USA Africa Dialogue Series - THE "AFRICAN NATIONAL TEAMS" AT THE WORLD CUP

 

Family,

 

I suspect I am the only one who is feeling disheartened  about  the  “football”  that the  teams from the African continent  have put on display at this year’s World Cup. It is possible, highly possible, in my view, that by  the  end of today, there will be no African team left  in the tournament.  It was Cameroon, then  Ivory Coast  (my hope for glory), then Ghana (my country of birth) , now Nigeria (the champions of Africa and the home country of some of my best friends in the world) .  Could Algeria  be  motivated by the  memory of 1982 to beat Germany this evening and protect the  image and integrity of “African football”?  But, it is another African team, and I am not too hopeful, but remain prayerful.

 

Might we begin concluding that  “African football”,  for want of a better description, is  at a  very low state, if one  compares what Mexico, Colombia, and  Costa Rica put on display and what the African national teams have so far presented.  Many of the non-African teams  make good use of their  corner kicks, but the African teams  mess up theirs and even concede goals from them. Remember Ghana? And, today, Nigeria.

 

  I do not receive the thousands of dollars that these players get from “appearance fees.”  As a spectator of African descent, my  compensation is  the  emotional outcome of watching  the teams from my heritage site.  When  they win,  my spirits are  high, and when  they  put  out the product that I have seen, so far, it makes me wonder whether, from a comparative global soccer perspective,  the  state of football in Africa or the conditioning of African teams  in global sports  have hit the lowest  of the low. Don’t tell me Spain is out, England is out, Italy is out. For me , and the emotions of the sport,  the African national teams deserve  national reevaluation of  what  they produced in Brazil. There is something sorely lacking in African football.

 

This tournament is also a crucible for forging  proud identities, making bold statements, and  lifting up spirits.  I was  alive when  Italia 90 came and passed, and all the  African students I knew in my little corner in Canada  felt very Cameroonian, whether they came from Ghana, Sierra Leone,  Zambia or elsewhere on the continent.  This year,  I have never felt so  spent in spirit as I watch the African teams  wilt and wither.

 

Edward Kissi