Makgwengwe dismisses Africa's World Cup chances

Lekopanye Mooketsi | Friday January 24, 2014 15:20

He attributes Africa’s slow progress to failure to have strong development structures. He says it is going to take time before an African country proceeds to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Makgwengwe, a qualified coach, says African countries should work on their development.  “We must develop.  We should have development plans that we could share with the Confederation of African Football (CAF),” he says.  “We need to work harder on our development. Africa’s future lies in development,” he emphasises. 

Makgwengwe says African football is haunted by maladministration. He cites the case of African stars who ply their trade for top clubs in Europe but when they join their national teams, they are exposed to maladministration by the national associations. He questions the quality of some of the coaches, saying they suffer stage fright when they get to the World Cup.

Botswana Under-20 coach and former Mochudi Centre Chiefs assistant coach, Innocent Morapedi expects African representatives to do better in the World Cup this year.  “It is up to them as to how far they want to go,” he said.  He expects the African teams coached by natives to perform better because such coaches are patriotic. 

Morapedi said because there are many African players based in Europe, World Cup performance should be better. But he questions the attitude of the European based African players.  “The exposure is there but why is it that they can’t perform? It is because they are not committed,” he said. He faulted African teams to the World Cup for shambolic preparations. “Do we put everything that is needed in place?”

He said professional players are not excited just because their country has qualified for the World.   “To them football is business.  Some of them play in Europe, they want money.  If you don’t pay them, they are not willing to die for their country.  This is why some of them refuse to come for camp,” he said. 

Morapedi regretted that there is no continuity and stability in African teams even when they are preparing for important events like the World Cup.  He said coaches are fired willy-nilly and urged CAF to conduct research on why African teams are not doing well.

Five teams, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria will represent Africa in Brazil.