Can an African nation lift the World Cup?

The African nations have been steadily improving over the last decade or so and the World Cup in 2010 represents a good chance for one of the stronger sides to emerge victorious. The Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria are the ‘heavyweights’ of African football but Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal also possess some talent and should not be dismissed.

With the 2010 tournament being held in South Africa there will be a lot of talk in the build up as to how the African nations will fare but I think it may have come too early for an African side to win it. The climate may make it harder for the European sides but the South American teams will be less affected and I would suggest Brazil and Argentina will be the teams to beat, with Spain also a part of that equation. Both Brazil and Argentina are making hard work for themselves actually qualifying for the competition but it’s my football prediction that both will be there and, as we all know, the tournament itself is a very different animal to the qualifying rounds.

Argentina have come in for a bit of criticism for their 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Bolivia. This fixture was played in La Paz at a very high altitude and if you’re not used to playing, or even being, at high altitude it will have a massive impact upon your performance. This result should really be seen as an anomaly and I can’t see Argentina receiving a similar humiliation in the tournament itself. Brazil have also been on the end of some surprising score lines but they really are a team who seem to step up at the big tournaments and as always they’ll probably be the pre-tournament favourites. The current Brazilian side is still a side in its formative stages but I expect they’ll have a say in proceedings.

Spain won the European Championships in 2008 in some style and they are arguably the best team in the world at the moment. An attacking
line up featuring Fernando Torres and David Villa is always going to be hard to deal with, especially with Xavi and Andres Iniesta backing them up in midfield. There may be a few changes to the side that lifted the European Championship trophy but they will be minor ones and the Spanish side that goes to the World Cup in 2010 will not differ too much from the European Championship winning team.

The African nations will be well supported but I think the larger European and South American sides will prove too great a challenge at the moment. The last tournament in Germany was one of the better World Cups and I’m hoping the South African one is the same. I doubt an African side will lift the Cup in 2010 but stranger things have happened. In Didier Drogba the Ivory Coast have perhaps the greatest striker in the world but one player alone won’t win the World Cup, the same could be said for Cameroon, who have Samuel Eto’o. It is great for the African game that the World Cup is being held in the continent but it is still too early in the development of the game out there for an African side really to be in contention to lift the trophy.