African football

DW: How would you assess Nigeria's and Algeria's last matches against France and Germany?

Lawrence Lihusha: Starting with Nigeria, they had a lot of ambition going forward, possession in mid-field, but getting into the final stage, there was a lack of creativity or having the cutting edge in finding the back of the net. From that point of view, Nigeria was quite impressive in terms of possession, but finding the goals, I think there was a bit of a problem. France initially struggled into the game, but over time they found their feet.

If we look at Algeria's match against Germany, the first half was really interesting wasn't it?

Interesting indeed! Of all the teams representing the African continent, the team that impressed the most was Algeria. They had so much vision, they played with their hearts and gave their all. Even the way that they qualified for the last 16, this was a team that was very hard to break. Germany kind of looked ordinary and experts began to say certainly this is not Germany's night. I think it was not necessarily that Germany was not playing as good as they have been, but it was more of Algeria putting in a fight on that day.

What did Algeria lack then?

We have to bear in mind that this was an Algerian team that was falling short in terms of star quality of their players. Football is a team sport, there is that cohesive unit that is needed for you to win games, and that is what the Germans had. When you talk of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phillip Lahm, Mesut Özil and the rest, those are star players that lifted the German side above a stubborn Algerian side. But they got knocked out with their heads held high because they certainly put up a fight. On a different night, this could have been an Algerian side that caused an upset like the one they did in Gijon, Spain in 1982, when Algeria beat Germany (West Germany) 2-1 at that time.

Following Nigeria's elimination, their coach Stephen Keshi resigned. Was this a wise move?

These were the conditions and circumstances under which Stephen Keshi, also known as "the big boss" worked as the Super Eagles' coach. Problems between the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) and Keshi probably started at the African Cup of Nations 2013 edition which was taking place in South Africa. At that point, he came close to being shown the door but at some point they decided to keep him when they probably noticed that Nigeria was probably not playing as impressively as they ought to in the group stages. He eventually led the Super Eagles to win the title in 2013. But that kind of not comfortable relationship between him and the NFA carried on to the FIFA Confederations Cup; getting into the FIFA World Cup in 2014, you could tell that he wasn't relating well. It was not a question of if; it was a question of when Stephen Keshi would actually resign as the Super Eagles' coach.

Every time African teams go to a World Cup, certain problems such as disputes over bonuses, boycotts of training sessions, always crop up. Why is this?

It's got more to do with fundamental values of African football. African football administrators have not really been fair. We have heard of stories where African players have gone back to play for their clubs after playing for the national team without getting their allowances. That is quite evident. There have been football players coming from Europe to play for their national team in Africa, who have had to pay for their own air ticket to get into their country. These players have such stories hanging behind their minds. This is one aspect of how these football players relate with administrators. There has been a lack of transparency on the part of football administrators that in a way could have been a contributing factor.

But again in as much as I am probably pointing an accusing finger at football administrators, the attitude with which African players play for their countries should be questioned. It shouldn't only be about money. There is too much emphasis on money. Before you even get on a plane to travel to Brazil, you want assurances of how much money you are going to be given by your football association. In most cases, this money does not even come from those football associations, even governments of those respective African countries have to foot those allowances. So in a way, the attitude of wanting to get money is what is killing African football.

How does the future of African football look like?

The future of African football is bright. Africa has so much talent, so much potential. Look at the number of African players playing in the French league 1, German Bundesliga (top division), Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League. All these top leagues in Europe are awash with African talent, but where we have a problem on the African continent is how to harness young talent. We tend to expose them a little bit late. We need to work at the grassroots, how we can strengthen the foundation from which this talent is harnessed. If we do that, we may improve the image of African football in the not so distant future.

Lawrence Lihashu is a Zambian sports analyst