FIFA 2010 World Cup - will this be Africa's Year?
With the 19th FIFA World Cup due to kick off in Soccer City Johannesburg
on June 11th when the hosts, South Africa, take on Mexico the question
on many people's lips is "Can an African team finally land soccer's greatest prize?". Since England manager Walter Winterbottom predicted on his retirement in 1962 that an African team would win the World Cup by the end of the century there have been more than a few false dawns, but the century ended without an African captain holding aloft the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
Roger Milla's Cameroon got the ball rolling in Italia '90 with a win over Argentina and topped their group. They went on to defeat Colombia in the Round of 16 before succumbing unluckily to England 3-2 after extra time in the Quarter-Finals. Nigeria carried the torch into the 1994 finals in the USA thrashing Bulgaria 3-0 in their opening match and also topping their group which included Argentina. Leading Italy until the 88th minute in the Round of 16 they finally went out to a Roberto Baggio penalty in extra time. In France '98 Nigeria again topped their group before an ignominious 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Denmark. Senegal burst on the scene in their first World Cup finals in 2002 with a win over World and European champions France and went all the way to the quarter-finals before going out to Turkey after extra time.
This time around, with the World Cup finals being played on African soil for the first time, many eyes are on the Ivory Coast. Though drawn with Brazil and Portugal in the Group matches with players like Kolo and Yaya Toure plus Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou many would fancy their chances of progressing. Could July 11th 2010 be the date and Soccer City, Johannesburg, be the place where an African team make the final leap?
- D M Keogh
World Cup
South Africa 2010
Qualifiers
All the teams that have made it to the World Cup South Africa 2010
HOSTS: South Africa
AFRICA QUALIFYING: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
ASIA QUALIFYING: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
EUROPE QUALIFYING: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
SOUTH AMERICA QUALIFYING: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
NORTH, CENTRAL AMERICA AND QUALIFYING: Honduras, Mexico, United States
ASIA/OCEANIA PLAY-OFF New Zealand
