A cross-section of football enthusiasts on Monday in Abuja said africa was still way behind in the game, adding that the continent needs to improve.
The football enthusiasts, who spoke to the News Agency of nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews, said this against the backdrop of Africa’s performance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
NAN reports that the 32-team competition, which ended on Sunday in Brazil, saw three of the five African teams failing to go beyond the group stage.
While Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana failed at the first hurdle, nigeria and Algeria qualified for the Round of 16 where they lost to European opponents.
Sunday Ekundayo, a student, said the tournament was a memorable one with lots of surprises.
The World Cup was fun and I enjoyed it. It had so many surprises. Imagine how Spain were disgraced and how brazil could not make it to the top three.
I really enjoyed the games and I applaud Africa, especially nigeria for going beyond the group stage.
“But africa should try and imitate the Western style of play, or else, africa will never win a World Cup,’’ Ekundayo added.
Frank Obuah, a cab driver in the FCT, applauded brazil for hosting the tournament, and encouraged africa to take the game of football seriously.
I think brazil tried in hosting this world event. The African countries which participated did their best. But they need to step up in the game of football.
“We (Africans) are really lacking behind’’, he said.
Grace Isah, a school teacher, said: African teams did their best. Though I knew they would not go beyond the second round.
“But Africa should also stop the use of overage players who may not be full of energy, like in the case of Nigeria’s defender Joseph Yobo’’, she said.
According to Musa Yusuf, a book publisher, “the mundial was good. All the teams tried and I believe the best team won.
But I do not think Messi deserved to be the best player of the tournament.
“Africa tried its best, even though its teams were there as underdogs. It appeared as if they did not have confidence in themselves,’’ Yusuf added.
NAN reports that Germany claimed a 1-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro to record their fourth World Cup win.
They went on to become the first European nation to win the trophy in South America.
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