A dozen young boys stood at the edge of a football field, one that looks typically African — patchy grass at the edges, dark red dirt in the middle.
Asked who they thought would win the Soccer World Cup, the boys shouted the familiar names: Brazil. England. Spain.
Last to go was Dennis Njoroge.
“Nigeria,” the shy 15-year-old boy said.
The other dozen boys burst out in applause.
Why Nigeria? “Because the World Cup is in Africa,” he said.
The first World Cup in Africa starts in a little over a month, and football fans from Algeria to Zimbabwe are turning their gaze toward South Africa with a swell of continental pride.
Billboards in Liberia read “For the Love of the game. We can’t wait. Let’s go 2010.” In Côte d’Ivoire, 2010 is the year of the Elephants, the team’s mascot. In Cameroon, street signs tout the “Indomitable Lions.” Kenya Airways’ in-flight magazine calls the coming tournament “Africa’s greatest moment of football history.”
“Finally the World Cup has come to Africa,” said Benjamin Kanga, a teacher reading the sports pages at a news stand in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s capital. “It’s about time, because football is a unifying force, a reconciling force, something we Africans need to think about right now.”
Africa has six nations in the World Cup, from the continent’s Arabic-speaking northern rim, its English and French-speaking west and English-speaking south. Given a pop quiz as his friends dribbled balls nearby, Njoroge correctly named five: Algeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and South Africa. He missed only Cameroon.
No African team has made the World Cup final, but more African players are playing for European clubs, adding to Africa’s skill base. Of the six African teams, bookmakers give Côte d’Ivoire the best odds, but at 30-1 it is far behind the favourites named by the Kenyan boys.
‘We’re going to beat Brazil’
That didn’t stop Kanga from predicting victory for Côte d’Ivoire.
“We’re going far. We’re even going to beat Brazil. You heard it here first,” he said. “The Elephants are going to make us proud. They’re going to make all of Africa proud.”
Africa, particularly its most troubled communities, could use a shot of pride. The continent is the poorest in the world, held back by malnutrition, dirty water, HIV/Aids, malaria and corruption.
A recent visit to Nairobi West Prison — where Njoroge and his friends played on the prison-yard field, and where their parents work — showed how hundreds of thousands of Africans will watch the World Cup.
Sixty people, prison workers and family members, gathered inside a recreation room on a recent Saturday to watch Manchester United beat Tottenham in the Premier League. They crowded in front of two huge TVs.
In Akobo, Sudan — described by the United Nations as the hungriest place on earth — men play football daily on a field of dust. The town hosts thousands of refugees fleeing violence and seeking food, and people are only marginally aware that the World Cup is coming, resident Peter Yien said. He doesn’t expect to watch any matches.
The town of thousands has only one TV.
It’s precisely that kind of dire scene that has many Africans so filled with pride to host a sporting event that arouses passions around the world. Fans clutching $10 tickets to early matches are already driving toward Africa’s southern tip.
Victory for Africa
“No one expected that one day Africa could host the World Cup, so this is a victory for Africa,” said Joana Joaquim Covane, a housewife living in Maputo, Mozambique. “I’m going with my husband to watch at least one of the games in Nelspruit, near our country.”
Businesses expect a boost. Momodou Omar Jallow recently bought a new large-screen TV for the video club he owns in Gambia, where the moneymaker is selling a seat in front of a TV for customers who don’t own one.
The coach of Algeria’s national team, Rabah Saadane, said his players feel “a huge pride and huge responsibility” not only to Africa but to the Arab world as well. Algeria is the only World Cup qualifier from an Arab nation.
“The whole Arab world will be looking at us,” Saadane said. “And this cup holds special symbolism, because it’s being held on our own continent. We don’t feel like the home team, but nearly.”
Maureen Abbia, a 25-year-old actress in Cameroon, plans to watch all the matches “because this is an African feast”.
“Who says this time, Africa, land of wisdom and myth, cannot grab the trophy now that it is competed for on its own soil?” she asked.
The boys at Nairobi West Prison are a little less optimistic, or perhaps their grasp of football is a little more worldly. Njoroge remembers as an 11-year-old watching the 2006 World Cup final with his mother, when Italy beat France on penalties. His favourite player is Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, who will start at the back for England at the World Cup. Njoroge’s friend, 15-year-old Kevin Obadha, likes Brazil midfielder Ronaldinho.
Like Njoroge, Obadha pegs Nigeria as Africa’s best team. But can they make it to the final?
“I don’t think so,” he said. – Sapa-AP