African Teams - Who will be The Continent's Standard Bearer?

This is the first of a series of posts about African teams at the first African World Cup. Every 4 years, an African team--seemingly at random--bursts through unexpectedly to the later stages of the competition, reminding everyone that, like South Americans, uber-talented African players are everywhere on the pro teams in Europe.

A brief history of Africa's flirtation with World Cup power: last time around, at the 2006 WC, Ghana made it out of the group of death against eventual champions Italy, a strong USA team and a Czech team that had made the semis of the Euro tournament only two year prior. Had they not faced Brazil in their first knockout game, the Michael Essien-powered Ghana looked like they had a deepish run in them.

Going back another 4 years, Africa gave the world a spectacle with the Djembe drumming crowds, the dancing players and the bright yellow colors of Senegal's surprising run to the Quarter Finals. In the very first match of the World Cup, Senegal played the reigning World Cup and European Champions France and beat their former colonial masters. The game proved disastrous for France, breaking their resolve early despite fielding a team of legends in their prime (Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lillian Thuram). France crashed out bottom of their opening group and Senegal advanced to the Quarter Finals, beating Sweden along the way.

Just to round out our review, let us not forget the 1994 and 1998 Super Eagles of Nigeria, who made it to the knockout rounds both times. Finally, just because 20 years have passed, we mustn't overlook the original African powerhouse team of Cameroon in 1990. They beat the defending world champs and eventual runners up Argentina before advancing to the quarter finals.

The big question then for 2010, the first World Cup held on African soil is who will it be this year, and how far can they go?

Up Next: Assessing the African teams and their chances...