No Cosafa team at 2014 World Cup

The Flames 2-0 defeat in Nigeria effectively means there will be no Cosafa team at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, a development that confirms southern Africa’s plummeting football standards.

Going into the weekend’s decisive first-round qualifiers, the Flames, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa clutched to some remote hope of advancing into the final qualification play-offs for the Africa zone.

But needing nothing short of a win in Group D, Zambia lost 2-1 in Ghana. As for Malawi, all went up in smoke after Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses nailed the Flames at UJ Usuene Stadium in Calabar.

The loss came hours after South Africa’s 4-1 thumping of Botswana failed to produce any practical winner. Bafana Bafana were counted out by ultimate Group A leaders Ethiopia who came from behind to beat Central African Republic 2-1.

To qualify, Botswana needed to beat South Africa and hope that their group leaders Ethiopia lose in Central Africa Republic. Similarly, Bafana Bafana would have advanced if Ethiopia lost, but that never happened.

Botswana football analyst Mtho Dube said unless Cosafa exported more players to major European leagues, success would be elusive. He further attributed the low representation to the fact that agents in the region “are yet to penetrate the big leagues”.

“Our West African counterparts have players turning out for big clubs in Europe, some even go at a young age and are well developed. Look at the Cote d’Ivoire team; all those guys play at the top level. So, when they play your Botswana, they are already miles ahead,” Dube noted.

Going into the final two-legged World Cup qualification play-offs, it means East Africa has some consolation in one team, Ethiopia.