Ghana and Nigeria. Two countries, two teams that have turned out to be Africa’s hope in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Jordan. Both teams still have hope of progressing ahead of the last set of group matches. These teams come from countries in very poor economic situations, but play football with an eagerness, and a strength that cannot be matched. They want to be the pride of Africa.
Ghana seems to be the favourite team, they beat United States 2-1 and go into the last group round with a high chance of making it to the quarterfinals. Their victory over the US is especially worthy of merit when the words of Ghana’s coach, Evans Adotey are taken into account: “I have no idea about politics, but we paid our own tickets to come to Jordan, that means that we don’t have any financial support [from the government].”
The relationship between politicians and Ghana’s Football Federation is not good. The nation’s most popular sport has no economic support and this is something that prevents the teams’ development, especially at a crucial U-17 level. Players and technical staff used to leave the country in order to gain a higher level of experience, but due to the difficult economic situation in so many parts of Africa, many are no longer able to do so. At present, Ghana’s senior national team is 46th in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking, with 1487 points and is the second best African team after Nigeria.
Despite adversity, the ‘Black Maidens’ beat the team with the best combined ranking, the United States – a group of players with a superior level of preparation. Ghana’s victory against the United States is invaluable. These three points give the team a number of options going into the last day of the group phase, where they will face Paraguay. Now Ghana is in third position on the table with three points and is tied with United States, although the teams’ goal difference favors the Americans. To get a ticket to the quarter-finals, Ghana will have to get at least one more point than the United States on the last day. The African dream is still alive and beating.
Once again this shows that while football does understand passion, effort, sacrifice and illusion, it does not much care for statistics.
Still hope for the ‘Flamingos’
Nigeria does not understand numbers. Hope is still present among the “Flamingos”, as they are popularly known. Their goalless draw against England opens one last chance for them to book a ticket to the quarterfinals. To make this a reality, they will have to beat North Korea and wait for Brazil to lose against England. It is hard but not impossible.
Women’s football in Nigeria is opening its path to the world with very few resources. The financial contribution of the Nigerian Football Federation is inadequate and does not allow the growth of women’s sport in this country. “The Nigerian government is the one’s taking care of the women’s national team. Apart from the clubs, we go to football clubs and academies to select players for our national team”, Nikyu Bala, Nigeria’s coach told AIPS.
Fortunately, money is not everything. The senior team is ranked as 37th on FIFA Women’s World Ranking, and is the top-ranked of all African national teams with 1592 points.
An early goodbye for the Baby Lionesses
Cameroon were the first African team to bid farewell the World Cup. The “Baby Lionesses” were knocked out cruelly after conceding a goal in the last minute of overtime in their second round match against Venezuela.
The nation’s football is also subject to scarce economic aid and level, the Cameroon coach Birwe Mincreo explained: “We came here to learn and to come back stronger than this year. We just want to increase women’s football in Africa, we want to play more matches before this type of tournament.”
Regarding the economic support of the Football Federation, the coach hinted that “it’s not easy for our country to support us, but we need more to get our teams ready.” The manager added that the team “discovered a wonderful country” here in Jordan for the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Currently, the national team, the Super Falcons, are ranked 47th in FIFA Women’s World Ranking, one place behind Ghana, with 1484 points.
The negative situation of African nations in terms of support for women’s football unites them in this edition of the World Cup. This became evident in Tuesday’s match. The Cameroonian team, present in the stands of King Abdullah Stadium, celebrated Ghana’s victory against the United States as if it them on the pitch. The sense of unity is profound. Women’s football on the African continent needs joy like that seen on Tuesday.
Credit: AIPS Media
