Yes all African representatives to the ongoing World Cup in Brazil have crashed out, however, it is necessary to evaluate their performance at the tournament and see what they have done right and deduce where they could have done better.
After series of qualifying matches the African continent finally produced their five representatives with the reigning African champion, Nigeria leading the remaining four - Algeria, Cameroun, Cote d'voire and Ghana - against their fellow competitors from Europe, South America, Asia, and Latin America.
When the grouping for the tournament was done, two of the African representatives; Ghana and Cameroun found themselves in a really difficult group as Cameroun was grouped alongside host Brazil, Mexico and Croatia while Ghana had to battle with Portugal, Germany and USA. Other representatives have relatively easy grouping compared their compatriots.
After all the group stage matches have been played, it was quite unfortunate that only two of the five African representatives - Nigeria and Algeria - made it to the knockout stage as the others crashed out either scandalously or by a slim chance.
Cameroun: One time African Favourite, the indomitable Lions of Cameroun have really suffered a deep in form in recent years, which have made them miss out on the last two editions of both the CAF Nations Cup and the World cup, so seeing them humiliate Tunisia 4-1 at the last qualifying round of matches ahead of the World Cup was a relief and uplifts the hopes of Africans that the four time African champion is set to stage a good performance at the tournament, but to the disappointment of all, the indomitable Lions were totally dominated and an abysmal showing by the Africans in-which they lost 1-0 to Mexico, 4-0 to Croatia and 4-1 to Brazil sealed their exit from the competition and they emerged the team with the worst goal scoring record in the group stage sitting bottom of the group having scored just a goal and conceding nine.
The team did not only do poorly in their game play but their attitude off the pitch was also something to worry about, there was in fighting among the players and with officials of the country's FA, the fighting new no bound, as they also fought in the dressing room and on the field during the match, an allegation of match fixing did not make it any better for the team and country.
Ghana: The Black star of Ghana is an ever present team at the World Cup even when all other big names were have a poor run in the game. Grouped alongside USA, Portugal and Germany, the Ghanaians face an uphill task to qualify for the round of 16 stage of the competition but their ability cannot be undermined.
The Black stars though lost narrowly to USA through a late goal, a spirited performance by the four time African champion to pull a 2-2 draw against the group favourite, Germany, was a life line for the team ahead of their 'make or mar' encounter against Portugal which they unfortunately lost through a late Cristiano Ronaldo goal.
In all though, the commitment of the Ghanaian team to win their games and move on to the next stage of the competition cannot be questioned as they fought with every strength they have.
Cote d'voire: Stocked with an array of stars like Gervinho, reigning African footballer of the year, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Solomon Kalou to name but few, the Ivorians pose a huge threat to any team they meet, little wonder every football pundit predicted that the African representative will certainly be one of the two qualifiers to the round of 16 from group C which has the likes of Japan, Greece, and Colombia alongside them.
A spirited comeback win in their opening encounter against the Blue Samurais of Japan watered the appetite of all their fans but they could not hold their ground against the rampaging Colombians and lost the encounter two goals to one, however all hope was not lost as they still have a game at hand and needed just a draw to qualify to the next stage but they had their hearts broken just at the last minute of their encounter with Greece as the referee gave the Greeks a controversial penalty which Gorgio Samaras converted and send the Elephants crashing out of the tournament and send dispirit into the hearts of all Africans.
Nigeria: Searching for their first win in sixteen years at the World Cup, the Super Eagles of Nigeria went into the competition as the reigning African champion having won the CAF nations cup in South Africa in January 2013.
Grouped alongside arch rival, Argentina, Iran and debutant Bosnia Herzegovinia, they had their work all cut out and were expected by all to make it out of the group alongside the Argentines given their experience at the World Cup.
A bright start by Nigeria with a draw against Iran and a dramatic win over Bosnia puts the three times African Champion at an advantage of qualification ahead of their opponents but their 3-2 loss to Argentina despite their overwhelming performance on the night cast a dark shadow over their joy as they qualified to the next round ahead of Iran and Bosnia, where they were billed to face France.
Though the Eagles were not as prolific and impressive as they were against the Argentines, they however did put up a good fight against a free scoring France national team, they even scored a goal which was correctly ruled offside but their best was not good enough as two goals in the closing minutes of the encounter sent them packing from the football show piece.
Algeria: Grouped alongside Belgium, Algeria, Russia and Korea Republic, the north Africans were taught to have a small chance of moving unto the next stage given that their opponents are move experienced in the tournament but believe me they beat all odds.
Though the Desert Warriors lost narrowly to Belgium in their oppening match of the group, they went on to defeat Korea Republic 4-1 and played a 1-1 draw with Russia in the ;ast game of the group and qualified for the round of sixteen with four points second behind Belgium who won the group with seven points.
Algeria went on to face the biggest test of their World Cup experience as they were paired against Germany and believe me, they gave the Germans a run for their money by dragging the the Europeans to Extra time before losing two goals to one.
The Algerians finished the tournament in Brazil as the highest scoring African side at the tournament with six goals, they did not stop there, they also emerge as the only African team to have ever scored four goals against it's opponent in a single World Cup match. What a feet.
Although the Africa only produced two teams at the knockout stage of the ongoing World Cup in brazil, it is however not a bad outing for the teams, the spirit, the charisma, and brilliance of these teams and their individual players did not go unnoticed by football fans around the World, with players like Vincent Enyeama; ranked the second best goalkeeper at the tournament after the group stage, putting up a good show.
By my own analysis, i will rank the African teams as thus;
5th Cameroun
4th Ghana
3rd Cote d'voire
2nd Nigeria
1st Algeria
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