screamer and Vincenzo Iaquinta capitalising on a Kuffour mistake made it a disappointing start and provided a reality check for Ghana. Next up in Cologne was a Czech Republic team second in the FIFA rankings ahead of the tournament and boasting the talents of Petr Čech, Karel Poborský, Tomáš Rosický and Pavel Nedvěd in their line-up. Despite all this, Ghana were ahead after just 70 seconds as Appiah’s curling ball forward from midfield found a speedy Gyan in the box to stab beyond Čech. Ghana sealed victory in the final ten minutes when Appiah and Gyan exchanged es as they advanced forward on the right. The latter then spotted the run into the penalty area of Muntari, who crashed an unstoppable left-footed strike into the roof of the net for 2-0 and a first World Cup win. Ghana were within touching distance of the knockout stage and all they needed was to avoid defeat against the USA in Nuremberg, but Dujković would not be able to call on Gyan who had earned himself a suspension in bizarre circumstances. After Gyan had taken a penalty ‘too quickly’ in the Czech Republic game, referee Horacio Elizondo opted to issue him with a yellow card, adding to the booking Ghana’s young striker picked up against Italy and thus ruling him out for the final group game. That the offending penalty actually hit the post made no difference to the Argentine official. With other goal hero, Muntari, also suspended, Ghana might have feared the worst. However, the midfielder’s replacement Haminu Draman stepped up in style, firing his country in front after 22 minutes. A lack of concentration in defence allowed Clint Dempsey to equalise just before the break but in first-half stoppage time, Ghana restored their advantage after Oguchi Onyewu, the American defender and son of Nigerian immigrants, clumsily felled Razak Pimpong in the penalty area. Without Gyan on the pitch, it was left to Appiah to step up and the captain made no mistake with an emphatic strike into the topright corner. With no further scoring in the second half, like Morocco, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal before them, Ghana were through to the second round of a World Cup at the first time of asking. ‘The country shut down,’ said journalist Al-Smith. ‘Those are not scenes you can replicate. It was absolute

bedlam.’ Finishing runners-up to Italy meant a showdown with world champions Brazil in Dortmund, which was comparable to every Ghanaian’s wildest dreams coming true according to Al-Smith, ‘For the longest time, Ghana had actually been called the Brazil of Africa, so now to actually meet Brazil, was chaotic.’ However, without the suspended Essien, the underdogs faced a virtually impossible task. Just five minutes in, full-back John Pantsil was caught napping and fatally played the lethal Ronaldo onside after failing to step up with the rest of the Ghana defence. With a free run to goal, the legendary striker’s trademark step-over sent goalkeeper Richard Kingson to ground before he rolled the ball into an empty net for a record-breaking 15th World Cup finals goal. Keeping the scoreline at 1-0 might not have been a disaster going into the second half but through an act of either bold ambition or reckless naïvety, Ghana were caught on the counter after throwing men forward searching for an equaliser just before the break. When Muntari’s shot was blocked on the edge of the Brazil box, the holders poured forward, exploiting the space left by the over-eager Black Stars. Adriano was able to tap in from Cafu’s ball across the six-yard box for 2-0, although replays showed the striker was clearly offside before he applied the finish. A furious Dujković was sent to stands following his complaints to Slovakian referee Ľuboš Micheľ. ‘I told him it would be better for us if he put on a yellow jersey,’ he seethed afterwards. ing his manager on the naughty step would be Gyan, whose up and down tournament ended on a low as he picked up a second yellow card for a theatrical dive and was sent off with ten minutes to play. Ghana’s otherwise impressive campaign was unfortunately undermined by disciplinary issues, and Gyan’s final indignity summed this up. The dismissal was just the incentive Brazil needed to step up a gear and show exactly why they were the reigning champions with a stunning third goal. A slick ing move carved open the ten men and was finished off when Ze Roberto beat the offside trap to get on the end of Ricardinho’s ball over to top for 3-0. A harsh scoreline all things considered but it was an experience from which Ghana would take heart. With the obvious talent at their disposal, the Black Stars’ maiden World Cup appearance certainly wasn’t to be their last. Football is often seen as a uniting force and perhaps there is no greater example of this than Ivory Coast’s qualification for the World Cup almost literally preventing the country being split in two. Following independence from in 1960, the world’s biggest cocoa-producing nation was seen as a model of

stability and economic strength in West Africa under President Félix HouphouëtBoigny until his death in 1993. His successor Henri Konan Bédié was overthrown following a military coup in 1999 and Robert Guéï was briefly installed as head of state until he was defeated by Laurent Gbagbo in the 2000 election. Gbagbo was an unpopular figure in the mainly Muslim north of the country and in 2002, rebels from the region attempted to seize the capital Abidjan. The coup failed as hundreds were killed but the rebels retreated north to take the city of Bouaké. The country was now divided along sectarian and ethnic lines into the Muslim, rebel-held north and government-controlled Christian south as hostilities continued over the following years. While all this was going on, conversely, the Ivorian football team was starting to build a formidable and united outfit on the pitch. As World Cup qualifiers began in 2004, Didier Drogba, recently signed by Chelsea from Marseille, was leading the line alongside Anderlecht forward Aruna Dindane. In defence was Kolo Toure, who had just won the Premier League with Arsenal, and his younger brother Yaya who would eventually become one of the best midfielders in the world. The squad also featured the likes of Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboue, Abdoulaye Méïté and Arouna Koné as well as others who would go on to have credible careers in Europe. The Elephants stormed to the top of their group ahead of Egypt and Cameroon and were on the brink of qualification with one game to spare when they welcomed the latter to Abidjan in September 2005. But despite a Drogba brace, Cameroon, looking to reach a fifth successive tournament, stunned the Ivorians by winning 3-2 thanks to a Pierre Webo hat-trick. With both teams level on points going into their respective final games, Cameroon’s superior head-to-head record meant they just needed to match Ivory Coast’s result against Sudan in their game in Egypt. Dindane inspired Ivory Coast to an expected 3-1 win, but they were left on tenterhooks as their match concluded five minutes before their west African rivals in Cairo. The latest score was 1-1 and if it remained that way, Ivory Coast were heading to . Drogba writes in his autobiography Committed how he and his team-mates faced an anxious wait for their fate as one of their physios provided updates while watching the game on television in . ‘My heart was beating so fast, it felt as if it would leap out of my body,’ claims Drogba. ‘We were all huddled around this phone, speaking to our physio, wanting second-by-second commentary.’

As the clock ticked down and a first World Cup appearance was inching closer, disaster struck. Cameroon were awarded a stoppage-time penalty. ‘We were at the mercy of one kick … I felt sick,’ Drogba added. ‘Several of us, myself included, immediately got down on our knees, fervently sending prayers to the heavens, in a desperate bid to be heard.’ Webo, the scourge of the Ivorians a month earlier, was the man entrusted with the vital kick and he looked set to bury Drogba and company’s dreams once and for all. However, Ivory Coast’s prayers miraculously appeared to be answered as the striker’s left-footed effort crashed off the outside of the right-hand post and out of play. It was the last kick of the game and the final whistle meant the Ivory Coast were through to their first World Cup. ‘I was in total disbelief and was soon crying tears of both joy and relief, along with most of my team-mates,’ the former Chelsea man itted. ‘This was a historic moment of united joy at a time of great national difficulty.’ Despite their wonderful achievement, it was evident problems at home still occupied the thoughts of the players. In the changing room, as TV cameras recorded the celebrations, Drogba was handed a microphone to give his reaction to his side’s dramatic qualification. What followed was a moment that will go down in the country’s history as the striker made an imioned plea for all to hear, ‘My fellow Ivorians, from the north and from the south, from the centre and from the west. We have proved to you today that the Ivory Coast can cohabit and can play together for the same objective, to qualify for the World Cup. We had promised you that this would unite the population. We ask you now, the only country in Africa that has all these riches, cannot sink into a war in this way. Please, lay down your arms, organise elections and everything will turn out for the best.’ The speech was replayed repeatedly around the country. Although there were several further factors involved, Drogba’s spontaneous address has been called ‘the speech that stopped a war’. The achievements of the team looked to have helped bring the country together. Gbagbo soon agreed to peace talks and two years later, a power-sharing agreement was signed with the political head of the northerners, Guillaume Soro, as arms were laid down. The draw for the finals placed the debutants in a tough Group C alongside Argentina, the Netherlands, and Serbia and Montenegro. The Argentines proved

too strong in the opening game in Hamburg as Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola scored in the first half to give them a 2-0 lead. Drogba’s late consolation for his country’s first goal at the finals wasn’t enough to prevent defeat. It was the same story in game two in Stuttgart as Robin van Persie crashed in a free kick midway through the first half before Ruud van Nistelrooy added a second for the Dutch minutes later. Bakari Koné’s stunning effort halved the deficit before half-time but that was the end of the scoring and the end of Ivory Coast’s World Cup ambitions. They did, however, manage to salvage some pride in their final match against Serbia and Montenegro in Munich. After once again going 2-0 down in the first half, Dindane pulled one back from the penalty spot before the break and his header levelled the score midway through the second period. The comeback was complete late on when the Elephants were awarded another penalty and Bonaventure Kalou made no mistake for 3-2. Ivory Coast had a victory to show for their first appearance at the tournament and might have felt slightly hard done by given the difficulty of their group. While they may not have managed to successfully make the second round, with the backdrop of everything going on back home and their role in helping to unite the country, Drogba and his team had perhaps achieved something greater overall. While Angola and Togo were perhaps not expected to repeat their heroics, Ivory Coast, like Ghana, were certainly talented enough to make a return to the World Cup, with both sides seen as proof of the continued improvement of the game on the continent. The last time the Germans hosted the tournament in 1974, they welcomed African debutants in the form of Zaire and all the well-documented problems that accompanied them. This time around, the new faces, with perhaps the exception of Togo, managed to steer clear of any similar embarrassment.

9

The Fall and Rise of South African Football

IT’S 15 May 2004 and the auditorium at FIFA HQ in Zürich is packed with representatives from various nations who have just presented their respective bids to host the 2010 World Cup. Perhaps the temperature in the room is warmer than expected, or perhaps the nervous tension in the air is having an impact on one member of the South Africa delegation who nervously mops his forehead as Sepp Blatter addressees the room. The FIFA president stands on stage, commending the work of the bidding countries before we discover who will host the 19th edition of the tournament, but those in attendance are far more anxious about the result than the prolonged preamble. In the front row, a stern-faced Nelson Mandela looks on, his trademark smile absent as he awaits the announcement. Dressed in a bright gold, patterned shirt, South Africa’s first post-apartheid president shines among a sea of dark suits which fill every row of the venue. Given everything he had experienced up until that point in his life, this moment may not be the most important, but it was by no means insignificant. His story is well known. A lawyer and leader within the anti-apartheid African National Congress, Mandela was at the forefront of protests and campaigns against the oppression of black people in white-ruled South Africa for many years. On 12 June 1964, he was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and plotting to overthrow the state. In fact, at the time this ruling was ed down, Mandela was already serving a five-year jail term, having been convicted on previous charges. Despite spending 27 years locked up, ‘Madiba’ showed the kind of spirit and resolve that ultimately transformed an entire nation. His eventual release in 1990 saw the dawn of a new era for South Africa and the end of apartheid would follow. The ultimate redemption story for Mandela was complete in 1994. Having previously been banned from political activity by the country’s racist government, the now-legal ANC – with Mandela at its head –

swept to power with 62 per cent of the vote in the country’s first free, multiracial elections. Six years on, Mandela was about to be a part of another major victory for his country. ‘I have no envelope! Perhaps somebody will give me an envelope,’ Blatter jokes in an attempt to ease the tension. He receives some polite laughs as he is handed the sealed letter. ‘I discover with you. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be organised in … South Africa.’ As Blatter removes the card to confirm the news, the delegation erupts in the room. Back in various towns, cities and villages across the country, people gathered in large groups to hear the announcement let out an emphatic cheer in unison. The national flag is waved high in the air, whistles shriek, there is dancing, singing and, not for the last time, the distinctive deep, loud blare of vuvuzela horns. This is as big as it gets. To fully grasp why this moment is so special, there requires an understanding of the long road it has taken for the country to attain recognition on the global footballing stage. Football in South Africa can again be traced back to colonisation and the influence of British soldiers during the 19th century. The first official football association in the country came in the form of the South African Football Association (SAFA), which was formed in 1892. The organisation soon became d with the English Football Association and the following years saw teams from both nations regularly travel to the other to tour. However, one glaring issue with this relationship was the fact that SAFA was a strictly ‘whites only’ organisation, which of course resulted in the majority of people in the country having no representation or even an opportunity when they wanted to play the game. By the 1930s, this led to the formation of a number of separate associations by the nation’s other ethnic groups. In 1932, the South African African Football Association (SAAFA) was formed. The following year came the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) and the South African Coloured Football Association (SACFA), each creating their own competitions for the teams they represented. Racial divisions intensified in the country following the 1948 elections and victory for the far-right National Party, ushering in the horrific system of apartheid and white minority rule that would consume, divide and

define the entire nation for almost the next half-century. As a response to increasing discrimination, non-whites knew they had to unite to make their voices heard. With regards to football, SAAFA, SABFA and SACFA merged in 1951 to form the South African Soccer Federation (SASF) – an antiapartheid organisation set up to challenge SAFA. But despite the new federation now representing 82 per cent of the nation’s players and promoting a multi-racial message, it still couldn’t prevent SAFA from being itted into FIFA as the country’s sole governing body in 1952. Its own application was rejected. But SASF refused to back down and continued to be a pain in the backside for both FIFA and SAFA with continued, defiant lobbying for recognition and change. In 1956, this pressure caused SAFA to change its name to the Football Association of Southern Africa (FASA) and delete the exclusionary racist clause from its constitution. This meant very little in practice as it remained an all-white organisation. FASA was initially one of the founder of CAF in 1957 alongside Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan but its effective upholding of apartheid policy caused friction with the other national associations, leading to South Africa’s exclusion from the inaugural Africa Cup of Nations and an eventual expulsion from CAF in 1960. The atrocities of apartheid were gaining global attention. On 21 March 1961, in the township of Sharpeville, an estimated 7,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest against the restrictive laws which required black people to carry identification details whenever in a public place, or risk imprisonment. As the crowd congregated near a police station, officers responded by randomly opening fire, killing 69 people and injuring many others. Remarkably, nobody was ever convicted following the massacre. The aftermath saw South Africa face widespread condemnation, which FIFA could not ignore. In September of that year, FASA was suspended for refusing to change its stance on fielding all-white teams, including at the next World Cup should the national team qualify. Although, by way of compromise, it did offer to field an all-black team for the 1970 World Cup after an all-white team in 1966. The suggestion was rightly dismissed but the suspension was far from the end of the story following the election of Englishman Sir Stanley Rous as FIFA president just days after the decision. Suffolk-born Rous, a former schoolteacher, played at amateur level but made his name as a referee, taking charge of the 1934 English FA Cup Final. As secretary of the FA, he would help rewrite the

Laws of the Game in 1938 and earned his knighthood in 1949, 12 years before his elevation to the very top of the sport. His sympathies for South Africa meant his reign was a controversial one, effectively alienating the rest of the continent and leading to his eventual downfall. In 1963, Rous led a ‘fact-finding’ mission to the country to assess FASA’s suitability to remain of FIFA after it had tried to distance itself from the South African government with supposedly more inclusive reforms. Rous’s report back to FIFA’s executive committee was a glowing reference for FASA, a denial of any links to government policy and even some digs at SASF for good measure. FASA was back in FIFA much to the dismay of the rest of Africa and in fact, many other nations as well. With growing , CAF continued to demand expulsion at the FIFA congress of 1964 in Tokyo and a landslide vote saw FASA and South Africa re-suspended. A stubborn Rous continued his crusade for South Africa’s inclusion in a move at odds with the feelings of FIFA’s increasing African hip. In contrast, the man eyeing Rous’s job, Brazilian Joao Havelange, effectively used his presidential campaign to appease these nations by declaring his opposition to FASA while apartheid was in place. Havelange successfully ousted Rous in 1974 and two years later, another appalling incident in the country sealed FASA’s fate for good. On 16 June 1976, the township of Soweto saw thousands of people, including large numbers of students, engaged in a protest against the insistence that Afrikaans be the main language used in schools. Afrikaans was spoken by the ruling minority whites, and any attempt to force it on the public was essentially a means of trying to crush existing black culture and languages. As the protests intensified, violence broke out and hundreds of people, mostly teenagers, were killed by police. Global boycotts of the country began as a result, including in sport. It was now inconceivable that football could continue to indulge the country and South Africa was finally expelled at that year’s FIFA congress in Montreal by a vote of 78 to nine. Following Mandela’s release from prison and the moves to bring about the end of apartheid, a new, inclusive version of SAFA was formed and by 1992, the association was once again a member of both FIFA and CAF. Sporting boycotts and bans were lifted elsewhere too. The International Cricket Council reinstated South Africa’s Test status in 1991 and the one-day team even reached the semi-

final of the World Cup a year later. In 1993, the country was awarded hosting duties for the 1995 Rugby World Cup and incredibly, the team won the tournament by beating New Zealand in the final at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park. Mandela ing the Webb Ellis Cup to captain Francois Pienaar, kitted out in his Springboks jersey and baseball cap, remains a defining image in the country’s sporting and cultural history. The new multi-racial national football team also made major strides remarkably quickly. With Kenya unable to fulfil its originally planned hosting duties for the 1996 AFCON, CAF took the opportunity to welcome the new South Africa into the fold by giving it the tournament. The success of the Rugby World Cup clearly demonstrated the country was capable of hosting events on a large scale. After topping their group ahead of Cameroon, Egypt and Angola, wins over Algeria and Ghana in the knockouts set up a showdown for South Africa with Tunisia in front of 80,000 expectant fans at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. Two second-half goals in as many minutes from striker Mark Williams saw the ground erupt in celebration as the debutants were crowned champions of Africa. Mandela again stood on the podium, this time in Bafana Bafana’s bold white, gold, black and green patterned shirt, as captain Neil Tovey raised the trophy high in the air. Two years later, South Africa reached the final again in Burkina Faso but were unable to successfully defend the trophy, losing 2-0 to Egypt. Not to be disheartened, the improving team now had lofty ambitions on a grander scale, having qualified for a first World Cup at 98. Unfortunately, defeat to the hosts and eventual winners as well as draws against Denmark and Saudi Arabia meant they failed to make it out of the group stage, but the experience was no less rewarding. Star players would spread their wings, move to Europe and become household names as South African football began making up for lost time. This continued progress was rewarded that day in Zurich with the stunning revelation that the first World Cup on African soil would be taking place in the country. Fittingly, the site of the soon to be redeveloped Soccer City, where the final would be played, was also the same venue that Mandela delivered his first historic speech following his prison release. Despite the jubilation at being awarded the tournament, this was far from a straightforward story, with many twists, turns and obstacles both before and after the announcement.

When Sepp Blatter had been elected to replace Havelange in 1998, one of his aims was to grow the World Cup and take it to places it had never been before, continuing the work of his predecessor who had overseen the tournament hosted in the United States for the first time as well as the selection process that saw South Korea and Japan tly awarded the 2002 competition. After Asia, Blatter’s dream was to see the tournament played in Africa. Despite his Swiss origins, Blatter had no interest in upholding FIFA’s Eurocentrism of the past. In July 2000, Blatter took charge of his first World Cup selection meeting with bids from , England, Morocco and South Africa. The first round of voting saw the north African side eliminated from the process before England followed in round two. The final round pitted head-to-head with South Africa for the right to host the tournament in 2006. Twenty-four votes would be cast. If there was a tie, the decision would go to Blatter who had made no secret of his preferred destination. received its 12 votes so things were potentially looking good, but a huge New Zealandshaped spanner was about to be thrown into the works. Charlie Dempsey, the Oceania Football Confederation representative, had been expected to back South Africa but controversially abstained before the crucial final vote, allowing to secure victory and hosting rights by 12 votes to 11. The decision caused widespread outrage with Dempsey, who cited ‘intolerable pressure’ as his reason for refusing to vote, roundly condemned. ‘I do not see how a man can vote in the first two rounds and then not in the third and final round. FIFA should investigate this,’ raged South Africa bid chairman Irvin Khoza. ‘He has betrayed the South African people.’ New Zealand Sports Minister Trevor Mallard was equally furious at his compatriot’s actions, ‘I’m shocked that one individual seems to have abused his voting rights by disregarding instructions on voting requirements.’ Dempsey himself was unrepentant, claiming he had ‘no regrets whatsoever’ about his abstention. ‘I had very strong reasons, but I’m not going into them,’ he told the BBC in the aftermath of the meeting. The last time the tournament was held in , as West in 1974, it was the scene of Zaire’s humiliation. Add that to the victories over Morocco in 1970 and 1986, and of course, the disgrace of Gijon in 1982, and the entire continent of Africa might have been forgiven for starting to hold something of a grudge against the European nation.

After calls for a re-vote were turned down, SAFA threatened legal action and there was even talk of another Africa-wide boycott of the competition, harking back to 1966 when CAF and its refused to compete after FIFA denied the federation a designated qualifying place for the tournament in England. The difference on this occasion was that FIFA simply could not allow one of its confederations to not partake in a World Cup. It would have been a terrible look for the organisation and of course, immensely embarrassing for Blatter who was trying to achieve the exact opposite. A radical solution was proposed. Rather than future World Cup bids being a process open to any and all member associations, each tournament would instead be rotated between the different continents. Starting in 2010, Africa would be assigned and subsequently only CAF were allowed to bid. This was a landmark moment. In an attempt to make the tournament more inclusive Blatter had implemented a policy that would finally see the World Cup finals regularly played beyond their typical settings in Europe and the Americas. Naturally, this did not go down well in the established federations, who actually saw it as more restrictive in of opportunities to host. ‘If we are still talking about a World Cup every four years, then each continent gets it every 24 years, which means in Europe a country like ourselves or will host it once every 125 years,’ claimed Alec McGiven, director of England’s failed 2006 bidding campaign. ‘I would have thought they might allow Europe to come round more often than one in six.’ In the end, the policy didn’t stick. Blatter was re-elected as president in 2002 and after winning a third term in 2007, he announced the rotation was no longer necessary. ‘The rotation principle has served its purpose and has enabled us to award our most prestigious competition to Africa for the first time,’ he announced. Back to Zurich and African nations flocked to the bidding process for 2010. As well as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya all threw their names into the hat with the latter two nations proposing a t bid. Ultimately, despite the nerves in the room that May afternoon, it seemed obvious who the chosen nation would be. A single round of voting saw South Africa beat Morocco by 14 votes to ten, with Egypt receiving no votes and the other candidates withdrawing from the process beforehand. The joy of winning the bid was soon tempered by the reality of the huge task to

actually get the country in shape for the tournament. The successes of the Rugby World Cup and the AFCON were now in the past and nothing compared to the magnitude of putting on a 32-team international football event with the eyes of the entire world fixed upon the nation. Of the ten stadiums needed for the tournament, five had to be built from scratch while five existing venues needed significant renovation to get their facilities up to the required standard. This came with a multitude of problems. As time wore on, anybody who could confidently say they believed these ambitious projects would be completed both on time and within budget might have been considered a fantasist. With less than a year to go, 70,000 construction workers went on strike over conditions and pay, threatening delays to completion of the stadiums and crucially, the travel infrastructure expected to get people to and from the venues. There was then the issue of safety. Post-apartheid South Africa was still, in many cases, divided along lines of race and consequently, wealth. Poverty and crime were of huge concern in a country expected to welcome tourists and visitors on a large scale. In one of the more outlandish stories, Britain’s Daily Star warned travelling fans they risked being caught up in a ‘machete race war’ following the violent murder of notorious white supremacist Eugène Terre’Blanche. Amnesty International raised concerns about the treatment of those in poorer communities in and around so-called ‘controlled access sites’ and exclusion zones near World Cup stadia. The charity also warned that heavy-handed policing practices were targeting suspected criminals ‘in a manner contrary to international human rights standards’. Ahead of the AFCON in Angola at the start of 2010, the Togo team travelling to the tournament was involved in an attack in which three people were shot dead and many others injured when armed gunmen opened fire on the team bus. Although taking place thousands of miles away from South Africa, the incident generated more unwanted headlines with many happy to unfairly link it to Africa as a whole, raising yet more concerns about the World Cup taking place on the continent mere months later. While such concerns were perhaps valid, it would be unfair to label them exclusively Africa-related problems. Four years later, protests raged throughout Brazil over the amount of public spending that went into hosting the tournament rather than more important social issues. The country was hardly one free of

crime either with major worries over armed robberies and gang violence ahead of fans flocking to the South American nation. Beyond the controversy over the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively, there were notable pre-tournament concerns about racism, homophobia and hooliganism in the former while the debate over human rights abuses in the latter remains a point of contention. ‘Crime was presented as a huge problem and I had to keep asking journalists in return, “Please name one country where there is no crime?” They didn’t have an answer,’ SAFA president Danny Jordaan told South African publication the Daily Maverick. Financially, according to an official FIFA report released in 2012, South Africa spent in excess of $3bn on the tournament with $1.1bn going on the stadium projects – which, thankfully, were completed on time. Transport infrastructure, including roads and airports, cost around $1.3bn with an estimated 130,000 jobs created both in the short and long term with, of course, the construction industry benefitting massively. Tourism helped boost the local economy with some 309,000 people flooding into the country for the tournament, and the significant upgrade in facilities set the nation up for a fruitful future as far as football was concerned. The knock-on effects were ultimately presented as a net positive. ‘There is not a single part of this World Cup where we have not been able to go beyond the level of past World Cups,’ beamed FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke at the tournament’s halfway stage. ‘South Africa will become the plan B of any future World Cup,’ he boldly added, perhaps with a hint of exaggeration. ‘There was the sentiment that Africa did not have the capacity and that it couldn’t be trusted,’ Jordaan said in an interview with Reuters. ‘We were under so much pressure to deal with the world’s negativity, but after the World Cup, we saw a lot of that Afro-pessimism end.’ It wasn’t all good news, however. In Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski’s excellent Soccernomics, the authors speak to an anonymous official who claims figures are ‘highly inflated’ and spun to look better than they were in reality. For example, the total number of visitors, although still impressive, actually fell short of initial projections by around 170,000. The book also tells the story of a university professor who is ‘still trying to sell’ all the excess linen bought in preparation to host thousands of visitors who simply never arrived.

Then there is the issue of the stadiums. Big, grand, sparkling arenas built to welcome the best players in the world for four weeks before becoming something of a burden thereafter. Five of the venues were used again as South Africa hosted the AFCON for a second time in 2013 and while South African football and rugby teams have taken on tenancy of some of the grounds, they are rarely full, with attendances noticeably lower than the actual capacities. In the 2019/20 South African Premier Division season, Kaizer Chiefs FC, playing in the 94,000-seater Soccer City in Johannesburg, recorded an average attendance of just 22,015 – and that figure is at the top end of the scale. Most teams average crowds of fewer than 10,000 people while playing in grounds with capacities of up to 64,000. The stadiums are costly to run too and while there has been talk of hosting future Rugby World Cups and even the Olympic Games, as of 2021, concrete bids are yet to materialise. There was an even bigger headache surrounding the tournament to follow, with the previously celebrated selection called into question. A few short months after the competition had come to an end, FIFA took the unusual step of selecting the hosts for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the same meeting in December 2010. There was shock across the footballing world as Russia and Qatar won the respective votes and almost immediately, there were accusations of corruption and bribery levelled at both FIFA and the winning federations. As it turned out, there was no smoke without fire and five years later, things came to a head in spectacular fashion. In May 2015, on the eve of the 65th FIFA congress, US law enforcers entered the plush, five-star Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich and arrested seven officials following an investigation into the federation’s practices including allegations of fraud, money laundering and racketeering. More officials were soon implicated and in total, 14 people were indicted in relation to bribes over marketing and sponsorship as well as the commercial rights for the 2016 Copa America. Around the world, several other criminal investigations were triggered in connection with FIFA and football’s global governing body was suddenly on its knees. Fans of the hit 1995 Martin Scorsese crime epic Casino might liken the situation to a scene towards the end of the movie in which many of the main characters are brought to justice. ‘Everybody began to tumble,’ says Robert De Niro’s Sam Rothstein character in the dramatic voice-over monologue. ‘One after the other, just like dominos.’ One of the most important dominos to fall was former FIFA executive committee

member Chuck Blazer. The eccentric, heavy-set American with a thick, unkempt grey beard and jovial demeanour had more of an appearance of Santa Claus than a FIFA suit, but it soon became clear that Blazer was more in the business of receiving gifts than giving them out. Blazer was first snared by the FBI in 2011, turning informant and helping expose the entire scandal after pleading guilty to bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. In a secret court session in 2013, Blazer confessed, ‘I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup.’ A bombshell ission, no doubt, but could this claim be backed up? Well, there was the small matter of $10m reportedly paid by the South African government to CONCACAF – the North and Central American, and Caribbean Football Association – which was uncovered by the FBI investigation. This money, according to documents from the United States Department of Justice, was paid in exchange for votes to secure the tournament, transferred through FIFA to be received by then-head of CONCACAF, Jack Warner. The documents claim Warner had a ‘substantial portion of the funds … diverted for his personal use’. Blazer was working with Warner as the federation’s general secretary at the time and according to him, this was the reason behind the vote for South Africa. An investigation by the Sunday Times claims that Morocco would have been set to win instead. In a secret video recording, former FIFA executive committee member Ismail Bhamjee made the claim the north African side won the bid by ‘two votes’. Bhamjee also alleged Morocco too tried to grease the palm of Warner to the tune of $1m, but the wily official took the money and sided with South Africa because it had offered him ‘more’. South Africa came out swinging, vehemently denying any wrongdoing, and claiming the payment was actually intended to ‘ the African diaspora in Caribbean countries as part of the World Cup legacy’. South Africa’s Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula insisted that everything was open and above board and whatever happened to the money after it was paid out was nothing to do with the government. ‘This money was for development,’ barked Mbalula. ‘The fact that it later came to our attention that it was not used for its intended purposes is something we frown at.’ That Warner was indicted on numerous other charges of financial impropriety makes it difficult to square that this one payment was as innocent as is claimed. However, Mbalula insisted his country had not actively got into bed with unsavoury characters in trying to secure the World Cup. ‘The fact they are later

termed gangsters is not our problem,’ he raged. ‘We are not sniffer dogs!’ In a perverse way, any African involvement in FIFA’s corruption was a sign the continent was finally dining at the top table of the game. Giving its officials the benefit of the doubt, South Africa could at best be accused of, of course, naïvety, if it truly and honestly paid the money for non-nefarious purposes. Warner was hit with a lifetime ban from FIFA over the various charges as was Blazer before his death in 2017, aged 72. President Blatter, whose leadership of FIFA and reputation were both rapidly crumbling, was also embroiled in the scandal over a questionable payment to then-UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011. Reg his post in disgrace, Blatter was also slapped with an eight-year suspension from football-related activities, reduced to six on appeal. In 2021, he was banned for a further six years and eight months over a questionable bonus scheme he implemented during his time in charge, including in relation to the 2010 World Cup. The shenanigans actually led to a milestone moment for African football as the reigning president of CAF, Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, was installed as the acting head of FIFA to replace Blatter in October 2015. For a brief moment, a black African was the most powerful man in world football. Quite the achievement and, in addition to hosting the World Cup, it signified a sea-change in how Africa was perceived in the football world. A far, far cry from days past when the continent was barely an afterthought. One wonders what Rous would have made of it all. Sadly, Hayatou’s proximity to Blatter as part of what is widely considered a dubious and morally questionable regime means his ascension isn’t as celebrated is it might have been. The man himself was not implicated in the 2015 scandal, although he had been accused of accepting bribes from Qatar during its controversial World Cup bid. Hayatou denied the claims and had no charges brought against him. His time at the helm of FIFA was a short one with Gianni Infantino replacing him as full-time president in February 2016. A year later, after 29 years as head of CAF, overseeing the growth of African football and increased participation at the World Cup, Hayatou was deposed after losing the leadership election to Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad. But as if to further highlight the murky world of football istration, in late 2020 FIFA would hand Ahmad himself a five-year ban for accepting and offering gifts, mismanagement of funds and abusing his position. This was reduced to two on appeal leading to Ahmad being replaced in his post by Patrice Motsepe following the South African’s unopposed election in March 2021. Clearly, football governance across

the board was in desperate need of reform. As of 2021, there appears to be no imminent return to Africa for another tournament so 2010 stands out as a singular iconic moment for the continent. According to FIFA, nearly 3.2 million people ed through the turnstiles for the 64 matches, making it the fourth-most attended World Cup of all time. Around the world, FIFA also estimated between 700 million and a billion people tuned in to watch the final on 11 July as Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 to lift the trophy for the first time. Amid all the controversy, disputes and questioning, Africa finally had a tournament to call its own and that is something that will never be taken away.

10

The Tournament, Part I – Welcome to Africa

WHEN JUNE 2010 finally arrived, all eyes were firmly fixed on South Africa. Hard stares from all around the globe, looking to see if the country could deliver this hugely ambitious project. In some cases, perhaps waiting for things to go wrong. There was no going back now. The stadia had been built, the 32 teams were at their bases, and fans from far and wide had descended on the nation, anticipating a great spectacle. The pressure was on. There was also anticipation, apprehension and expectation on the pitch as well as off it. The lifting of global suspensions post-apartheid led to something of a sporting renaissance in the country. The Springboks famously won the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and as of 2010 were the reigning world champions again having won the trophy for a second time in 2007. They then went on to complete the hat-trick in 2019. In cricket, the Proteas broke Australian dominance of the sport by becoming the number one ranked ICC Test team for three months in late 2009. In 2012, they became the first side to have reached the top ranking in all three formats of the game. Sport was seemingly on the up but football, the most popular of all, hadn’t really kicked on, so to speak. The 1996 AFCON win and back-to-back World Cup appearances in 1998 and 2002 brought exhilarating highs but what followed was a major comedown as the team fell deep into decline. By 2007, after a string of failed managerial appointments, Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was hired. The well-travelled manager took on the role off the back of leading his country to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2006, having previously won the trophy with Brazil in 1994. But dreams of an unlikely repeat with South Africa were swiftly dashed, as Parreira left his new post after just 16 months in April 2008 to look after his ill wife. His compatriot Joel Santana took over but struggled to keep things on track. Despite automatically qualifying for the World Cup as hosts, South Africa were still required to go through the qualification process which doubled up as qualifiers for the 2010 AFCON in Angola. This proved to be a disaster as they finished runners-up in their second-round group and failed to progress to the next stage. An embarrassing outcome which basically meant they weren’t technically good enough to feature in their own World Cup.

In 2009, a year before the finals, South Africa hosted the Confederations Cup. Bafana Bafana finished second to European champions Spain in their group, setting up a semi-final clash with Brazil. To the surprise of many, the hosts held their own and were only narrowly beaten 1-0 thanks to an 88th-minute Dani Alves free kick. In a second meeting with Spain in the third-place play-off, Santana’s team impressed again, and took their opponents to extra time after Katlego Mphela’s sensational 30-yard free kick rifled into the top corner to level a thrilling match 2-2 in the dying minutes. Another free kick, this time from Xabi Alonso, settled the game in Spain’s favour but there was now a belief, and hope, that South Africa wouldn’t disgrace themselves a year on. This optimism didn’t last. Including these defeats, Santana went on a run that saw his side lose eight out of nine matches, costing him his job in October 2009 – just eight months before the start of the World Cup. To further highlight the chaos, a now desperate SAFA returned to Parreira just 18 months after his first spell had come to an abrupt end. ‘We felt that logically [because] we didn’t have time, it was best to get somebody who will continue with the process that he has started,’ SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani itted. Parreira’s return actually steadied the ship and results picked up for the team. A 12-match unbeaten run, including five wins from their last six games before the tournament, raised hopes once again. The hosts were certainly not among the favourites to lift the trophy with odds of around 80/1 being offered beforehand, but there was very much the belief that home advantage could work in their favour. ‘The most important thing is to concentrate on our priority, and that is to go beyond the group stages,’ Parreira said in an interview with FIFA.com as something of a rallying cry. ‘We believe we can do this. You have to do things step by step. It’s a process that involves patience and skill.’ A vibrant and colourful opening ceremony was hopefully about to set the tone for the festival of football to follow. After an impressive flypast across the clearest of blue skies over Soccer City, a giant human dung beetle entered the stadium to move around an oversized version of this year’s special World Cup ball, Adidas’s ‘Jabulani’ – the Zulu word for ‘rejoice’. Nelson Mandela, unable to attend in person following the death of his great-granddaughter, then appeared on the screen to address the stadium and open the tournament. A huge troupe of dancers, blessed with boundless energy, performed a spectacular choreographed

‘Pantsula’ routine around what appeared to be a giant cooking pot containing a stage where various musical personalities perform briefly. One of them was the controversial R. Kelly, performing the official tournament anthem ‘Sign of a Victory’. This makes for uncomfortable viewing on a re-watch knowing what we know today about the American RnB superstar. Once the festivities were complete, it was time for action. The buzz of thousands of Vuvuzela horns greeted South Africa and opponents Mexico on to the now R. Kelly-free pitch, kicking off five weeks of pulsating World Cup action. Both sides were understandably tentative in a first half of few clear-cut chances. Mexico did have the ball in the net before the break, but Carlos Vela’s closerange finish was disallowed thanks to the assistant referee’s flag. It was 0-0 at half-time but on 54 minutes, the moment an entire continent had been waiting for finally arrived. As Mexico looked to advance forward, the ball was stolen by Aaron Mokoena and found its way to the expectant feet of Reneilwe Letsholonyane. The midfielder then laid it off to Kagisho Dikgacoi, who played a fine one-two in the centre circle with Mphela before releasing Siphiwe Tshabalala with a that cut through the Mexican defence like a surgical knife. The dreadlocked midfielder accelerated beyond the futile chase of defender Ricardo Osorio with only one thing in mind. The first touch pushed the ball into the area and the second saw it explode off the laces of Tshabalala’s left boot. Goalkeeper Oscar Perez barely had time to react as the rising shot flashed past his hopelessly outstretched dive to arrow between the angle of post and crossbar in the top-right corner, nearly ripping through the net such was the ferocity behind the strike. Joy unconfined. Tshabalala sprinted for the corner flag and was soon ed by his ecstatic team-mates, who still had the composure to perform a pre-planned celebratory dance that would have rivalled that of the preceding opening ceremony. ‘Goal Bafana Bafana!’ roared Peter Drury on the ITV broadcast. ‘Goal for South Africa. Goal for ALL Africa!’ Such was the racket within Soccer City, the esteemed commentator might have struggled to even hear himself utter these immortal words. Rapturous cheers had merged with the ear-splitting vuvuzelas to create quite the wall of noise. Videos afterwards showed locals gathered in groups around the country losing their collective minds at the strike. One such clip featured a reporter attempting to talk to a man in a bar in Soweto just before the ball flew into the back of the net. The discussion understandably came to a swift end as the interviewee and fellow patrons leapt up to celebrate. Caught up

in the moment, the interviewer ed in. Professional integrity be damned. This was a historic moment and, given the quality of the strike itself, it would undoubtedly go down as one of the all-time most memorable World Cup goals. Although Parreira had been criticised in his homeland for producing less than sparkling football as Brazil failed to defend the World Cup four years earlier, it was somewhat ironic he was able to deliver the kind of free-flowing quick attack with so-called lesser players which would be both ired and envied by his compatriots. ‘I have scored a lot of good goals in my career, but there is no doubt that one is the best,’ Tshabalala told Reuters in 2020. ‘Not necessarily for the technique, I think I scored better ones, but for what it meant to people. And what it still means to people today.’ Unfortunately, a defensive lapse late on allowed Rafael Márquez to snatch an equaliser and dampen spirits inside the ground. With a minute left on the clock, South Africa were handed one last chance when a huge hopeful punt up the pitch by goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune beat the Mexican defence and found the run of Mphela. Knocking the on with his head, the striker then found himself one-on-one with Perez and managed to stab the ball beyond the static keeper. Heartbreakingly, the entire world could only look on as the ball struck the outside of the right-hand post and rolled away. The game finished 1-1 and the hosts had some encouragement ahead of their next two matches, the first of which saw them head to Pretoria to face Uruguay. One of the more peculiar stories from the tournament was the continued complaints about the Jabulani football being used. A far cry from the heavy, leather stitched balls from years gone by, Adidas’s latest effort consisted of just eight s which were ‘thermally bonded’ making the ball ‘rounder’ as it had fewer, shallower groves. This innovation supposedly improved aerodynamics but consequently made its airborne flight erratic when hit with enough power. ‘The new ball is not decent,’ moaned Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. ‘Not just for goalkeepers but for everyone. Its trajectory is unpredictable.’ Brazil’s Julio Cesar likened it to a ball you would buy at a supermarket, and before you think this was just a goalkeeper issue, even the great Lionel Messi suggested the new ball would take getting used to. One player who got used to the ball very quickly was Uruguay’s Diego Forlan. Just 24 minutes into the match against the hosts, the striker unleashed a sensational long-range dipping shot from distance to leave Khune in a state of confusion as the moving ball found its way to the

back of the net. The South Americans doubled their lead in the second half after Luis Suarez exaggerated the slightest touch from Khune to win a penalty and see his opponent sent off. ‘He was so clever,’ itted the South African stopper. ‘He thought, “The keeper committed himself, so I’m just going to dive.”’ Interestingly, this wouldn’t be the last time an African team would be left angered by the sneaky striker’s actions in this tournament. Forlan confidently dispatched the resulting spot-kick and Álvaro Pereira wrapped up the scoring in stoppage time from close range. South Africa were left with a mountain to climb if they were to avoid being the first World Cup hosts to fail to make it beyond the group stage. On paper, a game against was the last thing they needed but Les Bleus were a complete mess of a team during their very brief stay in South Africa with disagreements, infighting and even a mutiny making far more headlines than their football. Heading into the game in Bloemfontein both teams needed a good win and a bad Mexico defeat if they were to have a chance of making the second round. South Africa struck first when defender Bongani Khumalo met Tshabalala’s corner with a towering header on 20 minutes. A Yoann Gourcuff red card for just five minutes later summed up their tournament and boosted South African hopes further. When Gael Clichy failed to cut out Tsepo Masilela’s low cross, Mphela was able to bundle home for 2-0 before half-time and 51 million people around the country started to believe. There was also good news from Rustenburg where Luis Suarez put Uruguay a goal up against Mexico, so just a two-goal swing was required for South Africa to progress. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as the scoreline remained 1-0, while South Africa both failed to build on their advantage and conceded a consolation goal through Florent Malouda. Despite the disappointment of failing to progress, Bafana Bafana at least ended their tournament on a positive note. The Uruguay performance aside, four points and a win over was actually something to be proud of and possibly better than expected considering the doom and gloom predicted beforehand. Parreira would depart again following the early exit and South African football once more found itself in the doldrums for several years. But the fact they were temporarily at the centre of the footballing world, and created a lasting World Cup memory with Tshabalala’s goal, will always be theirs to cherish. In many ways, that fantastic strike at Soccer City to ignite the tournament was the ideal antidote to Ilunga’s infamous free kick for Zaire all those years ago.

11

The Tournament, Part II – Black Stars Shine Bright

SOUTH AFRICA’S automatic qualification as hosts meant for the first time, there were six African teams at the World Cup. Having missed out in 2006, Nigeria were back hoping to at least match their previous best of reaching the last 16. The Super Eagles were drawn in Group B with Argentina for the third time in four tournament appearances, shock Euro 2004 winners Greece, and potential surprise package South Korea. In a curious twist of fate, Argentina were now managed by Diego Maradona, who had played his last game for his country in the 1994 World Cup against Nigeria before a drug ban ended his international career. In an otherwise tight opening game against Maradona’s side at Ellis Park, a brief lapse in concentration from a corner after just six minutes allowed an unmarked Gabriel Heinze to power home a spectacular flying, diving header for the only goal of the game. Despite the loss, there were still reasons to be optimistic, which seemed justified just 16 minutes into their second match in Bloemfontein when Kalu Uche’s long-range free kick into the penalty area evaded attacking team-mates and opposition defenders alike to nestle in the Greek net. Sixteen years earlier, Nigeria had famously responded to a group stage defeat against Argentina to seal a famous win over Greece, but history was sadly not about to repeat itself. An inexplicable, and naïve, act of petulance from Sani Kaita saw the midfielder needlessly react to minimal provocation from Vasilis Torosidis by planting his studs into the Greek full-back’s right thigh. A theatrical reaction didn’t help Kaita’s cause, but nobody could dispute the decision as Colombian referee Óscar Ruiz produced the red card to reduce the Super Eagles to ten men with little over half an hour played. Things went from bad to worse just a minute before half-time as Dimitris Salpingidis’s shot from the edge of the penalty area took a wicked deflection off the right calf of Lukman Haruna to loop beyond Vincent Enyeama for 1-1. It was Greece’s first World Cup goal having drawn blanks in their previous four attempts in the tournament, and they soon had their second after the break to seal a first win. Enyeama, who had bravely kept Nigeria in the game up to that point, spilled a fizzing shot by Alexandros Tziolis from range, allowing Torosidis of all people to tap in from a few yards out.

Normally, two group defeats would signal curtains for any further World Cup aspirations but Nigeria were handed the slimmest of lifelines whereby a twogoal victory over South Korea and an Argentina win over Greece would see them squeeze through. Things started well enough in Durban when Uche met Chidi Odiah’s cross to stab Nigeria in front. However, more lax set-piece defending allowed Lee Jung-soo to bundle the ball beyond Enyeama before halftime. Five minutes after the break, Park Chu-young’s clever free kick made it 21 to the Asian side but Nigeria refused to give in and should have been level on 65 minutes when Ayila Yussuf’s ball across goal found an unmarked Yakubu Ayegbeni in front of goal. Needing to simply direct the ball into an empty net, the striker somehow managed to miss the target from just three yards. There are almost no words for how bad a miss this was and quite simply goes down as one of the worst in the history of the World Cup, if not all time. To his credit, Yakubu did equalise from the penalty spot moments later and the game finished all square, but Nigeria will be left to wonder how the momentum and ultimately the game might had changed had he finished that huge chance. Bottom of the group and heading home early with just a single point was humiliating enough but that wasn’t to be the end of the story. So infuriated was he by the team’s lacklustre performance and general displeasure at the way the Nigerian Football Federation was being run, the country’s president Goodluck Jonathan took the bizarre step of suspending the team from competing for two years. Although the ban was almost immediately lifted, FIFA took a dim view of such actions and later suspended Nigeria due to ‘government interference’ in NFF matters. Again, the ban was quashed but the incident simply highlighted the mayhem beyond what was happening on the pitch for the not-so-Super Eagles. Nigeria’s west African neighbours Ivory Coast once again found themselves in a potential ‘Group of Death’ as they were drawn alongside Brazil and Portugal, with North Korea making up the foursome. The Elephants were now managed by Sven-Göran Eriksson who had taken England to the quarter-finals of the previous two tournaments. But having lost to Brazil in 2002 and Portugal in 2006, the Swede may well have felt he owed his Group G opponents some measure of payback. Unfortunately, his hopes were to be dealt a huge blow. Star man Didier Drogba was coming off the back of his best goalscoring season with Chelsea in which his 37 strikes in all competitions helped the Londoners to a Premier League and FA Cup double. The striker was in the form of his life and ready to continue this in South Africa until an awkward fall during a pre-

tournament friendly against Japan in Switzerland. Following a bruising tackle from Japanese defender Tulio, Drogba’s subsequent tumble resulted in a broken right arm. His injury occurred less than two weeks before the opening game against Portugal and, with the very real prospect of Drogba missing the tournament, the Ivorians’ plans were in disarray. After being seen by a surgeon in Bern, Drogba was told he would be out for up to three months, of course ruling him out of the World Cup. ‘“Hold on, hold on,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief,’ Drogba writes in his autobiography. ‘“You see that date there, ten days away?” I said pointing at a calendar on his desk. “That’s the World Cup, and that’s the day of a game I have to play in!”’ The surgeon reluctantly agreed to insert a metal plate into the striker’s arm but warned that he risked further complications if the same arm was injured again. Such was Drogba’s determination to play, he basically disregarded these concerns and was soon on the plane to South Africa. Starting on the bench against Portugal, Drogba could only look on as his team-mates managed to shackle Cristiano Ronaldo and company for most of the match. Introduced in the second half, the hitman had a chance to win it but dragged his effort wide and the game ended goalless in Port Elizabeth. Drogba itted afterwards that the injury was playing on his mind as he went to take the crucial shot and may have had an impact on the finish, or lack thereof. Drogba was back in the starting line-up against Brazil at Soccer City but could do little as his side were taken apart by the rampant South Americans. Luis Fabiano hammered in a wonderful strike at Boubacar Barry’s near post midway through the first half and added a second that was again too hot for the Ivorian keeper to handle just after the break. Ivory Coast might have been aggrieved that the officials failed to spot a possible handball by the Brazilian forward in the build-up to his second goal, but they were indisputably second best on the night. The game was wrapped up just after an hour when Elano swept home after fine work from Kaka. Ivory Coast, and of course Drogba, managed to add a small measure of respectability to the scoreline when the striker stole a march on the Brazilian defence to head beyond Julio Cesar by way of a consolation. It was a first African goal against Brazil at a World Cup but it unfortunately mattered very little. A huge 7-0 win for Portugal against the group whipping boys North Korea

meant the Ivorians likely needed to match that against the Asians and hope for a Brazil win by two or more goals against the Portuguese. Eriksson’s team showed they were more than just Drogba as Yaya Toure, Romaric and Salomon Kalou helped them ease to the kind of dominant victory and performance African sides were all too often on the receiving end of at World Cups, although sadly it wasn’t enough. Even if they had scored the required number of goals, a 0-0 stalemate between the one-time European colonial power and its former subjects meant the Elephants made an early, but not entirely unexpected return back up the continent to west Africa. ‘Portugal and Brazil were always going to be incredibly difficult to beat,’ lamented Drogba. ‘I don’t think my injury changed the outcome.’ Following the influx of new sides in four years earlier, two more of the old guard were back in South Africa. A star-studded Cameroon squad featured the likes of Benoît Assou-Ekotto, Carlos Kameni, Rigobert Song, Alex Song, Sebastian Bassong and Geremi Njitap and was captained by Samuel Eto’o, winner of the Champions League with Italian giants Internazionale just a few weeks earlier. ‘Cameroon look well equipped to reach at least the quarter-finals and do have the benefit of a far easier group than the Ivory Coast,’ wrote The Telegraph’s Jeremy Wilson as he predicted potential dark horses for the competition. ‘Holland should win Group E but Cameroon have every chance of finishing above Denmark and Japan.’ The Indomitable Lions instead flattered to deceive and very much failed to live up to their nickname in what turned out to be a disastrous campaign. After a 1-0 defeat to the Japanese, Eto’o’s opener against Denmark was wiped out by goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Dennis Rommedahl to knock them out of the tournament. Playing for pride in their final group game against the Dutch, Eto’o was again on the scoresheet but his second-half penalty was sandwiched between a typically clinical Robin van Persie strike and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s late winner for the eventual finalists. Cameroon went home with a humiliating three defeats from three, North Korea being the only other team to exit the group stage on zero points. Equally unimpressive were Algeria, returning to the competition for the first time since 1986 after a variety of factors kept them out of the World Cup picture for years. The unwanted stereotype of instability in African states is unfortunately one that is sometimes rooted in fact. A brutal civil war from 1991

to 2002 put football on the back-burner in the country and, as a result, a number of players ‘refused’ to play for the national team either for safety reasons or, as French-Algerians, had their eye on a call-up for instead. In the mid2000s, increased oil prices meant the country started to improve economically and consequently, led to more investment in sport. As the Algerian FA (FAF) started to get serious again, it successfully lobbied FIFA to change the eligibility rules for young players, allowing them to choose to represent a different country to the one they may have played for at youth level. For example, FrenchAlgerians who played for Les Bleus before the age of 21 could now switch allegiance to Algeria at senior level. Not that any of this helped their campaign in South Africa as 1-0 defeats against Slovenia and the USA came either side of a turgid 0-0 draw with England, leaving the Desert Foxes bottom of Group C and, alongside Honduras, one of only two teams not to score a single goal at the tournament. But while their actual performance in South Africa was nothing to write home about, Algeria’s eventful qualification made major headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons. Sitting top of their qualifying group, Algeria’s path to South Africa looked clear ahead of the final match of the CAF qualifying campaign. However, this deciding game just so happened to be the small matter of the return fixture against arch rivals Egypt, having won the first encounter 3-1 in Blida. The Pharaohs were Africa’s dominant force at the time and despite that earlier defeat, they were confident of snatching the coveted qualification spot for themselves. The showdown in Cairo would be for all the marbles. A win for Egypt would put them level on points with Algeria at the top of the group, leaving goal difference to determine the qualifier. Algeria could afford to lose by a single goal to progress, whereas Egypt would need to win by a minimum of three goals to go through. A win by exactly two goals for the home side would set up an all-or-nothing play-off on neutral ground. The match was scheduled for 14 November 2009, almost 20 years on from the infamous ‘Hate Match’ at the same venue. All the emotion, feeling, anger and ion from that day in 1989 returned to the surface and of course, was ramped up by everyone involved, from politicians, the media and of course the players, some of whom were even rumoured to have faked injuries for their clubs to make sure they were available and at 100 per cent for the game. ‘Do or die, a fight to the finish, now or never, life and death – use all the

expressions of finality you would like and you would be correct,’ were the highly-charged words of journalist Alaa Abdel-Ghani in his match preview for Al-Ahram Weekly, leaving no doubt as to the enormity of what was about to transpire. ‘It is a head-on collision of the worst kind from which just one will emerge from the smoky ruins.’ Both nations were prompted to publicly speak out in an attempt to quell tensions. Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci and Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit pointedly addressed the media in both countries, who had been viciously sniping at one another, to show responsibility in their reporting and maintain ‘sportsmanship and a brotherly spirit’ so as not to rile up the ers. Even FIFA had to send a letter to both associations, ‘We have been informed directly and via the media of some tensions leading up to this decisive day. In this regard, we feel it is timely to remind you that FIFA is clearly monitoring all the activities around this matchday.’ The reverse fixture in June of that year had actually been seen as something of a successful mediation after Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, personally intervened to see the long-standing Interpol arrest warrant in Egypt for Lakhdar Belloumi rescinded, following his alleged role in the 1989 chaos. But the numerous appeals fell on deaf ears. After their arrival in Cairo on 12 November, video emerged of the Algerian team bus being attacked, with windows being smashed by groups of Egyptian youths allegedly hurling stones at the vehicle while the visitors attempted to reach their hotel. Four of the travelling party were injured, three of whom were players, prompting accusations that Egyptian security was inadequate. The incident threw the game into doubt with Algeria demanding a postponement, something Algerian sports journalist Maher Mezahi believes should have happened, ‘From the Algerian side, I would say it was an expectation, yeah. Because they didn’t guarantee the safety of the players and that compromised the integrity of the match.’ The Egyptian Football Association instead went on the offensive and claimed the attack was staged. FIFA allowed the game to go ahead – with the request of added security from the hosts – and so 75,000 people packed into the Cairo International Stadium, generating a furious atmosphere. Home fans arrived six hours before kick-off to help create a noisy and intimating environment for the now-unnerved visitors. ‘There was a little bit of anxiety leading into the match,’ said Mezahi. ‘Then it sort of became defiance, instead of anxiety. It was more like, yeah, well, we’ve got to do this now.’

Within two minutes of kick-off, the decibel level in the ground could have caused a minor earthquake as Amr Zaki stabbed the Pharaohs in front from close range despite the best efforts of Algeria goalkeeper Lounes Gaouaoui. Undaunted by the early setback, the Desert Foxes knew a 1-0 defeat would still be enough to take them through and stood firm in what can only be described as a cauldron of hatred, keeping their increasingly frustrated opponents at bay the longer the game went on. Algeria thought they had done enough, but deep into added time came a devastating twist. Egyptian defender Sayed Moawad floated a pinpoint cross from the left to the back post, picking out the head of striker Emad Moteab who directed the ball downwards and across the sprawling Gaouaoui into the bottom corner. What followed were scenes that arguably wouldn’t have been repeated if Egypt had actually won the World Cup. Fans, players, coaches, politicians and pretty much every person in the stadium erupted in jubilation as a 2-0 victory was secured, keeping their qualification chances alive. Manager Hassan Shehata and his staff tearfully embraced on the sideline as his opposite number Rabah Saâdane sat slumped in his seat. Algeria had been stung. Badly. Following the game, reports of attacks on Algerian fans and even deaths began to circulate although the talk of fatalities was refuted. A total of 32 fans were injured according to the BBC, leading to retaliatory attacks on Egyptians and Egyptian businesses back in Algeria. The fact the teams would now have to meet again four days later was probably the last thing anybody wanted. The trouble in Cairo left the authorities with a conundrum over where the deciding play-off would take place. Eventually Omdurman in Sudan was selected, a decision that journalist Mezahi felt played into the hands of Egypt, ‘We were hoping that it was gonna be Tunisia. When we heard it was Sudan I there was a kind of hesitancy like, oh, Egypt share a border with Sudan, so they have the advantage.’ Preparations ahead of the one-off deciding play-off at the supposedly neutral venue saw 15,000 police deployed according to Reuters. Schools were closed and people were even given the day off work in a bid to avoid any anticipated trouble near the ground. The Al-Merrikh Stadium had its capacity reduced from 41,000 to 35,000 and each set of ers only received 9,000 tickets each with the rest apparently going to Sudanese locals. Despite this, thousands were expected to travel from both countries. Egypt had provided free travel to fans and Algerian president Bouteflika was just as keen to get ers to Sudan, as

much to win favour with people after violating the constitution to serve a third term. ‘I think there were military cargo planes, some of them full of random civilians,’ according to Mezahi. ‘They didn’t need a visa. People just went to travel agencies with ports, no plans for food, hotels or anything of the sort. It was just straight up Kamikaze stuff.’ The sons of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak also attended the game, again highlighting its significance. An understandably tense match was settled by a moment of magic five minutes before half-time. A speculative ball from Algerian midfielder Karim Ziani was allowed to bounce in the penalty area before defender Antar Yahia crashed a stunning half-volley from a tight angle off the crossbar and in. The goal has been likened to Marco van Basten’s wonder strike for the Netherlands in the 1988 European Championship Final, itself widely considered one of the best of all time. Ask any Algerian and this strike from Yahia is at the very least on par with the Dutchman’s. The 1-0 scoreline meant Algeria had secured their place at the tournament in a major upset according to Egyptian journalist and pundit Ahmed Atta, ‘This was probably the biggest shock in Egyptian football history. Many believe that Egypt were the better team but will say Algeria’s spirit beat Egypt’s quality.’ The Pharaohs had won the previous two editions of the AFCON and went on to secure a historic ‘three-peat’ just months after this heart-breaking defeat. Competing at the Confederations Cup earlier that year, Egypt suffered a 4-3 defeat to Brazil only courtesy of a 90th-minute Kaka penalty, as well as beating reigning world champions Italy 1-0, showing they could hang with the best even outside of African borders. ‘This was Egypt’s finest generation ever and they had to play in a World Cup to show their ability as they had in the Confederations Cup, but unfortunately it didn’t happen,’ added Atta. Once again, things escalated beyond the game itself. The fall-out led to increased diplomatic tensions between the two nations. Egypt alleged that a number of fans were attacked in the aftermath of the match with the Egyptian Football Federation firing out a statement claiming, ‘Egyptian fans, officials and players put their lives at risk before and after the game, under threat from weapons, knives, swords and flares.’ President Mubarak’s eldest son, Alaa, also hit out on Egyptian television, ‘It is impossible that we as Egyptians take this, we have to stand up and say “enough”. When you insult my dignity … I will beat you on the head.’ The Egyptians

threatened a FIFA boycott over the matter, ‘If FIFA do not intervene, we are ready to suspend the national team’s football activities for two years at least.’ Sudan hit straight back saying any injuries were minimal and summoned the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum over ‘exaggerated’ media reports of what were ‘minor incidents’. The Egyptian government recalled its ambassador to Algeria and riot police in Cairo were also deployed as up to 1,000 Egyptians gathered outside the Algerian Embassy where flags were burned and firebombs thrown in violent demonstrations. The aftershock even reached as far as , where Algerians hit the streets to celebrate the result before things got out of hand, with several arrests and reports of looting and cars being overturned. FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Egypt over the Algeria bus attack and eventually imposed a two-match home ban for the next World Cup qualifying campaign, forcing them to play these fixtures ‘at a location at least 100 kilometres away from Cairo’. The two teams would face each other again just two months later in the semifinal of the AFCON in Angola. This time Egypt had the last laugh, running out 4-0 winners in another bad-tempered affair in which three Algerian players were sent off. This small measure of revenge came on their way to winning the tournament for the third time in a row, but given their dominance on the continent at the time, Egypt will always rue not reaching the World Cup to test themselves on the global stage. Given Algeria’s ultimately poor showing at the tournament, however, one is left to wonder if all the trouble to get there was actually worth it. Playing on the continent and ‘home’ advantage clearly was of no benefit to Algeria or the four other sides to fall by the wayside at the group stage. The Black Stars of Ghana were the last men standing and looking to build on their second-round appearance four years earlier in their debut World Cup. For many, they were seen as Africa’s best hope. In a bizarre parallel with west African neighbours Ivory Coast, Ghana would also have their pre-tournament plans disrupted by an injury to a Chelsea-based star, in this case Michael Essien. Unfortunately, unlike club-mate Drogba, the midfielder wouldn’t recover in time from a knee injury and missed out on the trip to South Africa. This was not as debilitating a loss as it might have first appeared according to Ghanaian journalist Gary Al-Smith, ‘We had a coach in Milovan Rajevac who didn’t really

think Essien was such a big deal for the team. And so he promptly went about building the team without him.’ Earlier in the year, Ghana narrowly lost the AFCON Final 1-0 to Egypt. The previous year, the country’s youngsters lifted the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. Selecting his squad for South Africa, the Serbian Rajevac was able to dip into what was clearly a deep well of talent, taking five of that triumphant under-20 team including captain Andre Ayew and the competition’s top scorer Dominic Adiyiah. The youngsters slotted in alongside the established stars such as Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari. ‘There was cohesion. There was fresh blood, there was unpredictability. There was competition for places. A perfect mix,’ Al-Smith added. With an average age of 24, Ghana were the t youngest team at the World Cup along with North Korea and a side they would be drawn against in Group D alongside Australia and Serbia. A largely forgettable opening game against the latter was settled five minutes from time when Zdravko Kuzmanović’s brainless handball gave Argentine referee Héctor Baldassi no other option than to point to the penalty spot. After his last World Cup appearance ended with a red card in the defeat to Brazil, up stepped Gyan and the Rennes striker made no mistake from 12 yards to seal a 1-0 win in Pretoria. Gyan was the hero but his arrival at this moment had not been without issues. Two years earlier, with the AFCON being held in his home country, ers turned on the player after a perceived poor performance. The criticism was in fact so vitriolic that Gyan and his brother Baffour literally packed their bags and were on the brink of leaving the team base. Things got so bad, the whole family required police protection following death threats from angry ers and even required the intervention of Ghana President John Kufuor, who personally requested Gyan remain with the team. ‘Throughout his national team career, Gyan has been as hated as he has been loved,’ laughed Al-Smith. ‘When the president calls you to ask you to come back to the national team, obviously, you’re gonna have a sense of entitlement. He’s always felt he’s been a bit special, and let’s be honest, he has been a bit special.’ At the AFCON earlier in the year, Gyan showed exactly how special he was, scoring winning goals in both the quarter-final against hosts Angola and in the semis against the old enemy Nigeria. By now, he was arguably the most

important player in the squad and his winner against Serbia to kick-start Ghana’s World Cup campaign only served to emphasise this further. ‘He’s a prima donna but he’s earned it,’ conceded Al-Smith. Against Australia in Rustenburg, another Gyan penalty was required, this time after Harry Kewell handled on the line from Jonathan Mensah’s goalbound shot. Kewell was sent off and the converted spot-kick cancelled out Brett Holman’s earlier opener for the Aussies. But despite playing with a man advantage for well over an hour, Ghana were unable to find a winner and left themselves very much at risk of elimination going into the final game against the Germans at Soccer City. A stunning Mesut Özil strike handed the Black Stars a 1-0 defeat but after many years and numerous examples of African sides getting stung by late groupstage drama, fortune was finally smiling down on the continent as Serbia were denied a blatant late penalty in their 2-1 defeat to Australia where an equaliser would have taken them into the last 16 on goals scored. Instead, Ghana scraped through having scored just two goals, both coming from the penalty spot. But immediately putting to bed any doubts about their ability to score from open play, they needed just five minutes to find the target against the USA in their second-round game in Rustenburg. Among the Ghana ranks was emerging star Kevin-Prince Boateng. Despite having been born in Berlin and representing at youth level, Boateng switched his allegiance to the country of his father at the start of the year, throwing up the unusual scenario of lining up against his half-brother Jérôme when the two teams went head-to-head earlier in the tournament. Against the Americans, the energetic Boateng picked up the ball on the halfway line before going on a blistering solo run and hammering in a shot from the edge of the penalty area to put the African side in front. Of course, Ghana wouldn’t be able to escape penalty drama and this time they were on the receiving end as a clumsy challenge by Mensah on Clint Dempsey gave Landon Donovan the opportunity to restore parity in the second half. It was a chance he needed no second invitation to take, sending Richard Kingson in the Ghana goal the wrong way. With no further scoring, extra time was required and just like at the start of the game, Ghana flew out of the traps. Three minutes into the first period, Gyan ran on to a speculative Boateng ball forward. Controlling it with his chest, the striker had the speed and strength to shrug off the challenges of Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra, racing into the box and lacing a clean shot over the advancing Tim Howard from a narrow angle. Gyan was very much the man as the stadium

went ballistic at the prospect of continued African involvement in the competition. Despite their best efforts, the USA could not find an equaliser and Ghana hung on to match the amazing feats of Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 as just the third team from Africa to reach the last eight of the World Cup. ‘I am the happiest man in the world,’ a beaming Gyan told reporters after the game. ‘In 2006 we made the second round, now we have gone a step further. We have made Ghana proud and the whole of Africa proud.’ Equally pleased was his manager, who was delighted to see his team overcome the added physical demand of extra time. ‘We needed strength to go to the end and we found it,’ said an ecstatic Rajevac, but he also expressed his concerns over team selection ahead of the quarter-final. ‘It is fantastic to be in the eight best teams, but our problem over the next six days is an injury to Kevin-Prince Boateng that will have our medical staff working hard, and two players [Ayew and Mensah] suspended through second yellow cards.’ On the brink of history, Ghana returned to Soccer City for a showdown with Uruguay, themselves attempting to reach the final four for the first time since 1970. Having come through South Africa’s group, a Luis Suarez-inspired win over South Korea set up this enthralling quarter-final clash. An end-to-end first half saw Suarez force a couple of good saves from Kingson while Gyan and Boateng went close for Ghana. With the two managers, Rajevac and Óscar Tabárez, already preparing their half-time team talks, Ghana’s Sulley Muntari picked up the ball in midfield and turned towards the Uruguay goal. The Inter midfielder, who had featured prominently in José Mourinho’s treble-winning side that season, had something of a penchant for long-range strikes and certainly wasn’t afraid to try his luck from distance. That Uruguay allowed him so much time on the ball was a gross tactical oversight as the ex-Portsmouth man took aim and let fly from 40 yards. Once again, the Jabulani and its incalculable flight came into play as the ball took an unexpected swerve to bounce and bamboozle Fernando Muslera, who could only grasp at thin air as it curled away from his hand and into the back of the net. This goal was the peak of Muntari’s own redemption arc in the Ghana story. Despite being one of the country’s most high-profile stars, the Uruguay game was just his first start of the tournament. Having fallen out with Rajevac over his failure to report for a friendly, Muntari was left out of the AFCON squad in Angola with his World Cup place also in doubt. Eventually selected, the

midfielder got on the wrong side of his manager once more following a blazing row after the draw with Australia. ‘He was a huge personality, and occasionally he would let it spill over,’ according to Al-Smith. Rajevac was reportedly actually prepared to send Muntari home from the tournament before being persuaded to change his mind. Back in the team thanks to Ayew’s suspension, Muntari finally gave his manager reason to smile with his Jabulani-assisted strike. But as the Jabulani giveth, it also taketh away. Ten minutes into the second half, Uruguay defender Jorge Fucile’s feet were too quick for John Pantsil as the Ghana defender brought down his opponent just outside the left-hand corner of the penalty area. Stepping up to take the kick was Forlan and, just as against South Africa in the group stage, the striker would use the ball to his advantage. Rather than float a cross into the box, the Atletico Madrid hitman opted to hit the ball with just enough power towards the goal. From the angle of Kingson, the shot looked fairly central and appeared to be one he was expecting to deal with fairly comfortably. However, when the almost sentient ball chose to deviate just slightly at the crucial moment, the goalkeeper lost track of its flight and could only watch as it evaded his extended left arm and dropped in the net. Given all the complaints from other players, one imagines Forlan would have happily played with the Jabulani for the rest of his career, such was his mastery of it. Neither team was able to make the breakthrough in a nervy remainder of the game, and the minutes of extra time also ticked by with no winner in sight. A penalty shoot-out was imminent but not before a moment of drama that would rival some of Hollywood’s greatest screenplays. With 119 minutes played and barely seconds remaining, Ghana were awarded a free kick on the right of the penalty area. Pantsil stood over the ball as red and yellow shirts flooded the box, hoping, praying perhaps for the ideal delivery with which they could make themselves a national hero. The defender floated a tired delivery into the near post area with just enough power to pick out the rising Boateng who managed to flick the ball towards goal. A panicked Muslera miscalculated the Jabulani’s wayward flight – naturally – allowing Mensah to knock it down into the six-yard box for a waiting Stephen Appiah. With the goal at his mercy, the captain could only direct his shot on to the knee of Suarez on the line. As the ball looped up in the air, Ghana sensed another chance and quickest to react was the youngster Adiyiah, who powered a header back towards goal. For a split second, the whole of Africa took a sharp intake of breath, preparing to celebrate a first World Cup semi-finalist. That was until Suarez intervened. Reacting the only way he could,

the striker punched the ball off the line and away. The watching world was left stunned. The entire sequence from free kick to handball played out in a matter of seconds leaving many needing a moment to digest what they had just witnessed. Portuguese official Olegário Benquerença instantly pulled out the red card from his top pocket. Suarez was off. Ghana’s players punched the air. A certain goal had been denied but they had a penalty. The very last kick of the game to send them into the final four and who else to take it but Gyan? Having already demonstrated his reliability from 12 yards twice so far in the tournament, Soccer City was ready to witness the player writing his name into World Cup folklore. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be in the way he or Ghana would have liked or expected. There was audible disbelief as Gyan opted to go high with his kick, only to see it crash off the top of the crossbar and away into the night. ‘I was going to place the ball to the goalkeeper’s right,’ Gyan said in an interview with The Independent a year later, ‘but then I saw his movement, also to the right, so I hit it straight, and it hit the crossbar. It was the saddest moment, not for me alone but for the whole of Africa. I didn’t sleep for a week.’ Uruguay had a reprieve. Suarez, who had left the pitch in tears, defied the official requirement to return to the changing room after being sent off and remained on the sideline to watch the crucial penalty. As Gyan missed, the Ajax forward clenched both fists, bared his teeth and celebrated like the hero of the hour. An understandable reaction but not particularly dignified in the circumstances. As the chaos of the previous two minutes settled somewhat, both teams now had to gear themselves up for the shoot-out. Forlan made no mistake to put Uruguay ahead. To his credit, Gyan took Ghana’s first kick and levelled the score. Mauricio Victorino drilled in his effort for 2-1 before Appiah responded in kind. Andrés Scotti made it 3-2 but then a ridiculously casual one-step effort from Mensah was easily telegraphed by Muslera and it was advantage to the South Americans. Maxi Pereira went for power but sent his effort flying over the crossbar and Ghana had a chance to level again through Adiyiah. The 20-yearold, who scored eight times in seven games during the successful under-20 campaign a year earlier, and of course had that decisive effort denied by Suarez, decided to try and place the ball into the bottom-left corner. Unfortunately, Muslera again guessed correctly and palmed the ball away.

It was now 3-2 in favour of Uruguay and the next kick would win it. Up stepped the 6ft 4in, long-haired Sebastián Abreu who had, not five minutes earlier, been seen with his hands on his head, crestfallen after Suarez’s handball. With the opportunity to send his side to a World Cup semi-final, Abreu strode forward and as Kingson committed to diving to his right, the striker casually went for the patented ‘Panenka’ chipped effort to break Ghanaian and African hearts. Before the ball even hit the back of the net, Uruguay players were sprinting towards Abreu. Ghana’s players were devastated. Gyan was inconsolable. Adiyiah was broken, lying on the turf, unable to be roused or lifted to his feet despite the best efforts of his team-mates. If the emotional rollercoaster Ghana had just been on actually existed, it would have been shut down for safety concerns. ‘It was the only time I physically cried for the national team,’ itted Al-Smith, capturing the mood of an entire nation. That mood wouldn’t have been helped by the sight of Suarez, now back on the pitch, hoisted up on the shoulders of Victorino, as if his denial of Ghana’s victory was something to be honoured. ‘Mine is the real “Hand of God”,’ he was later quoted as saying, lacking any sense of contrition. ‘I made the save of the tournament,’ he added. ‘In his shoes I would have done the same,’ Gyan later confessed, ‘but the people in my country … he cannot ever go there. He is the most hated man in Ghana.’ It is unclear if Suarez has ever been to Accra to try and make amends with the Ghanaian people but given this wasn’t to be an isolated incident of his villainy on a football pitch, it’s highly doubtful. Despite the cruel disappointment of their exit, the defeated Black Stars earned widespread acclaim back in Ghana according to journalist Al-Smith. ‘If you compare this Ghana team of 2010, man-for-man, to other squads of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, even the ’90s, they probably can’t hold a candle to them. But the fact is they did the business. So they get the plaudits.’ Their feats weren’t just recognised at home as the world had witnessed an African side come closer than any other to World Cup glory. ‘The Black Stars of Ghana have been the life and soul of the World Cup party,’ wrote Matt Barlow of the Daily Mail. ‘World under-20 champions, runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations and now top eight in the world. Expect more from them.’

Before leaving South Africa, the team had the honour of meeting Nelson Mandela at his home in Johannesburg. ‘They represented the continent well,’ said the office of the former president afterwards, ‘and although they did not qualify for the semi-finals they can return home with their heads held high.’ They may not have won the trophy but it was fitting, and a relief, that an African side was able to perform so well at an African World Cup. Creating major headlines and invoking at least some kind of reaction from everybody watching, Ghana had left a mark. The fact their eventual defeat came in such dramatic circumstances certainly helped enhance the reputation of football on the continent going forward.

12

More Money, More Problems in Brazil

THE MOST African country outside of Africa. An interesting and curious description of Brazil, the vast South American nation which lies some 1,600 miles west of Senegal coast-to-coast across the Atlantic Ocean, making it about as far away from Africa as one could imagine. However, geography alone isn’t the sole factor to observe when searching for Africa’s ties to the country. Following Brazil’s 2010 census, 52 per cent of the population identified as nonwhite, outnumbering whites for the first time. Of around 191 million people, 97 million considered themselves either black or mixed compared to 91 million white and the remainder identifying themselves as Asian or indigenous. The diverse, cosmopolitan nation is made up of many very different ancestral backgrounds, including natives, European settlers, Asian migrants and, most crucially, African slaves. After seizing control of the land in 1500, Portuguese colonialists transported millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to work the country’s plantations and mines. An estimated four million slaves ended up in Brazil, around 37 per cent of the entire total traded from Africa to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. Brazil, one of the last countries in the world to abolish the practice in 1888, is home to generations of people of African descent and boasts the world’s largest black population outside of Africa. Predictably, this has led to a great deal of cultural crossover and influence. Samba music, developed by Afro-Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, has its roots in traditional African drumming. Capoeira, the famous martial art turned dance routine that can often be found taught in gyms across the Western world and practised by over-enthusiastic fitness-obsessed middle classes, was actually created in Africa and imported by the slaves taken from their homeland. Brazilian food, religious practices and even the Rio Carnival also all have fingerprints of the African diaspora. Nowadays, Brazil maintains a trading

relationship with the continent, particularly with fellow Portuguese-speaking nations such as Angola, as well as further north and west with Egypt and Nigeria respectively. On the football pitch, many of Brazil’s greatest players will have been descendants of black Africans. Ronaldo, Garrincha, Jairzinho, Ronaldinho and of course, Pelé are all considered Afro-Brazilian heroes. As football exploded in popularity in the 20th century, the average African seeing fellow black players whose lineage could potentially be traced back to the continent competing at the very top of the game was to see a representation of themselves. Pelé was perhaps the greatest embodiment of this thanks to his role in helping Brazil win their first two World Cups in 1958 and 1962. Considered the best player in the world at the time, he and his Santos side would embark on a global tour, playing exhibition matches. Upon arriving in Africa, the legend remarked how the people of the continent were thrilled by his very presence as they ‘lined the streets’ wherever he went. ‘Being in Africa was a simultaneously humbling and gratifying experience for me,’ Pelé wrote in his autobiography. ‘I could sense the hope the Africans derived from seeing a black man who had been so successful in the world. I could also sense their pride in my own pride that this was the land of my forefathers.’ One of these expeditions even allegedly led to a temporary two-day ceasefire in the Nigeria–Biafra war as arms were laid down to watch Pelé take to the pitch. However, the man himself plays down his part in this supposed truce. ‘I’m not sure that is completely true,’ he itted. ‘But the Nigerians certainly made sure the Biafrans wouldn’t invade Lagos when we were there.’ This particular tour, taking place in 1969, was the brainchild of FIFA presidential candidate and fellow Brazilian João Havelange as he looked to woo African federations into backing his eventually successful run for office five years later. As head of FIFA, Havelange steadily saw an increase in places at the World Cup for African sides, from just one when he was elected in 1974, to five by the time he left the post in 1998. Havelange’s early commitment to the growth of African football eventually resulted in the continent hosting the tournament for the first time in 2010. Brazil travelled to South Africa among the favourites and would have received a lot of local during their run to the quarter-finals. Four years on, it was the turn of African teams to head west with the tournament being held in the South

American nation. ‘This will be a special World Cup,’ said Algeria’s Adlène Guedioura in a pretournament interview with FIFA. ‘It’s being held in Brazil, the land of football. Even though it was invented in England, Brazil is where it became beautiful.’ A statement and sentiment that summarises the almost mythical esteem in which Brazilian football is held in Africa. The Desert Foxes, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria were the five African qualifiers for the 2014 tournament, meaning that with the exception of South Africa, the continent was sending the same representatives for a second successive World Cup. On one hand, this may have led to a concern about an elite group starting to form. On the other, perhaps we were starting to see a consistency among Africa’s top sides that would finally see them make further inroads at the tournament beyond the roadblock of the quarter-final. With more talent and experience, as well as supposedly greater levels of organisation, each country had a chance to build on previous showings. Even the climate in Brazil might have been expected to play into the hands of the Africans – potentially giving them a slight advantage over their European and Asian opponents. Unfortunately, instead what we got was a rendition of some of the greatest hits of the problems that had proved debilitating obstacles to progress in the past. Indiscipline? check. Defensive naïvety? check. Arguments over money issues? Check, check and a third check for good measure. The timeline of disaster began on 8 June when a chartered flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, failed to take off as scheduled. There was nothing wrong with the aircraft per se, but rather the issue was with its intended engers, the Cameroon team, who had collectively refused to board. A row had been brewing within the camp over recent weeks, with once again, arguments over bonuses disrupting preparations. There had initially been talk of strike action at their training camp in Austria when the squad gathered a month earlier, and the players decided to make good on that threat as they were set to fly out to their base in Vitória. The seeds for the mutiny were sown earlier in the week as the players, led by captain Samuel Eto’o, refused to accept the country’s national flag in a traditional pre-tournament ceremony. Due to travel to the YaoundéNsimalen International Airport, the squad chose to remain in their hotel, putting their participation in Brazil very much in doubt.

The Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) called an emergency meeting, and eventually reached an 11th-hour compromise. ‘Everything has been resolved,’ claimed FECAFOOT president Joseph Owona. ‘We have opted for transparency. There is no problem and I think the team needs to be mobilised for all to look in one direction.’ In light of blistering criticism for their actions, Eto’o felt duty-bound to issue something close to a public apology but he remained adamant the players were right to take up their defiant stance. In an open letter ahead of their first match, the striker wrote, ‘There have been misunderstandings, certainly. However, we are satisfied with a happy end. We hope that all those who were offended by our insistence are able to forgive us.’ He added, ‘I fought for what I believe to be legitimate: the right of my team-mates for their bonuses so that they can give the best of themselves for their country.’ Almost predictably, Cameroon were beaten 1-0 by Mexico in their opening Group A match in Natal, leaving the Indomitable Lions basically facing a mustwin encounter against Croatia in game two. Adding to their woes, they would be without the 33-year-old Eto’o due to an ongoing knee problem. The match in Manaus on 18 June was nothing short of a disaster, harking back to Zaire’s capitulation against Yugoslavia exactly 40 years to the day. After Ivica Olić put Croatia in front, Barcelona midfielder Alex Song inexplicably elbowed Mario Mandžukić in the back in a needless off-the-ball skirmish before half-time, quite rightly receiving his marching orders from Portuguese referee Pedro Proença. Ivan Perišić slotted home a second after the break before Mandžukić headed in a third. The striker tapped in a fourth with 20 minutes to play, but while this was the end of the scoring, it certainly wasn’t the end of the episode. In bizarre scenes before full time, tensions boiled over as Benoit Assou-Ekotto attempted to headbutt team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo before the two warring players were pulled apart by Pierre Webo. It was a shocking incident that brought further shame on the team. ‘It’s not the image of Cameroon I want to project,’ said manager Volker Finke afterwards, clearly aware of how such incidents can be used to feed negative stereotypes about African football. Assou-Ekotto later explained his actions, putting what happened down to a combination of Moukandjo’s apparent refusal to to him and frustration over the scoreline. ‘Everyone can make a mistake,’ he itted. ‘But when I told him again, he replied, “Get off my back!” I could not accept his reaction. There was so much frustration in that match. Now people take me for an idiot. I could not

control my temper. If the score was 0-0, it would have not happened.’ The two players settled their differences but the damage was done and the team were out of the competition with a game to spare. Their performance against Croatia was so bad that there were even rumours the match was fixed, although this was something Finke vehemently denied. ‘I know my team and it is out of the question,’ the embittered manager hit back. ‘I find it completely impossible that my players would give away the match.’ Facing Brazil in their final game should have been a special occasion for any African side given that long and storied history but with everything that had occurred beforehand, the fixture was virtually inconsequential. The hosts cruised to a comprehensive 4-1 victory in Brasília, with Joel Matip’s consolation the only thing Cameroon would be able to celebrate from a calamitous and ultimately regrettable trip. Cameroon were not alone with their issues. Ghana, who had made steady progress in their first two tournament appearances, were perhaps expected to be Africa’s shining stars once again. After reaching the last 16 in 2006 and that dramatic quarter-final four years later, few would have written them off, even in a dreaded ‘Group of Death’ alongside , Portugal and their old foes the USA. Kicking off their Group G campaign in Natal, the Ghana side now managed by Kwesi Appiah were looking to inflict more misery on the Americans following their victories in and South Africa four and eight years prior. Desperate to avoid a third successive defeat to the Africans, the USA raced out of the blocks and after just 29 seconds, Clint Dempsey cut inside a sluggish and flatfooted John Boye in the area to slot the ball beyond Adam Kwarasey and Ghana were unexpectedly behind. The Black Stars took some time to get going but were well on top by the time their 82nd-minute equaliser finally arrived. Kwadwo Asamoah pierced the USA defence with a clever outside-foot to pick out the run of Asamoah Gyan. Ghana’s star man opted not to shoot from the tight angle on the left of the penalty area and instead executed a sublime backheel for the late run of Andre Ayew to finish. It was no less than Appiah’s side deserved and they may have even sensed they could snatch a late win. Unfortunately, sloppy marking four minutes later for Graham Zusi’s outswinging corner from the right-hand side allowed USA substitute John Brooks to power a downward header past Kwarasey and give the Americans a 2-1 win.

It was a devastating late blow which was far from an ideal start to the tournament, and things were not expected to get any easier against in Fortaleza. After a goalless yet even first half, found the breakthrough six minutes after the interval when Thomas Müller’s cross from the right was met by Mario Götze to score. The forward actually mistimed his header from close range but fortuitously, the ball bounced off his knee and into the goal. Just three minutes later, Ghana were level when right-back Harrison Afful’s laserguided cross picked out the smooth, shiny, bald head of Ayew to send beyond Manuel Neuer. Things were about to get even better when Mats Hummels failed to cut out Sulley Muntari’s through ball to Gyan in the final third of the pitch. Receiving the , the forward stared down the usually intimidating Neuer before calmly placing the ball beyond his opponent to claim victory in the momentary battle of wits between the two. Not only was the goal one of major significance in the game, but for Gyan, the strike saw him match Roger Milla’s record of five World Cup goals, and also made him the first African player to score in three successive tournaments. Ghana’s hopes of a famous victory were dashed, however, when substitute Miroslav Klose tapped in from close range to salvage a draw. By a remarkable coincidence, Klose’s goal against Ghana in Brazil equalled Ronaldo’s World Cup record of 15 and came after the Brazilian himself set the record by also scoring against Ghana eight years earlier – in . Ghana had shown they were well capable of making it beyond the group stage again but results hadn’t gone in their favour so far. The USA defeat came through a tactical faux pas from Appiah who explained that his team selection was based on the mistaken belief the Americans would get ‘tired’, a revelation that left Ghanaian journalist Gary Al-Smith aghast: ‘Anybody who has followed football for years knows that the stereotype about American teams, regardless of the sport, is that they are strong. Athletic. Your default, stereotypical bias mindset should be that you can’t outrun them. But our coach decided otherwise.’ After pushing all the way, there was a sense of disappointment in the Ghana camp as they believed their performance had warranted more than a draw. ‘It didn’t help that [ coach] Joachim Löw said after the tournament that Ghana had given them the most difficult game,’ lamented Al-Smith. The final match against Portugal was now a must-win and the African side needed goals, but before it even kicked off, off-field problems would take a sledgehammer to their preparations. The perpetual issue of unpaid bonuses had

now found its way into the Black Stars camp. With the players threatening to boycott the match in protest, Ghana’s president John Dramani Mahama personally assured them they would be paid. The Ghana Football Association was now backed into a corner and sent $3m in cash to Brazil in a bid to get the players back onside. The money was delivered to the training ground having been accompanied by an armed convoy from the airport in a scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Fast & Furious movie. Upon receiving their payment, a bizarre spectacle played out with of the squad each keeping their share of thousands of dollars in their personal kit bags. Appiah later revealed in his autobiography, Leaders Don’t Have to Yell, that a hot-headed Muntari actually got into a physical fight over the disputed bonus payments with a member of the Ghana Football Association, Moses Armah. Elsewhere, there was more drama with Kevin-Prince Boateng, who was involved in a blazing row with Appiah after a heated training session. ‘Afterwards I went to him and asked what he had against me and he started yelling,’ Boateng told German publication Bild. ‘He insulted me. There were words like “fuck off”.’ Leaving aside the irony of this incident given the title of Appiah’s book, both Muntari and Boateng were kicked out of the team and sent home, mere hours before the game in Brasília, where their team-mates were each walking around with huge stacks of cash on them. The match, rather predictably at this point, ended in disappointment for Ghana. With half an hour played, defender Boye hacked wildly at Miguel Veloso’s low driven cross from the left, sending the ball looping in the air and into his own goal. For all their issues, Ghana were still a talented and resilient team, and found themselves level just before the hour mark. A stunning, improvised outside of the foot cross by left-back Asamoah found Gyan at the far post to head in the equaliser. Gyan had now sured Milla’s record and at the time of writing in 2021, is the all-time leading African scorer in World Cup history. Ghana still needed two goals to qualify but they never arrived. Instead, Cristiano Ronaldo fired in a winner for Portugal after Ghana keeper Fatau Dauda made a mess of an aerial ball into the six-yard box. The Black Stars exited the competition in disappointing fashion. All that was left to top off a miserable couple of weeks was a leaked photo of defender Boye, kissing a wad of his owed money, going viral. It seemed to epitomise the greed and decadence of modern-day millionaire footballers. Although this was money

that was promised to the player, the act itself unfortunately painted Ghanaian football in a bad light and temporarily sullied all the goodwill they had earned in their previous two tournaments. ‘I’m sure if you asked him today, it would feature in the top three regrets of his life. I’m sure his answer will be that he was naïve,’ said journalist Al-Smith. ‘He has become the unwitting image of Ghana’s 2014 failure.’ Fellow west Africans Ivory Coast travelled to Brazil with a robust and experienced, if slightly aged squad. After the nightmare draws of their previous two appearances, playing in Group C with Colombia, Greece and Japan gave them a great chance of finally making the round of 16. Kicking off their campaign in Recife, the Ivorians fell behind to a fantastic Keisuke Honda strike for Japan after just 16 minutes. Typically, the focus was on the team captain Didier Drogba who at 36, arguably no longer warranted actually being the focal point of the team. That said, his introduction from the bench in the second half inspired a dramatic turnaround for the Elephants. Introduced in the 62nd minute, the Ivorians conjured an equaliser just two minutes later when Wilfried Bony met Serge Aurier’s pinpoint cross to score. Barely two more minutes would before they found themselves in front. Another, near identical Aurier cross into the box this time picked out the head of Gervinho, who directed the ball beyond Eiji Kawashima at the near post. A 2-1 win to start the campaign put them in a great position alongside group favourites Colombia. Even a 2-1 defeat to the South Americans in Brasília shouldn’t have been too damaging with the knowledge they only needed a draw from their final match. Sadly, Fortaleza was to be the setting of a Greek tragedy for the Africans. Just before half-time an under-hit from Cheick Tioté allowed Georgios Samaras and Andreas Samaris to dance past a floundering Kolo Toure, presenting the latter with the opportunity to give his side the lead. With 15 minutes to play, Ivory Coast were level when Gervinho burst into the penalty area before squaring the ball to Bony who confidently slotted in the equaliser. As things stood, Ivory Coast were through and potentially set to face the tournament’s surprise package, Costa Rica, in the next round. While not under-estimating the Central American side, the draw certainly presented a favourable route to the last eight. However, if you weren’t expecting an African team’s grand plans to be torpedoed by late drama then you haven’t been paying enough attention. In the 93rd minute, Greece’s José Holebas played a deflected low cross from the left to

the feet of Samaras. As the long-haired striker prepared to pull the trigger, his shooting foot seemed to hook the shin of his marker Giovanni Sio, causing Samaras to kick the turf and go to ground. To the astonishment of all the Elephants players, 60,000 ers in the Castelão and 22 million Ivorians back home, Ecuadorian referee Carlos Vera blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. Samaras dusted himself down, stepped up and dispatched the kick to send Ivory Coast crashing out of the tournament and the Greeks through in their place. Four years on from their first World Cup win over Nigeria, Greece had derailed another African side in spectacular yet controversial circumstances. For many of Ivory Coast’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’, including Drogba, the Toure brothers, Didier Zokora and goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, this would sadly be their last shot at making an impact at the World Cup.

***

In an attempt to ease the fixture burden, travel and fatigue for African sides heading to the World Cup, CAF opted to switch the biennial AFCON tournament from even to odd numbered years starting in 2013. Nigeria would win the first of these newly scheduled tournaments in South Africa, beating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final at Soccer City. As in 1994, this meant the Super Eagles would be heading to the World Cup as African champions. Captaining that side to continental glory and their maiden World Cup adventure in America was veteran defender Stephen Keshi. Two decades on, the same man was now in the dugout to mastermind another AFCON victory, becoming just the second man to win the trophy as player and manager. Now, he was about to lead his country to Brazil. Known as the ‘Big Boss’, Keshi was a tough, bull-necked defender whose 6ft 1in frame made him a commanding figure on the pitch and a worthy wearer of the Super Eagles’ armband. No less assertive as manager, Keshi was strongwilled and rarely afraid to speak his mind. Just a day after the triumphant 2013 final in Johannesburg, Keshi actually resigned following a disagreement with the Nigerian Football Federation, only to perform a u-turn 24 hours later. Having famously managed Togo to qualification for a first, and to date, only World Cup in 2006, Keshi was denied his opportunity to take charge of the team

in having been sacked following a poor showing at that year’s AFCON, as well as a falling-out with striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Eight years on, with his native country, Big Boss had finally arrived on the big stage. Taking a squad packed with European and Premier League experience, he would have been confident heading into Group F alongside debutants Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iran. However, for the fourth time in their five World Cup appearances, Nigeria were also placed in the group with now familiar foes Argentina. The squad arrived looking less reckless and more organised than years gone by but perhaps approached their opener against Iran in Curitiba with too much caution as the game finished goalless. Keshi and his team now knew they needed to beat Bosnia in Cuiabá and were handed a huge stroke of fortune early on when Edin Dzeko struck the ball beyond Vincent Enyeama only for the goal to be wrongly ruled out for offside. Taking full advantage of this reprieve, Nigeria soon took the lead. On the half-hour, Emmanuel Emenike charged down the right wing and into the box before squaring for Peter Odemwingie to finish from close range. Nigeria held on for the win in what was an extra special moment for the striker, having been exiled from the squad for over two years over a dispute with Keshi before the two men made amends ahead of the tournament. Maybe, just maybe, we were finally seeing some maturity within the setup. Nigeria now needed a draw against Argentina to book their place in the knockout stage, but things didn’t get off to the best of starts in Porto Alegre. Just three minutes in, they were caught cold as Ángel Di María was inexplicably left unmarked on the left-hand side of the penalty area and allowed to smash a shot towards Enyeama’s goal. The ball cannoned off the post and back on to the keeper’s head before hitting the post again and dropping to the last player in the world any defending side would hope for in such a situation. Lionel Messi pounced on the rebound and hammered the ball into the roof of the net, giving the South Americans the lead. It was the first goal Nigeria had conceded in the tournament but seemed to spark Keshi’s team into life and within a minute they were level when Ahmed Musa cut inside from the left on his right foot to flash a shot beyond the helpless Sergio Romero. Messi fired Argentina back in front in stoppage time at the end of the half with a stunning free kick, although Enyeama’s sluggish reactions left a lot to be desired. Almost immediately after the break it was Messi two, Musa two, when the Nigerian forward burst into the box and calmly finished to level

the scores. Three minutes later, Marcos Rojo got the final touch from a Messi corner for 3-2 and, unbelievably, that was the end of the scoring in a breathless game. Thankfully, Iran’s defeat to Bosnia meant Nigeria followed Argentina into the next round, setting up a match with . Unfortunately, that so-called maturity mentioned earlier soon evaporated as, once again, players refused to train in a dispute over bonus money. Squad were expecting to receive $30,000 a man for qualifying from the group but the NFF was only offering $10,000 for the win over Bosnia and $5,000 for the draw with Iran, leading players to boycott a day of training ahead of facing the French. Again, the situation required government intervention with Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan forced to step in to reassure the players they would be adequately compensated. The team relented and made their way to Brasília for their last-16 showdown. Keshi’s side dug in and put in a dogged rearguard performance to frustrate their opponents with Enyeama pulling off some crucial saves whenever the defence was breached. However, with extra time looming, the Nigeria goalkeeper misjudged the flight of a Mathieu Valbuena corner and palmed the ball on to the head of Paul Pogba to put in front with just ten minutes to play. In stoppage time, pressure from Antoine Griezmann forced Joseph Yobo into an own goal to confirm Nigeria’s elimination. The team had matched their previous best showings of 1994 and 1998 by reaching the second round but once again it proved a hurdle too difficult to overcome. Keshi had become the first African coach to take a team beyond the group stage but unfortunately, any optimism that he would lead them beyond Brazil hit a major road bump following yet more chaos behind the scenes. The manager’s contract was allowed to lapse after the team’s World Cup exit and talks over a new deal stalled with Keshi accusing the NFF of not being ‘serious’. ‘I have moved on,’ he was quoted as saying at the time. ‘I can only wish the country well for the future.’ The federation itself had its own problems. Just as four years earlier, Nigeria faced a FIFA suspension due to government interference over the sacking of senior officials after the tournament, although the ban was soon lifted. Keshi was eventually brought back but only on a gameby-game basis before being sacked, reinstated and eventually sacked again in the space of 12 tumultuous months.

In 2016, Keshi tragically died of a heart attack aged just 54. Despite his often divisive and controversial character, Big Boss was an important and ired figure who had left a permanent impression on both Nigerian and African football. The Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson, in his obituary, wrote that Keshi was a ‘talker, brawler and politician’ with the ‘thickest hide and deepest laugh’, while Yobo, who played as captain under the late manager, paid tribute to his impact on the game, ‘His legacy is always going to stay forever for what he has done for football. Regardless of how we look at it, Keshi is a symbol of Nigerian football.’ Algeria had made it to a second successive World Cup and although this time thankfully managing to avoid a major international incident, they were still involved in high drama during the qualification process. After topping their group, they faced Burkina Faso in the two-legged final round of play-offs. The lowly west African side were just a few months removed from their AFCON Final defeat to Nigeria but were on the brink of a possible historic appearance in Brazil. In the first leg in Ouagadougou, they picked up a dramatic and unexpected 3-2 win over their more high-profile opponents and a first World Cup was suddenly within touching distance. However, the return game in Blida saw Desert Foxes captain Madjid Bougherra’s scrambled effort seal a 1-0 win to put his side through on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate scoreline. The team that travelled to Brazil was managed by Vahid Halilhodžić. The Bosnian was tasked with improving on a dismal 2010 showing which saw Algeria exit the group stage with just one point and failing to score a single goal. ‘The coach has brought discipline and an attacking style of play,’ said Sofiane Feghouli. ‘But mainly lots of discipline and I think that’s what we need.’ Despite taking the lead through Feghouli’s first-half penalty, Algeria lost their Group H opener 2-1 to Belgium, but bounced back emphatically. Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi feels the narrow loss against one of the pre-tournament favourites actually galvanised the team for the rest of the campaign, starting with the next match against South Korea: ‘There was a lot of fear that was shed after the Belgium game because we played decently and showed that we could hang with these guys. And then it was just like, all right, let’s throw caution to the wind, attack and see what happens.’ Midway through the first half in Porto Alegre, striker Islam Slimani beat two defenders to latch on to a ball over the top and poke past goalkeeper Jung SungRyong to give Algeria the lead. Two minutes later, defender Rafik Halliche met

Feghouli’s out-swinging corner to power a header beyond Jung for 2-0. Vibrant goal celebrations from African players had long been a feature of World Cups, from Roger Milla to Senegal to South Africa. Halliche’s raw emotion served as something of a contrast to the flamboyant dances fans had become accustomed to. He may have lacked the vivaciousness of his fellow Africans but Halliche was just as expressive in his own right. Sprinting to the corner and punching the air, the centre-back let out a huge, almost primal roar with his arms outstretched as if the goal had momentarily awakened a ferocious beast within, before being mobbed by team-mates to bring him back to reality. Algeria had smelt blood and before half-time, Slimani found his way into the box before squaring to Abdelmoumene Djabou to add a third. Son Heung-min capitalised on a Bougherra mistake to pull one back after the break but a slick move between Yacine Brahimi and Feghouli carved open the Korean defence, allowing the former to make it 4-1. Koo Ja-cheol then tapped in from close range, but Algeria’s overall supremacy saw them seal a first World Cup win since their infamous debut in 1982. Needing just a draw from their final match against Russia in Curitiba for a longawaited second-round appearance, Algeria fell behind early to Aleksandr Kokorin’s header, but equalised via the same method in the second half as Slimani converted from Brahimi’s free kick. The goal, which ultimately took Algeria through, was not without controversy. As the set piece was about to be taken, a green light from a laser pen could clearly be seen shining in the face of Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. The stopper flapped at the resulting cross, leading to the goal, but had a strong argument to suggest he had been compromised. ‘He was blinded by the laser beam,’ fumed Russia manager Fabio Capello. ‘You can see that in the footage. This is not an excuse, it is a fact. There was a laser.’ FIFA fined the Algerian Football Association CHF 50,000 for the improper behaviour of its fans but having just made history by reaching the last 16 for the first time, it’s doubtful that officials would have cared a great deal. Halilhodžić said the result was not unfair, despite the controversy, ‘Algeria played a heroic match, and our qualification is perfectly deserved.’ Algeria’s reward was the ultimate grudge match. Back in 1982, they had been denied a place in the second round due to the shenanigans of West and Austria who conspired to engineer a 1-0 win for the former to see both sides go

through at the expense of the Africans. The ‘Disgrace of Gijon’ was covered at length in chapter three. Some 32 years on, having finally made it beyond the group stage, the Algerians would be coming up against . The narrative was inescapable. As much as anyone sought to downplay it, the spectre of ‘revenge’ was primed and ready to hover over Porto Alegre’s Beira Rio Stadium like an enormous cloud. ‘It was a burden that the nation carried up until 2014,’ said journalist Mezahi. ‘So making it to the second round to face , we already felt like we had exorcised some of those demons.’ Algeria manager Halilhodžić had his say. ‘We have not forgotten,’ he announced ahead of the game, although quite how much weight his ‘we’ carried was up for debate given the fact that at the time of the Gijon controversy, Halilhodžić was fighting his own personal battle to get picked for Yugoslavia at the tournament. In his defence, perhaps the preceding three years in charge of the Desert Foxes could well have forged enough of an attachment to grant him inherited resentment over the injustice in Spain. ‘Everybody has been talking about Algeria and from 1982,’ he added. Back in 1982, before the two sides actually faced each other in the opening group match, the West Germans made bold statements about dedicating goals to their pets and refused to waste time watching preparation videos before famously and embarrassingly losing 2-1 to their African opponents. This time around, manager Joachim Löw was understandably far more respectful. ‘At a World Cup, there are no desirable opponents and no easy opponents, especially not in the knockout matches,’ he warned. ‘The Algerians have proven that they are an uncomfortable rival. We’ll be well prepared.’ For added narrative and incentive, potentially waiting in the quarter-final were following their victory over Nigeria. The match would have also taken place on 4 July, a day before Algeria traditionally celebrates its independence from the French back in 1962. ‘We felt like this was destiny,’ said Mezahi. First, they had to navigate . The much-anticipated match proved to be a tight affair with both sides struggling to make meaningful headway. Slimani had a flying header correctly disallowed for offside and Raïs M’Bolhi pulled off a string of impressive saves as the 90 minutes finished goalless. Unfortunately for Algeria, within a minute of extra time kicking off, a low cross from Thomas Müller reached the six-yard box and found André Schürrle who, either ingeniously or fortuitously, flicked the ball with his left foot from behind, outside his standing foot and across M’Bolhi into the goal. As Algeria chased an

equaliser, the Germans launched another attack in the final minute of the game. After exchanging es with Mesut Özil on the edge of the penalty area, Schürrle’s eventual shot was cleared off the line by Essaïd Belkalem, only to fall to Özil who slammed home the decisive second goal. There was still time for Djabou to convert Feghouli’s right-wing cross for 2-1 but it was too little, too late and Algeria, Africa’s last representatives at the tournament, were heading home. As with many of their African counterparts in the past, this competition-best showing received a special welcome upon their return. The team was personally greeted by Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal after landing in Algiers before embarking on an open-top bus parade through the capital. Despite the respectable showing by the Desert Foxes – and even that of Nigeria – 2014 unfortunately was not a great World Cup year for African football. On the pitch, progress looked to have stagnated after yet more failure to progress beyond round two. Behind the scenes, the chaos of African football s was once again propelled into the spotlight. Rather than making a meaningful contribution to the so-called festival of football in Brazil, the continent mostly set about making more headlines for the wrong reasons. At some point lessons were going to have to be learned.

13

From Russia with Little Love

AS WE have seen, it was more a type of self-flagellation through behind-thescenes chaos that could be at least partly blamed for Africa’s continued disappointment on the big stage. A lack of talent was certainly no longer an issue for the most part. The perceptions of crude, unrefined and less accomplished footballers as seen with the Zaire team of 1974 are, or should be, in the distant past. The improvement is undeniable. As of today, quality players are pouring out of the continent at a great rate and are equally happy, and crucially able to represent their home nations. Gone were the days where the likes of Just Fontaine and Eusebio were plucked from the countries of their birth to represent colonising nations. As of 2021, George Weah remains the only African to win any variation of the annual men’s best player award, be it the Ballon d’Or or FIFA’s World Player of the Year, but that does not mean that Africa cannot proudly puff out its chest when discussing some of the greatest players to kick a ball in the modern era. The likes of Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Nwankwo Kanu, Jay Jay Okocha, Mohamed Aboutrika, Emmanuel Adebayor, Seydou Keita and Frédéric Kanouté among others all made a notable impact in the 2000s at club level at least. More recently, Riyad Mahrez has played a starring role in Premier League-winning sides for Manchester City and before that, Leicester City in the most remarkable of circumstances. The Algerian winger scored 17 times for the surprise champions in that triumphant 2015/16 campaign, also winning the Professional Footballers’ Association Players’ Player of the Year award and being named CAF’s African Player of the Year. Mahrez was the first African player to win the former and the third Algerian after Lakhdar Belloumi and Rabah Madjer to be crowned the latter. After ing Manchester City in 2018, the tricky, fleet-footed star helped his side win an unprecedented domestic treble before captaining his country to a first AFCON success for 29 years in 2019. Unfortunately for Mahrez, he currently lacks a World Cup appearance on his CV

after Algeria failed spectacularly in the qualification campaign for the 2018 tournament. Despite back-to-back finals appearances, a series of failed managerial appointments saw the Desert Foxes finish bottom of their group and miss out on a trip to Russia. Algeria’s great rivals Egypt had no such problems as they topped their group with relative ease to reach a World Cup for only the third time, and a first since 1990. The Pharaohs could also boast their own talismanic superstar whose accomplishments had excelled even those of Mahrez. Mohamed Salah was signed from Egyptian Premier League side Al Mokawloon by Swiss giants FC Basel just before his 20th birthday in 2012. After helping the club to the title in his first season, Salah caught the eye of Chelsea following goals in two matches against the Londoners in the Champions League. A big money move to Stamford Bridge in January 2014 didn’t quite work out, however, and 12 months later the forward was on the move again, first to Fiorentina on loan, and then to Serie A rivals Roma who made his deal permanent in 2016. His performances in Italy led to a return to England and Liverpool, who paid a hefty £37m to take him to Anfield in the summer of 2017. Any doubts over the fee or his previous spell in the Premier League were swiftly put to bed as Salah rode in and virtually made the league his own, smashing record after record to establish himself as one of the best players in both the league and the world. In the 2017/18 season, Salah’s 32 league goals were the most scored by any player in a 38-game Premier League season, and, by extension, the most goals scored by an African in a single campaign in the league. Finding the net in 24 matches also saw him set a new record for games scored in over a season, while for Liverpool, his 44 goals in all competitions was the most of any player in their debut season in the club’s long and storied history. Numerous other records and accolades went his way as he earned legendary status at the Merseyside club in double-quick time. The club’s excitable fanbase came up with many hugely popular and catchy chants for their new hero, some that even straddled cultural boundaries. To the tune of ‘Good Enough’ by English band Dodgy, ers would sing, ‘If he’s good enough for you, he’s good enough for me. If he scores another few, then I’ll be Muslim too. If he’s good enough for you, he’s good enough for me. Sitting in the mosque, that’s where I wanna be! Mo Salah-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la-la.’ While the chant is light-hearted in nature, the underlying significance caught major attention at the time. The BBC described it as an ‘exercise in inclusivity’,

in that it both engaged Muslim ers, making them feel welcome, as well as painting a positive picture of English fans who have a long, chequered and controversial history when it comes to tolerance, or intolerance, as it were. ers in such large numbers to be talking, even tongue-in-cheek, about converting to Islam, was a far, far cry from the terrace racism that plagued the game in the country for decades. Salah’s goals and performances helped Liverpool reach the Champions League Final in 2018. Unfortunately, just half an hour into the match against Real Madrid in Kyiv, he was involved in a tangle with Madrid captain Sergio Ramos in which the Spaniard appeared to drag Salah to the ground as the two men fell. The game continued but the Egyptian remained on the turf. After lengthy treatment, he was forced to leave the field in tears with what was later discovered to be a dislocated shoulder. Liverpool lost the match 3-1 but there was far greater concern over Salah’s well-being back home in Egypt. As well as his superlative season with Liverpool, Salah also topped the scoring charts in World Cup qualifying with five goals in six matches, igniting the hope that he could carry this form to Russia and inspire Egypt to pull off an unlikely surprise. These hopes had now been dealt a major blow. Perhaps drawing an obvious parallel with Drogba and Ivory Coast in 2010, an entire country was on its knees, desperately praying for Salah to regain his fitness in time for the tournament. According to Egyptian sports journalist Ahmed Atta, people naturally didn’t take the news particularly well, ‘A lot of Egyptians swarmed to Sergio Ramos’s [social media] to accuse him of injuring their national hero. We monitored [Salah’s] situation all the time. People thought of him as a son.’ The injury occurred on 26 May with his country’s Group A opener against Uruguay set for 15 June. The Egyptian FA’s ‘three week’ diagnosis for his injury was cutting it fine for Salah to line up with his team-mates in Yekaterinburg. If that wasn’t enough, the player was also embroiled in something of a pretournament scandal after accepting an invitation to meet with controversial Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. With Egypt’s training base for the tournament located in the region, Kadyrov reportedly visited the team hotel to persuade a resting Salah to go to the Akhmat Arena stadium where the rest of the team were training. The star was then paraded in front of the media and watching fans, as well as posing for photos. Kremlin-backed Kadyrov had been accused of human rights abuses in Chechnya including but not limited to the persecution and

murders of gay men, something he and the Russian government have frequently denied. Kadyrov also gave the player honorary citizenship in the republic and rejected the idea that he used Salah for propaganda purposes. In light of criticism directed at the player for naïvety if nothing else, rumours even started to circulate that Salah was ready to walk out on the team over the incident, angry at the Egyptian Football Association for allowing him to be used for political means. ‘Salah, as far as we know, didn’t know about Kadyrov’s history,’ said Atta. ‘He didn’t realise it would cause a lot of problems with the Western media.’ The journalist added, ‘To be honest, I don’t think the Egyptian FA even knew what the meeting was about. I don’t think Salah was going to quit. Even apart from his own patriotism, he knew the fans would see it as a betrayal. So I don’t think he would have left.’ Salah was already at odds with the EFA before the tournament in a dispute over his image rights. The winger was furious about his picture being displayed on the outside of the national team’s plane, which was sponsored by telecoms company WE, causing direct conflict with Salah’s own sponsorship deal with rival company Vodafone. There were now fears the Kadyrov incident could be the last straw. In the end, Salah stayed but was only fit enough to be named, and ultimately remain, on the bench as Egypt toiled against their South American opponents in their first match. Mohamed El Shenawy was the busier of the two goalkeepers but just when he and the rest of the Egyptian side thought they had earned a valuable point, Uruguay’s Jose Gimenez rose highest to meet Carlos Sanchez’s 90th-minute free-kick to condemn the Pharaohs to a heartbreaking defeat. ‘Salah will have an important role for us in the future matches,’ said Egypt’s journeyman manager Héctor Cúper after the match, as much to reassure himself as anyone else. ‘We wanted to avoid risks in this match, but I think he will be fine for the next game.’ Salah did return against the hosts in Saint Petersburg and almost inevitably, found himself on the scoresheet with a penalty in the second half after being hauled to the ground by Roman Zobnin. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much cause for celebration as his side were already 3-0 down courtesy of an own goal from captain Ahmed Fathy, as well as strikes from Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba. Salah’s consolation was barely relevant in the grand scheme of things

as Egypt were heading home. All that was left was a match against Saudi Arabia in Volgograd as both sides battled to avoid finishing bottom of the group. Salah finally looked to have made his mark on the tournament in meaningful fashion midway through the first half. Skilfully controlling a long ball over the top, the mercurial forward then executed a clever left-footed lob from the edge of the penalty area, fooling advancing Saudi keeper Yasser Al-Mosailem, and giving Egypt the lead in a World Cup match for the first time. Remarkably, Salah wasn’t even the main story of the game. Cúper had named 45-year-old Essam El Hadary in goal, making him the oldest player to ever play in a World Cup match. The keeper went some way to making it the ultimate fairytale when he pulled off a remarkable penalty save, punching Fahad Al Muwallad’s effort on to the crossbar and away. Sadly, when Saudi Arabia were awarded a second penalty, El Hadary couldn’t repeat his heroics as Salman Al Faraj made no mistake. Just as against Uruguay, Egypt were beaten at the death as Salem Al-Dawsari made it 21 in stoppage time and the Pharaohs departed with three defeats from three. ‘A lot of people saw it as a group we could qualify from,’ reflected journalist Ahmed Atta. ‘It wasn’t even in our worst dreams to finish with no points.’ It was a disappointing outcome overall for Egypt, particularly given the Salah factor. The forward would return to his club and continue to shine, helping Liverpool win the Champions League for the sixth time in 2019 – his penalty in the final gave them the lead in the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid. This same year would also see him win the Premier League golden boot once more, but remarkably he shared it with two other African stars: Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mané. Senegalese forward Mané also featured at the World Cup 12 months earlier as the west Africans reached the finals for only the second time, and harboured major aspirations of recreating their glorious run of 2002. The team was now managed by Aliou Cissé, a hero of the side that shocked the world in South Korea and Japan 16 years earlier, and the former defender was able to call on players with a wealth of experience in European leagues for his squad. The Lions of Teranga kicked off their Group H campaign against Poland and a stroke of fortune was required to break the deadlock in a tight game in Moscow. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box, Mané chose to lay on a for Idrissa Gueye who had made a run from deep. The midfielder attempted a speculative

shot which took a wicked deflection off Thiago Cionek to wrong-foot Wojciech Szczęsny and roll into the net. Senegal then doubled their advantage after the break in bizarre fashion. Unbeknown to the Polish team, M’Baye Niang had been waved back on to the pitch by Bahraini referee Nawaf Shukralla after receiving treatment on the sideline. The canny forward was then able to intercept Grzegorz Krychowiak’s aimless back- and skip between defender Jan Bednarek and Szczęsny to slot into an empty net. Legal? Yes. Sportsmanlike? Debatable. An interesting case of sneakily using the laws to their advantage and an interesting contrast to accusations of Zaire not even knowing these same laws back in 1974. The three points were virtually secured but Krychowiak halved the deficit with a late header to make it 2-1. Little did anyone know at the time how crucial this goal would turn out to be. Facing Japan in Yekaterinburg next, Mané capitalised on an error from Eiji Kawashima to poke Senegal in front after 11 minutes before Takashi Inui’s fine strike made it 1-1 before half-time. With 20 minutes to play, the Africans were ahead again when Youssouf Sabaly’s clever turn and drilled cross was met by Moussa Wagué to hammer the ball into the roof of the net. Senegal were on the brink of qualification but a lapse in concentration from goalkeeper Khadim N’Diaye saw him miss the flight of a cross and the ball eventually fell to Keisuke Honda to level the score again. Facing Colombia in Samara, Senegal needed to better Japan’s result against Poland to reach the second round but fell to a 1-0 defeat thanks to Yerry Mina’s second-half header. Over in Volgograd, Japan also went down by the same scoreline against Poland. This meant Senegal and Japan finished level on points with the same goal difference, same number of goals scored and an equal headto-head record thanks to their draw. For the first time, qualification from a World Cup group would go down to fair play and Senegal were eliminated due to having collected six yellow cards in their three matches compared to Japan’s four. It was a harsh way to end their tournament ambitions. West African neighbours Nigeria were also back and once again making pretournament headlines. Thankfully on this occasion it wasn’t because of a row over bonuses but rather some positive news. Sportswear giant and Super Eagles kit supplier Nike bucked the trend of generic kit designs and produced something of a masterpiece for the team’s home shirt. The eye-catching design

comprised a luminous green and white ‘eagle wing’ zig-zag patterned chest plate with black and white sleeves. In addition, the brand produced an inspired collection of tracksuits, hats and t-shirts under the label ‘Naija’ – a catch-all term to describe various aspects of modern Nigeria’s vibrant culture. ‘We wanted to tap into the attitude of the nation,’ said Nike football design director Dan Farron, explaining the inspiration behind the kit. ‘We started to see trends in attitude and energy connecting the athletes to music, fashion and more. They are part of a resoundingly cool culture.’ Nike had caught lightning in a bottle. On 1 June, queues of customers stretched along Oxford Street in central London, awaiting the opening of the flagship Niketown store. Each one was desperate to get their hands on the newly released Nigeria football shirts and leisurewear. While the line was mostly made up of the large Nigerian diaspora in the English capital, the shirt also proved popular with everyone from posh lads in the home counties to fashion-conscious hipsters of nearby Hackney in east London. Globally, Nike also reported a record three million online pre-orders leading to the kit selling out within minutes of its release. Nigeria and by extension, African football was now mainstream and, as Nike’s Farron said, ‘cool’. On the pitch, under German Gernot Rohr, the team actually qualified with such ease that even a forfeit against Algeria for fielding an ineligible player barely made a dent on their command of the group. With an average age of just under 25, Nigeria arrived in Russia with the youngest team in the competition. Drawn in Group D, the Super Eagles were up against Croatia, Iceland and, in what felt like a running joke at this point, Argentina for the fifth time in six World Cup appearances and a third tournament in a row. Against Croatia in Kaliningrad, Nigeria – notably wearing their smarter, more understated dark green away shirts – were outclassed by the eventual finalists who took a first-half lead when Peter Etebo diverted Andrej Kramarić’s header into his own net. In the second half, a clumsy William Troost-Ekong virtually body-slammed Mario Mandžukić while marking the striker at a corner, leaving Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci no option but to point to the spot. Luka Modrić dispatched the kick to secure a 2-0 win. ‘Sometimes we were a little naïve on the set pieces,’ said Rohr, dropping that famous line once again. ‘If we win the next game, then all is possible.’

In Volgograd, fans finally got to see the new home shirt with their own eyes, but it didn’t seem to inspire the players who were lucky to go in level at the break after debutants Iceland missed the better of the first-half chances. Four minutes after the restart, however, Nigeria were in front. Victor Moses charged down the right before dropping a cross on to the toe of Ahmed Musa in the penalty area. The forward’s first touch flicked the ball up in the air, setting himself up to hammer it on the half-volley beyond Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Þór Halldórsson. The goal sparked Nigeria into life and Musa, who scored Nigeria’s last tournament goals in the defeat to Argentina in 2014, then went on a slaloming run from the left wing, dancing through the Iceland defence and calmly placing the ball into the net for 2-0. Two fantastic goals had sealed victory for Nigeria and even Gylfi Sigurðsson couldn’t put a dampener on the day after smashing his late penalty over the crossbar. Nigeria were now set to face Argentina knowing a draw would be enough to take them through at the expense of their South American rivals, who had taken just a single point from their first two matches. Of all their World Cup meetings, the previous four of which had been won by Argentina, this game in Saint Petersburg had the most at stake. Only one of the two would be following Croatia into round two, and only a win for Argentina would be enough for them to progress. Bizarrely, the football commentariat had been questioning the team’s superstar Lionel Messi after his less than stellar start in the competition which included a missed penalty against Iceland. Sadly, Nigeria were to be the unfortunate victims as Messi put to bed any doubts about his form in Russia. On 14 minutes, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner beautifully controlled an Eva Banega with his knee in the penalty area before drilling the ball into the back of the net with his supposedly weaker right foot. Goalkeeper Francis Uzoho then got his fingers to a Messi free kick to divert the ball on to the post as Argentina threatened to run riot. But taking inspiration from the win over Iceland, Nigeria again improved after half-time and when Javier Mascherano manhandled Troost-Ekong at a corner, Moses was given the chance to level from the spot. He needed no second invitation as he sent Franco Armani the wrong way. As it stood, Nigeria were going through but the game exploded into a furious end-to-end battle as Argentina poured forward, leaving huge gaps at the back. Substitute Odion Ighalo missed two presentable chances to score a second goal and was made to pay for his profligacy with just four minutes left on the clock.

Marcos Rojo, who had scored the winner for Argentina in the same fixture four years earlier, was the scourge of Nigeria once more, hitting a first-time rightfooted drive from Gabriel Mercado’s cross into Uzoho’s bottom-left corner. A 21 defeat and devastation for Nigeria who, for a long period, looked to have finally upset the odds and got one over on their Argentine adversaries. Speaking afterwards, captain John Obi Mikel was downcast but was optimistic about the future of the team, which, in contrast to past tournaments, seemed more united. ‘It just wasn’t to be,’ he told the press. ‘It’s a young team and in four years most of them will be ready. I’m very proud of the boys and what we have achieved. I think we have done really well. We have to keep going.’ Elsewhere, Morocco were back at a World Cup for the first time in 20 years and kicked off their Group B campaign against Iran in Saint Petersburg. By coincidence, this 15 June match took place just hours after Egypt’s stoppagetime defeat to Uruguay and Morocco were to suffer the same fate as their Maghreb neighbours when Aziz Bouhaddouz lucklessly put through his own goal in the 95th minute with the game heading for a 0-0 draw. With Portugal and Spain to follow, Morocco’s campaign felt like it was over before it had even begun, and their fate was sealed when Cristiano Ronaldo’s diving header after just four minutes in Moscow gave the reigning European champions a 1-0 lead in the second match. Despite a spirited performance, Morocco were unable to find an equaliser. The Atlas Lions were out but certainly not down and gave Spain a huge scare in Kaliningrad. On 14 minutes Khalid Boutaïb took advantage of a rare Andres Iniesta error to carry the ball half the length of the pitch before slotting beyond David de Gea. Isco equalised five minutes later but Morocco re-took the lead with less than ten minutes to play when Youssef En-Nesyri powered home a header from Faycal Fajr’s corner. A famous win looked on the cards until the recurring scenario of this, and previous tournaments involving African sides conceding late goals played out once more. Igao Aspas cleverly flicked in a 91stminute equaliser which was rightly awarded by VAR having originally been ruled out for offside. Morocco exited with a single point but many observers suggested their performances deserved more. ‘There is a strong case for arguing that Morocco are the unluckiest team to be eliminated at the group stage,’ wrote Mike Whalley for BBC Sport, ‘with poor finishing costing them a point against Portugal, and possibly all three against Iran.’

Tunisia were back for the first time since 2006 and just like their appearance in 1998, they began their campaign with a game against England. While they were clearly second best in Marseille 20 years earlier, the clash in Volgograd was a far closer affair. A poor start allowed Harry Kane to give England the lead after just 11 minutes, but the Eagles of Carthage were level just after the half-hour when Fakhreddine Ben Youssef caught a stray Kyle Walker elbow in the box and Ferjani Sassi scored the resultant penalty. However, just as Tunisia thought they had held out for a draw after a battling second-half performance, Kane was left unmarked to head in from close range, unbelievably in stoppage time at the end of the game yet again. More than anything at this point, African football’s Achilles heel at World Cups seems to be the failure to maintain concentration late on in matches. If football was a game of 85 minutes, maybe we might have even seen an African world champion by now. Following this damaging defeat, a downbeat Tunisia were dismantled by a rampant Belgium in Moscow. Two goals each from Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard, as well as a fifth from Michy Batshuayi helped the eventual semifinalists cruise to a comfortable 5-2 win. Dylan Bronn and Wahbi Khazri scored Tunisia’s consolation goals in a match that saw an African side concede more than four goals for the first time since Cameroon’s 6-1 defeat to Russia in 1994, and only the second time since Zaire, infamous 9-0 hammering at the hands of Yugoslavia. As a wider and more troubling issue, this was the first time since 1982 that an African side had failed to make it beyond the first round – although Senegal might count themselves incredibly unlucky. Despite some of the teams now possessing talent that would even be the envy of so-called stronger nations, and an absence of the in-fighting that had caused so many problems in previous years, African teams were, on the whole, unconvincing in Russia and their failings have left many wondering if years of progress has come to an unexpected standstill. The entire continent will be determined to avoid a repeat in 2022. It wasn’t all bad news, however. In their dead rubber against Panama, Tunisia went behind to Yassine Meriah’s first-half own goal before Ben Youssef and Khazri turned the game in their favour. The 2-1 win ended a 13-match winless run at the tournament for Tunisia, stretching back 40 years to their famous victory over Mexico in 1978, meaning they were at least able to end the tournament on a high. By strange coincidence, Tunisia’s win in Saransk meant

that for the next four years they would have the honour of being both the first and last African side to win a match at the World Cup. An interesting but unusual set of bookends for both the country and the continent.

Epilogue

PELÉ ONCE predicted that an African side would win the World Cup. The Brazilian legend even went so far as to declare that this momentous event would occur before the year 2000. Two decades and five tournaments beyond that deadline, we are still waiting for a team from the continent to even make it beyond the quarter-finals. On the face of it, not only have African teams come no closer to getting their hands on the famous gold trophy, but worryingly they actually appear to have stagnated or even regressed. The 2018 World Cup was the first time in nine tournaments since no team had made it beyond the first round. In total, 13 teams have reached the finals since 1934 amassing 44 individual qualifications in that time, so just three last-eight appearances to date isn’t a fantastic return. But while statistically things may not look great, African representation is more prominent and unquestionably having a greater impact on the competition. In most cases, the margins are far narrower between success and failure. When Algeria stunned in 1982, it was widely accepted as a major upset. By the most recent tournament, if Nigeria had finally managed to overcome Argentina in that pulsating game in Saint Petersburg, few would have considered it a huge surprise, not to mention Senegal’s misfortune. In fact, the disappointing group stage exits of all five teams was perhaps the bigger ‘shock’. African teams have shown they can go toe-to-toe with the best, with the collective performances of Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana over time demonstrating that their individual achievements are no fluke, and proving a testament to the progress that has been made down the years. Mwepu Ilunga and his fateful kick against Brazil can hopefully be considered an anomaly. Teams from Africa command far more respect now than when Zaire humiliated themselves in 1974. Back then, football on the continent was a great unknown. Now, a draw against an African side is certainly not to be taken for granted. Even so-called smaller teams such as Togo and Angola were able to come away from the 2006 tournament with a measure of respectability from their groupstage exits, providing hope to other potential ‘minnows’ in the long term.

Of course, it’s not all good news as problems at istrative level continue to undermine on-field success. It’s impossible to know whether certain teams would have performed better over the years had they not been sidetracked by disputes over money, but these distractions can’t have helped. Steps have been taken to combat this problem going forward, with the Nigerian Football Federation and the country’s players g a deal ahead of the tournament in Russia agreeing to a fixed payment structure and FIFA even awarding them their prize money ahead of the World Cup to allow them to ‘focus solely on football on the pitch’. Whether this was merely a sticking plaster or progressive move that others will follow remains to be seen, but hopefully images such as that of Ghana’s John Boye kissing a wad of cash in 2014 will be consigned to history. Problems with football governance in Africa unfortunately don’t stop at the national associations, with CAF itself frequently facing accusations of corruption and mismanagement. Working with FIFA, in 2019 a raft of proposals for reforming the organisation were suggested with work ongoing to improve the game on the continent. The hope is that African football can come somewhat close to that of its European counterparts in of having the infrastructure to create world-beating teams. To its credit, FIFA has become far more open and welcoming to Africa, certainly in comparison to the early years, when the continent had almost literally had to fight for recognition. Egypt’s debut in 1934 is an outlier in an era when most of Africa was still under the rule of colonialists and individual nations barely had their own identity let alone the ability to field competitive football teams. Since the 1970s, however, Africa has eased its way into the football establishment. The five guaranteed spots CAF is now allocated at World Cups is the same amount as those given to CONMEBOL, despite South America’s far, far superior World Cup pedigree. Of the current 32 teams in each tournament, UEFA dominates with 13 fixed places, but Africa and its quintet is actually now t second for participants. Things are looking even more promising going forward. The shake-up of the 2026 tournament will see the World Cup expanded to a hefty 48 teams, nine of which will come from Africa, second only to UEFA’s 16. Hosted across the USA, Canada and Mexico, the format of the inflated competition will see the first round now consist of 16 three-team groups with the top two progressing to a 32-team knockout. Whether this will benefit the African

teams is impossible to know, but with greater numbers and fewer group matches, one might expect to see more sides from the continent progress beyond the first round at the very least. The holy grail of a semi-final place or better could finally be within reach. But what of bringing the competition itself back to Africa? Despite all the pretournament concerns, South Africa managed to put on a successful event in 2010, so surely somewhere else on the vast continent should be in the mix for potential hosting duties at some point? Morocco, like a child sat at the back of class with its arm in the air yet constantly overlooked by the teacher, has so far bid to host the tournament five times without success. Reportedly planning a sixth attempt for the centenary World Cup in 2030, the north African nation hopes to finally be granted its longawaited opportunity. Although with the increase in participants, it’s doubtful that the country will be able to take on sole responsibility and a t bid with neighbouring Tunisia and Algeria could be on the cards which would certainly make things interesting. Nobody knows what shape African football, or football in general will be in by then. One hopes and expects talented players to continue to spill out from the continent and make waves around the footballing world. It is vital the success of Drogba, Eto’o and Salah among others does not cease with the players, but somehow translates to the national sides they represent. The man who arguably blazed the trail for African stars, Roger Milla, also believes this to be the case. Speaking in 2018, the Cameroon star who almost single-handedly made the world sit up and take notice of the continent, was optimistic that African football, can and will, take the next crucial step in the global game, casting off the naïve tag once and for all: ‘In of individual talent, the gap between African players and players from Europe and South America is closing all the time. I think it’s on a team level that we have to keep on developing. In a few years there won’t be any difference between us and them. Learning from our mistakes and working together are two things that will help us to go even further.’

Bibliography

Pakenham, T., The Scramble for Africa (Abacus, 1990) Freddi, C., The Complete Book of the World Cup (Collins Willow, 1998) Kuper, S., Football Against the Enemy (Orion, 1994) Vieira, P., My Autobiography (Orion, 2006) Pelé, The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 2006) Eig, J., Ali: A life (Simon & Schuster, 2017) Maradona, D., El Diego (Yellow Jersey Press, 2004) Bloomfield, S,. Africa United (Canongate, 2011) Hawkey, I., Feet of the Chameleon (Portico, 2010) Kuper, S. & Szymanski, S., Soccernomics (HarperSport, 2012) Drogba, D., Commitment: My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton, 2015) Appiah, J.K., & Amoako, J., Leaders Don’t Have to Yell: National Team Coach on Leading High-Performing Teams (Spotlight Publishing, 2019) Yokhin, M., ‘The Indomitability of the Lions’, The Blizzard. Issue Thirteen. (2014) Koonyaditse, O.A., The Politics of South African Football (African Perspectives, 2010) History of Football – The Beautiful Game [DVD] (Fremantle Home Entertainment, 2004) Wilson, J. & Speller, M., The Blizzard – Greatest Games: Algeria 1 Egypt 0,

2009 – Maher Mezahi [Podcast] (29 December 2020) https://theblizzard.co.uk/podcast/greatest-games-algeria-1-egypt-0-2009-mahermezahi/ Wilson, J. & Speller, M., The Blizzard – Greatest Games: Uruguay 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pens), 2010 [Podcast] (3 July 2020) https://theblizzard.co.uk/greatest-games-uruguay-1-ghana-1/news/ We Came to Win – Zaire ‘74: The Most Misunderstood Team in History [Podcast] (25 April 2018) https://gimletmedia.com/shows/we-came-to-win/6nh2r3/3-zaire-74-the-mostmisunderstood-team

Zaire line up ahead of their infamous match against Brazil

Ilunga is booked after bizarrely kicking the ball away

Morocco prepare to face in 1970

The Tunisia team ahead of their historic win over Mexico

Lakhdar Belloumi celebrates Algeria’s famous win over in 1982

Morocco’s Mustapha El Biyaz and goalkeeper Badou Zaki embrace after beating Portugal in 1986

Cameroon’s Francois Omam-Biyik scores a surprise winning goal against Argentina

Nigeria line up for the country’s first ever World Cup match

Roger Milla’s famous corner flag celebration was the talking point of Italia 90

Rashidi Yekini’s iconic celebration after scoring against Bulgaria

Sunday Oliseh celebrates his belter against Spain

Papa Bouba Diop shocks the world to score for Senegal against in 2002

Didier Drogba has been credited with helping bring peace to Ivory Coast through football

Flávio scores a historic goal for debutants Angola in 2006

Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela lifts the World Cup after his country are awarded 2010 hosting rights

Jack Warner, Sepp Blatter and Chuck Blazer were all embroiled in a FIFA scandal

Siphiwe Tshabalala’s stunning goal opened the 2010 World Cup in style

Egyptian fans burn an Algerian flag after their bad-tempered qualifier in 2009

Luiz Suarez handles the ball to prevent Ghana reaching the 2010 World Cup semi-final

Mohamed Salah was pictured with controversial Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the 2018 World Cup

Wahbi Khazri after scoring Tunisia’s winning goal over Panama