African Teams and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

The following African nations have qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil:
1. Algeria
2. Cameroon
3. Nigeria
4. Ghana
5. Ivory Coast
Africa has five slots to fill at the competition and those are the countries that have filled the slots.

However, this post is not about African teams that have qualified for the World Cup. Rather, it intends to ask a troubling question about African football. At the World Cup level, the best an African country has performed is to reach the quarterfinals and this was first done by Cameroon in the heydays of the football magician, Roger Milla, the best African footballer who ever lived. Now, some are wondering whether any of the current slate of teams would even make it to the quarterfinals. If this is done, it seems, it would be counted as a good achievement for African football. With African football, it seems that few ever nurse the hope of actually winning the World Cup. This is a strange place to be for two significant reasons. First, African countries have defeated countries that have eventually won the World Cup. Second, at the junior levels of the World Cup, African countries have won the trophy several times.

This brings me to the troubling question that led to this post: how is it that African countries can win the World Cup at the junior levels but fail to do so even once at the senior level? At what point do things go wrong for African teams as they move from the junior to the senior levels of the competition? If African countries have won the junior levels World Cup, one would imagine that it is possible for them to win the trophy at the senior level. Why is it that this has not happened and no one seems to be thinking that this should happen soon?
 

The Happiest and Saddest Countries in the World

"Happiness is subjective, not objective, and what defines it can be debated ad infinitum. Does prosperity equal happiness? Not always, but it sure helps." See where African countries fall in the list of 142 countries.

Nigeria are World Under 17 Football Champions!

See video highlights here.

Mr. Dos Santos of Angola Should Be Ashamed of Himself

Angola's dictator, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled the country since 1975, should be ashamed of himself for jailing a teenager. A teenager prints a T-Shirt protesting the dictatorship in Angola and is thrown in jail? What respectable person would jail a teenager for expressing political views?Need we an further demonstration that Angola is a dictatorship? Mr. dos Santos should be ashamed of himself.

Mr. Dos Santos should be ashamed of himself

Cardinal Christian Tumi, Paul Biya, and the Popes

Cameroon is a country beloved by the popes. Since John Paul II, whenever Roman Catholic Popes visit Africa, their first stop is in Cameroon. Pope Francis has not visited Africa yet and so we wait to see whether he would maintain this tradition or not. Why do the Popes do this? The reason is not clear to me. However, I continue to be surprised by the prominence of Cameroon on the map of the Roman Catholic hierarchy given that the country does not appear to have the most Catholics in Africa. Perhaps Cameroon has this prominence because the dictator of the country is a Roman Catholic! Thus the relations between the Popes and the Cameroonian hierarchy has served to bless Paul Biya's dictatorship as each Pope who visits the country shakes his hand and gives him communion. To most Cameroonians and even the international community, this alignment of the Popes with the dictatorship of Paul Biya gives his unholy regime the cover of legitimacy. Even Pope Francis who is noted for his comments about providing for the least of these has also blessed Biya's dictatorship even if he is yet to go to Cameroon.

However, one of the leading critics of this monstrous regime is also a Roman Catholic - Cardinal Christian Tumi. He has seized every opportunity to condemn the machinations of this monstrosity but one wonders if his voice is making any difference given that the hierarchy in the Vatican is in cahoots with the junta.

700 Days of Protesting Paul Biya's Thirty-year Dictatorship in Cameroon

On November 6, 2013, Paul Biya, Cameroon's dictator, will be thirty-one years since France placed him at the helm of power in Cameroon. He came to power when Cameroon had a one-party system, resisted the idea of multi-party democracy until he could do so no more. Then he set up a sham multi-party system in which he has been rigging one election after the other since 1992. His latest exploits were the brazen rigging of the senatorial and municipal elections in Cameroon. Paul Biya has taught Cameroonians massive corruption, jailed his opponents on trumped up charges, ruined the economy of the country, and contributed to the early death of many young people of the country. Young people are fleeing the country in droves because Paul Biya has demonstrated that he cannot create a better future for the people of Cameroon. We here at FlourshingAfrica will continue to highlight Paul Biya's unholy grip on power in Cameroon until that monstrous regime is no more. We need people with fresh ideas to chart a better future for the people. Cameroon deserves much better.

Egyptian Military Can't Take a Joke?

The suspension of the Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef's show by the Egyptian military seems to show that the military has more to hide than reveal. We at FlourishingAfrica still think they did a good thing by removing Morsi from power but this act makes us to begin to be skeptical about their intentions.