African nations, guided by local coaches, strut their stuff at the World Cup

After a disconsolately slow start the African teams finally sprang to life on Sunday at the World Cup in Qatar.

Led by Morocco who registered a stirring 2-0 win over an ageing and bickering Belgium side that is still ranked No 2 in the world behind Brazil, Cameroon managed to end an eight-game losing streak at the World Cup by coming from behind for a 3-3 draw in a thrilling encounter with Serbia on Monday.

Ghana then gave expression to their undoubted talent by scoring a thrilling 3-2 victory over South Korea to give themselves a wonderful chance of progressing to the second round for a third time in four attempts after doing so on their World Cup debut in 2006 and then again four years later in SA. With their victory over Paulo Bento’s side, the Black Stars have set up a blockbuster clash against Uruguay on Friday.

If before the tournament the West Africans were keen to exact revenge against La Celeste for their painful extra-time defeat at the FNB Stadium in the quarterfinal of the 2010 World Cup, they will be chomping at the bit to put one over the Uruguayans on Friday. After the South American side’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Portugal on Monday, Ghana only need a draw to set up a possible second-round meeting with Brazil in what would be a repeat of their meeting at the same stage of the tournament in 2006 when the Selecao cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win. 

Even though the deed was done 12 years ago, Ghanaians have still not forgiven Luis Suarez for preventing Dominic Adiah’s header from crossing the line when he executed a double-handed save deep into injury time to deny the Black Stars a place in history when they would have become the first African side to reach the semifinals. Uruguay have to win to progress to the knockout stages and adding to the intrigue is the presence of Suarez, now 35, in their squad. 

Cameroon and Tunisia are all but out of the competition unless they manage to deliver the mother of all upsets by defeating five-time champions Brazil and holders France in their last group games on Wednesday and Friday respectively. Given what we’ve seen in the first two games that is as likely as seeing a snowflake in the heat of Qatar.

Morocco, spurred on by their boisterous and passionate fans, many of whom are based in the Middle East, have every chance of progressing to the last 16 for the first time since they became the first African team to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup in 1986. A draw against Canada, who have lost both their group games, will be enough to secure a place in the second round. A tasty potential meeting with Spain or Germany awaits.

With all five African teams at this World Cup being coached by nationals from their own countries for the first time, there is a good chance that at least two could join the late Stephen Keshi, the only African coach to have guided his team to the knockout stages of Fifa’s flagship event.

The performance of the African contingent has revived the debate about whether local coaches should be preferred ahead of foreign, mainly European coaches who have for decades popped up across the continent to take charge of national teams.

Certainly, Senegal’s Aliou Cisse, who has been in the job for seven years, Ghana’s Otto Addo and Morocco’s Walid Regragui, all in their forties, have proven themselves to be pioneers of the new generation of African coaches who have the tools to lead their national teams to greater heights.

Cisse, who was part of the Senegal side that reached the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, has already led the Lions of Teranga to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title as well as to successive qualifications for the World Cup.

The German-born Addo, who took over from Milovan Rajevac following Ghana’s early exit from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in February, managed to qualify the team for their fourth World Cup appearance after securing a hard-fought victory, against all odds, over bitter regional rivals Nigeria in the playoffs.

Regragui’s credentials are also impressive. The former international defender, born in France to parents who moved from northern Morocco, guided Wydad Casablanca to this year’s CAF Champions League title when they beat 10-time champions Al Ahly in May. Prior to that he piloted Al Duhail to the Qatar Stars League title in 2020.  

Until 2014, only 10 of 38 African teams who played at the World Cup were led by home-grown coaches. Before chucking the baby out with the bathwater, it may be worth considering that the three African teams who reached the quarterfinals — Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 — were all coached by Europeans.

In 1990 the Russian Valery Nepomnyashchy was in charge of the Cameroon side that shocked the world by beating defending champions Argentina in the opening game as they marched impressively to the quarterfinals where they lost 3-2 in extra-time against England.

At the 2002 tournament the late Frenchman Bruno Metsu too saw his Senegal team defeat the defending champions, this time France, in the opening game before losing to Turkey in the last eight, also in extra-time.

Eight years later it was the Serb Milovan Rajevac who took Ghana to within seconds of a historic place in the semifinals before being eliminated in a penalty shootout by Uruguay.

While it is encouraging that a new generation of local coaches is blazing a trail for Africa’s national teams, there should still be space for suitably qualified technical experts from outside the continent to play a role.