African teams’ early exit from World Cup underscores continent’s struggling position

Perception of rest of the world is that Africa is a struggling continent but constricted by a lot of factors which have remained daunting. This position has manifested in various sectors including health, agriculture and sports.

It is therefore not surprising that with over 70 per cent arable land, still the continent is said to be spending over $40 billion annually on food imports. Medical tourism alone costs the continent about $1billion yearly, according to the World Bank.

At the on-going World Cup competition in Russia, all participating African countries, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal crashed out of the competition in the first round. When Senegal took on Colombia on June 28, commentators never failed to remind listeners that Senegal is an African nation and it was the last hope of Africa, but it has crashed out after losing 0-1.

The emphasis and reference on African nation by these commentators is a strong indication that these African countries are bonded by similar cultural identity and the same level of economic development.

Senegal was the last African country to be ousted from the World tournament. This means all the five African representatives at the 2018 World Cup unfortunately failed to advance from the group stage.

Though some African countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana have advanced beyond first round in previous W/Cup tournament but looking at early ouster in the 2018 W/Cup, Akonte Ekine, CEO of Absolute Public Relations firm based in Lagos said “Our continent is known to be what it is. The perception is that we are struggling and this was seen in the early exit in the W/Cup”

In a chat with BBC, according to a report, Didier Drogba, who believed that ”Africa is going to be successful one day advised that the continent needs to think again how it will approach these big competitions,” .

It is true that African teams did not do badly in the competition, showing strong contest but African countries participating in such intercontinental competitions need to understand referees disposition as this counts in the competition.

For instance, Cuneyt Cakir, the Turkish national who was the referee in Nigeria- Argentina match failed to award to Nigeria clear penalties when Iheanacho was kicked on the head and when Argentine player handled the ball in the 18 meter box. The referee also failed to send Mascherano out, who was bleeding in the face, for treatment.

On the implications of early exit of African nations, Akonte immediately noted the instant cut in advertising spend by corporates and low patronage at drinking bars, and viewing centres.

“The result of the match which was not favourable to Nigeria has resulted in cut in advert spending and low attendance to drinking bars and viewing centres”, he said.

Jenkins Alumona, the CEO of Strategic Outcomes firm and football enthusiast who was in Russia to support Super Eagles predicted that  Nigeria lose to Argentina, would mean negative outcome for businesses. It will mean “serious losses to media businesses from advertising revenues to newspaper sales. Campaigns will come to a premature end and there will be revenue loses across many media platforms.

“Pay TV businesses will also be impacted negatively as subscriptions may not be renewed”, Jenkins said.