GIRD UP YOUR LOINS, AFRICA

Wednesday March 10, 2010
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The past week saw Africa’s 2010 World Cup finalists engage in international friendlies as they fine tune their preparations for the June/July event in South Africa.

It was by and large a poor night for the teams as they recorded three defeats, two draws with a solitary win in the six games played between them.

Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Algeria lost, while South Africa and Cameroon played out uninspiring draws.

Nigeria managed a win but that came against a weakened DR Congo side.
This is very disappointing to say the least as we look forward to the Mundial.

Many have tagged this year’s event as Africa’s chance to shine and we expect that the teams representing the continent would put things right as they approach the event.

The competition is just three months away and the Sporting Times is worried about the stage of preparations being put up by all six of Africa’s representatives and fears that it could be a nightmare of an event for the teams when the tournament begins.

All six have been put in groups that are relatively tough on paper and it would not be easy for any to advance to the second round as the teams coming would give it their all.

This is the reason why all six must be well prepared to face the competition as the continent seeks to make the most of this opportunity to host the world.

No African nation has gone past the last eight of the competition and if that record is to be broken, then, it would require some massive investment of time, energy and resources to ensure that we surpass the achievement of Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.

As we look forward to see that record broken at this year’s event in South Africa, it is our wish that all of our teams would be in the best of shapes as they approach the tourney.

It is therefore the responsibility of the management teams and the technical heads to ensure that they make the most of the time left between now and the start of the tournament to put together a strong squad to represent them.

If they fail to act in this direction, we should not be surprised if the high hopes of the continent turn out to be a rather bitter tale of disappointment.

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