And on the 10th day, footballing god Pelé proclaimed "An African side will win the World Cup by the year 2000."
The Brazilian, proving once again to us all why he was an infinitely better footballer than pundit. Although the exciting Cameroon and Nigerian sides provided hope in the 1990's, it is still well-known that no African side has passed the quarter final stage at the World Cup.
Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria set out in an attempt to fulfill the prophecy, albeit 14 years late, of the footballing maestro, and what followed can be simply summarised as good, bad and ugly.
The Good:
The performances of Algeria and Nigeria proved to be the only light in what was another dark tournament for African football. Both sides played attractive football (other than Nigeria's woeful 0-0 draw with Iran), and both reached the last 16, where they produced creditable performances against quality opposition, but fell just short (Algeria losing 2-1 to Germany AET, Nigeria going down 2-0 to France). Had either side contained a predatory goalscorer, they could well still be in the competition, but alas, they both suffered due to a failure to capitalise on wasted chances. Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi retired as soon as they were defeated by France, and a rebuilding process looks necessary for Nigeria, with many players past their peak. However, the future is looking bright for Algeria, and they will maintain high hopes of qualifying for Russia 2018. Below is a clip containing Algeria's goals in their 4-2 win over South Korea, the first African side to score 4 goals in one game at the World Cup.
The Bad:
In fairness to the others only Cameroon's performances can really be defined as "bad", with both Ivory Coast and Ghana unfortunate to not reach the knockout stages, but with the quality possessed by each side, more could have been expected from the trio. Yaya Touré has admitted that he was tired during the tournament, and losing his and Kolo's brother Ibrahim can't have helped the Ivorian camp's mental state. They failed to pass after conceding a 93rd minute penalty against Greece, which was extremely unlucky.
As for their Ghanian counterparts, the 2-1 loss to USA in the first game was ultimately their downfall, with a spirited 2-2 draw with Germany followed up by another 2-1 defeat, this time to Portugal. For a nation with high hopes of going further than last time (quarter finals) their performances didn't warrant anything near a position in the last 8.
Finally, Cameroon were absolutely woeful in Brazil. With stars such as Samuel Eto'o, Alex Song and Stephane M'Bia making little or no positive impact, they lost all 3 group games (1-0 to Mexico, 4-0 to Croatia and 4-1 to Brazil). They leave on the back of a dire campaign, and a rebuilding process is certianly necessary for the country that reached the quarter finals in 1990.
The Ugly:
There were certainly plenty of unsavoury, damaging incidents for African football during this year's World Cup. Cameroon leave on the back of match-fixing allegations, and with a broken nation. Alex Song's scything challenge on Mario Mandzukic (below) did little to improve relations to football in his home country, and he should be ashamed.
Ghana's campaign was marred by the fact that players argued and skipped training due to their match win bonuses. Ironically enough, they ended up with a draw and 2 losses, hence no win bonus. Midfielders Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng were also sent home after "disrespecting" members of the coaching staff. Muntari was also filmed smoking weed after being expelled from the squad, which will no doubt have repercussions on the rest of his international career.
Nigeria also skipped a training session over their win bonuses scenario, but fortunately the conflict was resolved.
Although Africa has certainly produced a standard of players capable of winning the World Cup, it's going to take a change in their mental attitude and approach for success, and Pelé's prophecy, to come any time soon.