To beat the best, you have to be at your best

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Missed goalscoring opportunities and a few perplexing decisions from some coaches have aided to Africa’s poor start to the 2018 World Cup, writes MARSHALL GOUTS.

Egypt:

Egypt coach Héctor Cúper left birthday boy and star-attraction, Mohamed Salah out of the Pharaohs’ opening clash against Uruguay ― a decision which ultimately backfired.

Africa’s most successful nation did well to thwart the danger of attacking duo Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, with the latter having the odd off-game.

The two teams appeared evenly-matched across the pitch for large parts of the game, barring in the final third ― where the Egyptians were evidently missing that explosiveness of Salah.

Now, while nobody knew if Salah was indeed fully fit to play or not, one cannot deny that his presence was much-needed in a game which could have easily been won by the North African country.

Speaking in the days leading up to the spectacle in Russia, Cuper strongly suggested that Salah would be fit to face Uruguay, but it did not happen.

The Liverpool star has since been declared fit and he is set to feature against host-nation Russia on Tuesday, 19 June.

Morocco

Talk about having a nightmare week!

Morocco lost the right to host the 2026 World Cup to the ‘united’ bid from Canada, the United States and Mexico in addition to losing their 2018 World Cup opener to Iran.

Sidenote, Team Melli as Iran are known, are ironically coached by none other than former Bafana Bafana, Portugal and Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz.

Herve Rernard’s side dominated proceedings from the offset, but failed to take advantage of their countless chances, resulting in a heartbreaking ending ― a 1-0 victory for Iran courtesy of a stoppage-time own-goal from Aziz Bouhaddouz.

Hopefully, Rernard and his troops will have learned from their matchday one exploits as things do not get any easier for Morocco, who have been grouped alongside power nations in Portugal and Spain.

Morocco’s next assignment sees them face Cristiano Ronaldo’s side on 20 June, at 2pm.

Nigeria:

If there was an award for most disappointing performance from matchday one, Nigeria would undoubtedly be contenders.

Following their highly-publicised return to the World Cup, which culminated in their Nike kit being sold out prior to the tournament, the Super Eagles failed to flatter where it mattered most.

An own-goal from Oghenekaro Etebo and a penalty from Real Madrid maestro Luka Modric sealed Nigeria’s fate in a 2-0 loss to Croatia, but questions can be raised about coach Gernat Rorh’s team selection.

His decision to start Jon Obi Mikel as a playmaker, while deploying Alex Iwobi on the wing was laughable to say the least.

The less said about benching Ahmed Musa and former Manchester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho, the better.

Africa’s hopes of garnering a victory on matchday one now lie solely on Senegal and Tunisia, who will face Colombia and traditional underachievers England on 18 and 19 June respectively.

Photo: Getty Images

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Marshall Gouts