African beach soccer on the up
18 March 2008
The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifier taking place in Durban next week has a vastly different feel to the previous two qualifying tournaments, as the sport goes into its third year of organised competition in Africa.
At last year's Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in Rio, Senegal and Nigeria shocked the world by topping their respective groups with some massive giant-killing victories before bowing out in the quarterfinals.
Both teams have signalled their intention of dominating next week's action, and have sent their national beach soccer squads away on month-long camps to prepare for the event.
World class tournaments and players
The two African representatives may have fallen short of winning any medals in Brazil, but they showed the world beach soccer community that Africa can produce world-class tournaments and players - something that will hopefully not be lost on Fifa when the decision on the venue for
the Beach Soccer World Cup 2011 is announced.
Next week, the third chapter in the story of African beach soccer will be written when the third qualifier to be held in Durban gets under way at the new, enlarged 4 300-seater stadium on New Beach.
Senegal and Nigeria will be the two marked teams, and they may just find it tough shouldering the pressure of being the favourites every time they step onto the sandy pitch; but there is no way they can be regarded as anything but favourites.
2007 World Cup
At the 2007 World Cup finals in Rio, Senegal opened their account with a low-key 4-1 win over Japan, and followed that up with an emphatic 5-2 win over highly-regarded Uruguay. Things got tougher in the final pool game when the West Africans needed extra time to get past the skilful Italians, after the teams were level at 5-5 at the end of full time.
Nigeria also started strongly with a shock 5-3 win over powerhouse Argentina. It got
even better in their next match when the Africans produced the upset of the tournament. They scraped home on penalties over defending champions France, before, surprisingly, needing extra time to win their final match against the United Arab Emirates.
In the quarterfinals, Nigeria lost to Uruguay and Senegal were beaten by France. However, the two teams had made the world sit up and take notice.
Key to success
The key to Nigeria's success was the fact that they never had one standout star. Their gameplan was built around a team effort with defenders Ogbonnaya Okemmiri and Uga Okpara sharing the goal-scoring duties with striker Isiaka Olawale.
Their multi-pronged attack meant they were a difficult side to defend against and the top teams struggled to contain the West African onslaught.
Senegal, on the other hand, used Pape Koupaki as their target man up front and he was hugely effective with seven goals from his four matches on
the beaches of Rio.
South African chances
Next week, Senegal will be the favourites to top Group A. For South Africa, who have gone into the previous two tournaments as group favourites, the tag of underdog may give the home side a chance to prepare quietly and without fanfare.
The final group match between Egypt and South Africa will probably decide who grabs the second playoff spot from the group, although Mozambique will have other ideas.
In Group B, Nigeria will have to be at their best to overcome Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon, while Cape Verde should find the going too tough.
The top two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals, with the two teams that progress to the final earning qualification for the World Cup finals in Marseilles in July.
African Beach Soccer Qualifiers
When the African Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers were first held in Durban in 2006, it was a vast step
into the unknown with organisers, players and official not sure what to expect.
This year, however, players and team officials can be confident they are going to be part of slick, well-organised show, while the organisers can bank on the players producing some world-class beach soccer guaranteed to entertain the spectators packed into the purpose-built stadium.
In 2006, G3 Lifestyle Management Network, the South African company tasked by Fifa with running beach soccer tournaments in South Africa, put together a tournament of such high standard that it was rated as one of the best organised tournaments of the year by Fifa.
And the players played their part on the pitch, with the 2006 qualifiers producing a display of raw skill and enthusiasm that had the huge crowds giving the fledgling sport a massive thumbs-up.
The following year, in 2007, there was a step forward in every aspect. G3 once again exceeded Fifa's expectations, while, on the pitch, Senegal and
Nigeria emerged from a thrilling tournament to qualify for the World Cup finals in Rio.
Grown up quickly
In short, beach soccer in Africa has grown up quickly, and spectators have been the winners, with teams and organisers proving they are both among the best in the world.
The pool matches (four each day) start at 11:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (March 25-27), with Friday a rest day.
The semi-finals on Saturday, 29 March, start at 12:45, with the playoff for third and fourth on Sunday, 30 March, kicking off at 12:45. It will be followed immediately afterwards by the final.
Source: Gameplan Media
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