With this weekend's football schedule to feature many more World Cup 2010 qualifiers, fans will be tuning in to find out who stays in the competition, and who will end their participation. Nowhere will this be brought to the fore more so than in Africa, where the reputations and qualifying hopes of many major nations could be destroyed even before they have proceeded to the second stage. With the high possibility of a slew of upsets happening this weekend, South Africa and the world might see a new group of African countries involved in 2010 instead.
While the hosts South Africa might end up bottom of their group, they are exempted from having to qualify for the tournament. But their disastrous campaign means that they will now miss the African Nations Cup in the same year, for which the qualifying process is based on the same World Cup setup. It is a complicated and confusing system which perhaps only FIFA can explain, but the countries will comply just the same. It has also exposed the deficiencies in quality and standard in the South Africans, who must now undergo a drastic improvement within two years if they hope to avoid humiliation in front of their own fans.
Giants of African football that are on the brink of elimination this weekend include Angola, Ghana, Algeria, Senegal, and Morocco. Perhaps the countries most in danger are Angola and Senegal, with the former having fallen from grace in such drastic pace. Just two World Cups ago, Angola was considered one of the strongest African footballing nations, with many notable star players gracing some of the most famous clubs around the year 2006. They qualified for the World Cup in 2006, but four years on, Angola are on the verge of a first round knockout in the qualifiers. Without enough points to qualify for the next round, Angola might have to look forward to the 2014 World Cup.
Senegal will always be remembered for their defeat of world and European champions France in the opening game of World Cup 2002. It was a sensational result that was based on a group of honest players who were hardly heard of outside the country, in stark contrast to the numerous household names in the French team, most notably Zinedine Zidane. While they conquered their former colonial masters on the sporting field, Senegal will look back at the past and present French teams to imagine what might have been. Several French football stars have their roots in Senegal, choosing to represent France instead. This has robbed the African nation of many natural talents, which perhaps partly explains their current decline. While Senegal might still qualify for the next round after this weekend, it speaks volumes of the lack of talent development that they are struggling in a group which includes Gambia and Liberia.
With the potential of major upsets lurking round the corner in the qualifiers this weekend, the world of football will be watching the many live online streaming World Cup football matches as fans keep scores. Who will join the likes of Ivory Coast, Cameroon and African champions Egypt in the next intriguing qualifying round, and who will have to start from scratch and plan for 2014 next? Fans of football cannot wait to find out what happens next.
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October 9, 2008
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