African teams not necessarily enjoying home advantage during 1st World Cup on continent

Not all African teams using home advantage

JOHANNESBURG — Early on, home advantage was not much of an edge for African teams at the first World Cup played on the continent.

The six teams managed one win among them — by Ghana over Serbia — and players and coaches are split on whether the enthusiasm of expectant fans helps or simply adds pressure.

“I think the crowds can help the team,” Ghana defender John Pantsil said. “We need to just play normal football, be strong on the pitch and go for wins. But with the World Cup in Africa, there is pressure on all six teams that are there representing Africa.”

Ghana flourished in its opener, edging Serbia 1-0 despite the absence of star midfielder Michael Essien, out for the tournament with a left knee injury. Ivory Coast had the best of a 0-0 draw with third-ranked Portugal.

Host South Africa, one of the lowest-ranked teams at the World Cup, performed encouragingly under coach Carlos Alberto Parreira for a 1-1 draw with Mexico. Then it was routed 3-0 by Uruguay in its second match.

Cameroon, Algeria and Nigeria stumbled to 1-0 defeats.

Only Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002), which is absent this time around, have represented Africa in the quarterfinals of a World Cup. Hopes on the continent were raised as soon as South Africa was awarded the right to host the tournament. The theory was that helpful conditions and a more familiar culture could assist one of this year’s entrants to at least match that feat.

But the African players know it’s not that simple.

“Although it’s South Africa, it’s their winter,” Nigeria midfielder Dickson Etuhu said. “We don’t think we have any advantages.”

Pantsil said his team’s improvement lately is simply because of lessons learned from the experience of 2006, when, buoyed by fanatical support, players tried to impress too much and forgot their coach’s instructions.

Four years ago, Ghana recovered from an opening loss to eventual champion Italy to advance from a tough group and set up a meeting with Brazil in the second round. Confidence was high following victories over the Czech Republic and United States, and Ghana’s fans thought the team could beat a non-vintage Brazil team.

But Ghana’s vigorous attack left space for the five-time world champions to exploit and the Africans went home with a 3-0 defeat.

“Our problem against Brazil was overconfidence,” Pantsil said. “We wanted to do it so much and inexperience hurt the team. Now we have that experience because we have been there before. We are going to keep our heads, focus, and we will have to make sure we do the right thing.

“Being overconfident sometimes can be dangerous. It makes it hard to concentrate and to keep the team shape and to do what the manager wants you to do.”

Ghana showed signs of having learned its lessons in the win over Serbia, denying opponents space while not panicking when attacks failed to yield a goal until an 85th-minute penalty kick.

Ivory Coast also seemed to have recognized the value of staying organized despite supporters urging them to attack in waves.

Ivorian fans achieved the seemingly impossible by drowning out the local vuvuzelas in Port Elizabeth with their drums, and the team obeyed coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to defend in numbers and deny Portugal opportunities.

Ivory Coast hired the former England coach after slumping at this year’s African Cup of Nations. The Swede said his players definitely feel a responsibility to their fans.

“They feel the pressure because I don’t think the fans in Ivory Coast were very happy after the African Cup,” Eriksson said. “They have many big players and the pressure is on them to win.”

Cameroon, though, struggled.

The first African nation to make it to the World Cup quarterfinals, Cameroon lost 1-0 to Japan in Bloemfontein despite the presence of star striker Samuel Eto’o.

“We were too nervous in the first half. We lost many, many balls because we were nervous,” Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen said. “They were not playing to their best of their ability and we were not able to release our potential.”

Algeria looked short of confidence and ideas in losing 1-0 to unheralded Slovenia, the smallest country at this World Cup.

Nigeria was never expected to handle two-time champion Argentina in its opening Group B match, so the Super Eagles can look at a 1-0 loss without embarrassment. Matches against Greece and South Korea could still take Nigeria through to the next round for the third time.

South Africa’s Group A draw with Mexico felt a bit like a defeat after a late equalizer by the Mexicans, but its players see nothing but good times ahead. Particularly with home fans backing them noisily.

“I don’t see us failing,” midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi said. “A lot is expected from us. We are going to do our best and hopefully we’re going to go to the next round, the quarterfinals and the semifinals.”