Nigeria has already won the U17 FIFA World Cup five times, Ghana has won the U20 FIFA World Cup & Cameroon has won a gold medal for football at the Olympics before so could we win the main event? The Senior Men's FIFA World Cup?
People are going to make comparisons between European & African domestic leagues. While that is the main difference, there's a bit more to it. In Africa, we simply don't have the culture of sanctifying our countries. We are not really serious about our countries (see
previous blog on the mentality of African footballers), whether we get this from our leaders or we ourselves are ill-disciplined is a sociological & psychosocial matter. But let's put all this aside - how could we attempt to catch up to European football? Not only in football but perhaps for other sports.
It all starts with the infrastructure: You need to build self-sustaining infrastructure (stadiums, academies & club funding models) so that once we get talented footballers they can earn a living when they reach professional ranks. This might mean the football federation of the land needs to make kit sponsorship deals (preferably, with a local kit manufacturer) certain television deals & make an exciting sport product that will be enjoyed by people in the land & outside the borders of the land which can only be created by development.
Development: In Europe, they are more about efficiency in football & in South Africa, we are more about the style of play. The thing is because of such bad development, we find that some players don't really have good ball control or even proper tactical awareness. Ball control has always been the entertainment factor in football, so if you take that away - you'll get a very clumsy & dull game. Ball control simply brings fans. Personally, I believe ball control should be taught in schools, ball control is something that can be taught & a footballer can constantly improve in (it's really not difficult). Players should also be identified by which talents they possess so they can be further specialised into the roles they show the most potential in & I believe that for this a unified national playing style needs to be formulated.
For example, exceptional players from 14 years onwards could be identified & sent to regional academies identified by the state & national football federation. As each player has unique talents, they could be categorised into which positions they could be best in.
Goalkeepers could be selected by height or ability to stop shots & penalties,
defenders could be selected by speed & ball-winning ability,
midfielders could be selected by defensive ability, passing ability & all-round technical ability in play,
forwards could be selected by speed, goalscoring ability & dribbling. These are my (
I. Y. iMpofana ) preferences but I imagine many other academies & national federations could identify other talents & mental capabilities in a player.
Once we have the above, it becomes a matter of limiting corruption & hiring the right people & (preferably local) technical staff. Then hopefully, in time, results will come.
Lastly, the players need to want to be there. Their fans, family & government needs to want them to win. The players themselves need to believe that they can win the title.
