Nations Cup
I have been in love with African soccer since the Roger Milla inspired Cameroon forced a draw with the eventual winners of the 1982 world cup, Italy. Two years later this dominant side which also included N’kono and Abega along side of Milla went to win the Nations cup. In the process, they gave many Africans like me a chance to cheer and look up to one of our own.
The quality of African football has been steadily improving throughout the 80’s and the 90’s. The fact that two African teams, Cameroon and Senegal, have made it as far as the quarter finals of the world cup is an evidence for this. There is no doubt in my mind that Africa’s turn to win the world cup is coming closer.
The recent edition of the Nation’s cup has shown that African teams can be as complete as any of the teams from the top footballing nations. In addition to the traditional attacking football, defense and tactical awareness of many of the teams has improved tremendously. The Ivorian team which went to play Egypt in the final as well as being one of Africa’s representatives in the world cup was a prime example of this. Not only the Ivorian defense was brilliant but they also have dangerous strikers which can be a handful for any defense.
It is unfortunate not to have teams like Cameroon and Senegal in the world cup because they were clearly superior to the other African representatives in the coming world cup [Angola, Togo, and, Ghana]. Then again, it can be refreshing to see the smaller teams of Africa getting their turn to represent the continent that will be watching them closely.
I thought it would be great if each woman writes a brief piece (about 5 lines if possible) about 1 or 2 women she would like to honour/celebrate post it on their blogs. It could be your mother, friend, artists, activist, leade, from your neighbourhood, community, country or continent wide - whoever as long as they are African. Once we have responses we will know exactly how many will post on the 8th of March then Mshairi and I will do a roundup on GV of all the posts by the African women bloggers.
If you are interested in participating please contact me at:
africa at globalvoicesonline dot org
many thanks (Comment this)
Indeed the caliber of his team and their competitiveness till the very end legitimized soccer in the eyes of many--both African and non-african.
Kolo, what did you think of Nigeria's winning the olympic gold metal in soccer in terms of also establishing Africa as a site of capable soccer teams.
** soccer=Football (Comment this)