If any African nation is to ever win the World Cup they should look to Germany and the preparation that was put in by the German Football Federation, who after a dismal performance during Euro 2000 made it mandatory for all 18 top-flight professional teams to run a youth academy reaching all the way down to players starting at age 12.
These academies later became mandatory for all 36 teams in the top two German divisions, and have now accounted for more than half the players in the Bundesliga with an average age of 25-years-old.
Not only did the new academies produce quality footballers they also produced a new generation of players who choose to stay home and play in Germany rather than seek fame and fortune abroad.
In 2013 German football was so strong that an all-German Champions League final occurred at Wembley Stadium in London that saw Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich take on North Rhine-Westphalia club Borussia Dortmund.
Then of course there was this summer’s World Cup in Brazil in which Die Mannschaft showed how they were capable of adapting to beat the best teams in the competition including a 7-1 humiliation of the host nation Brazil.
Following on from the setting up of the academies the Germans knew they needed to find a coach and training staff that were committed to a long-term role with the national team, which they found when hiring 54-year-old coach Joachim Low in 2006 telling him he had four years to put a team together to win the World Cup.
Compare this scenario to Africa where coaches and trainers are often only given a one-year contract and asked to perform miracles instead of following a ten-year plan like the Germans.
Low also did not come by his squad easily mixing and matching players while still maintaining a core group of players with experience to help the young stars like Marco Reus and Mario Gotze fit in and succeed.
Germany appeared to grow in confidence following each match going into the final on the back of the Brazil win knowing they had what it would take to beat Lionel Messi and Argentina, while Africa’s biggest hope Nigeria, along with Ghana’s Black Stars and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon had their players all arguing over bonus payments rather than being proud to represent their countries on the world’s biggest stage.
Africa can learn a lot from Germany and start to build now for Russia 2018 but before anything can be done they need to look to the youth talent that is abundant in countries such as Nigeria who had an amazing U-17 team that beat reigning champions Mexico last year 3-0 to win the U-17 World Cup in the UAE, and yet Stephen Keshi only deemed one of that successful team Ramon Azeez worthy of a call up for Brazil.
If African countries can as Germany did nurture home grown talent, and manage to keep them playing in domestic leagues they will not have to worry about patriotism as it will exist in abundance, but what they must do however is stop the top talent from leaving to play overseas as then It becomes all about me rather than all about us which sadly is the state of African football today.
Could Africa learn from Germany? Yes they could, will they however is another thing.
