Spot on

Mzeiya what exactly is inaccurate ?

Alba i agree with McReggae African teams are not regressing but new teams like Togo, Angola, Mali and Ethiopia etc are emerging challenging the taditional African heavyweights. For you to dismiss Nigeria after the Spain match is being unrealistic as Spain are gonna go down as one of the most dominant sides in world football

Here is why I think Nigeria is regressing

Take the 1994 WC for example, Nigeria had several young players each playing for top Euro teams

Amunike : barcelona
Oliseh: Juventus
Ikpeba : Monaco
Kanu : Arsenal / Inter Milan
Okocha : PSG
West : Inter Milan
Amokachi: Everton

That team was a juggernaut. All these were homegrown players as opposed to Victor Moses type mercenaries. Compare this to what they have today. You say Keshi is building a young team. Do you think any of them will amount to much ? I dont see much potential there. I dont see Ahmed Musa going to a big league. Players like Kanu were already big stars at age 19. Martins was a star at Inter Milan at age 17. Okocha looked phenomeal when he played for Eintracht Frankfurt at age 19

At the 1998 WC they beat teams like Bulgaria 3-0, Greece 3-0 and Spain 3-2 and almost beat Italy in the second round.

The reason they scored 3 goals in these games was down to talent. Nigeria had very little structure in those days. Today Nigeria has structure but no talent. The team of 1994 would have scored at least 2 goals against Spain.

And how could they loose to Uruguay, a team that is struggling to qualify for the 2014 WC ? A country whose population is 3 million versus Nigeria's 140 million ?

OK now look at the other African teams. Cameroon looked very promising in the 1990s when they reached the quarter finals. What happened to them ? It started going downhill in 1994 when they lost 6-1 to Russia. Every WC since then has been a disaster for Cameroun.

And what about Senegal ? So promising in 2002. So may young exciting players in 2002.

Its gotten so bad that an average Zambia side devoid of superstars won the ANC in 2012 and Burkina Faso almost won in 2013.


Things looked very bright for Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. Even Pele predicted that an African team would win the WC before 2000. That seems impossible now and he has now backtracked and claims he said no such thing.

Another area where African teams have regressed is their style of play which used to be so radical and unpredictable and attack minded that they would catch Euro teams by surprise.

What happened at the last WC ? African teams were boring and reserved. Four of them eliminated in round 1 and Ghana stumbled into round 2 after loosing to Germany and drawing with Ozzie.

The final area I think African football has regressed is in terms of star power. Where are the African star strikers to take over from Etoo and Drogba who used to be top scorers in their respective leagues ?

That official already resigned!!!!

Thank You !

That means Mzeiya's point about the diss to Ethiopia being unwarranted has no basis. His resignation confirms that my point that his incompetence is inexcusable.

BTW Nigeria was once ranked 4th in the FIFA rankings. So I think FIFA stats show the Africa is actually regressing..

Also note that African teams won the Olympic gold medal in 1996 and 2000. I actually watched the 1996 event where Naija beat Brazil and Argentina. Do you remember how they ran rings around these teams ? Argie simply could not deal with the pace of the Naija forwards.

http://www.kawowo.com/in...igible-player-saga.html
And it seems like the whole executive committee will not contest the coming elections due to the blunder

Just a thought many analysts are of the opinion that the current Spanish team might go down as one of the greatest team of all time. So losing to them is not as bad as you think, ask the Italians how they felt after the 4-0 thrashing at the Euros....

@Alba .....to add on this, why is Uruguay in the Cofederations and not Argentina?

Mzeiya brings up the fact that Uruguay have won the world cup. But that was 50 years ago.

Lets talk about recent history. Uruguay are 5th in the South America world cup qualifiers behind Chile and Ecuador. They are in danger of not qualifying.

Uruguay qualified for the Confed cup because they won COPA America in 2011. But COPA America is not taken seriously by Brazil and Argie. Both teams failed to make the semis. I dont think Messi even played for Argie. Uruguay beat Paraguay in the final.

In South America, the real measure of strength is the world cup qualifiers which all teams take seriously. And unlike Africa, all teams are in one group, so they all play against each other.