When it comes to African football, some people will describe it as chaos, madness, match-fixing and absurdity. Because of the lack of access to the World Cup, the Nigerian fan riots led to the death of african FOOTBALL association officials (official follow-up reports said it was death from cardiac arrest). In contrast, Senegalese fans using laserlights to illuminate Salah as a "green man" seems to have been a peaceful means.
These are just the tip of the iceberg, for a continent that has been born 149-0 and the 75-year-old grandfather is still playing in the professional league, African football is really crazy.
01. After losing a World Cup spot: Nigerian fans are a bit "murderous"
Nigeria, which has the reputation of "African Eagle", has always been a regular visitor to the World Cup, because of the deep "fate" with Messi, so many fans have been impressed. This time in the World Preliminary Round African Zone play-offs, they met the Ghana Narrow Road. The first leg was 0-0, and the Nigerians who returned home continued to launch wild attacks. Unfortunately, they have 62% possession and have scored only 1 goal in 14 shots.
In contrast, Ghana, who has been at a disadvantage, scored an away goal with a cold shot from Arsenal midfielder Thomas. In fact, they had 1 shot on target in the whole game, and even the shot was really positive, but the Nigerian goalkeeper made a mistake and let the ball fly from under his body into the bottom of the net.
In the end, the 1-1 score allowed Ghana to get more World Cup tickets with away goals. Nigerian fans at home could not accept such an outcome, with a massive influx of riots into the stadium after the game. Joseph Carbongo, an official who arranged doping checks by the African Football Association, died that night, and he was once rumored to have been trampled by fans, but the Nigerian Football Association stated that he died of cardiac arrest and was because of fan disturbances.
To quell the anger of the fans, the Nigerian Football Association subsequently decided to sack all members of the national team's coaching staff. The official announcement directly said: "The Football Association has withdrawn the 2-and-a-half-year contract it provided to the members of the coaching staff and immediately terminated the work of the entire technical department. ”
02. Salah is portrayed as a little green man: Senegalese fans are still friendly?
In another set of confrontations, Egypt and Senegal, who met in the African Cup of Nations final, met again. After the final, Salah promised the fans that he would go all out to win the World Cup regular place and take revenge on Mane and his team.
In the first leg of the match in Egypt, the home team won a 1-0 lead with a oolong ball made by Salah.
The second leg came to Senegal's home stadium, where the opponent scored from the start, equalizing on aggregate and the two teams eventually entered the penalty shootout. Salah stood in front of the twelve-yard line and felt the "green light of the sky".
Alive by a laser pen as a "little green man", Salah was clearly greatly affected, eventually flying a key penalty and burying Egypt's World Cup dream.
Watching their home team Senegal qualify for the World Cup, home fans are satisfied. Can't imagine if the ST Africa Cup winners were eliminated at their home stadium, would their fans be crazier than Nigerians?
But can the Egyptians really complain that their opponents are "victorious"? In fact, the last time they faced Senegal, when the other side won a penalty, they also became "green people". It can only be said that on the African continent, laser pens are a necessary item to support the home team, and every fan should carry it with them.
03. Behind the 149-0 score: 149 oolong balls
Don't think that football on the African continent, crazy is in the fans. Once the players here go crazy, that's really scary. On 31 October 2003, in the sixth round of the African island nation of Madagascar's domestic cup, the players were furious because the coach of the Olympic team Emine was sent off to the stands by the referee, as well as a series of controversial blows.
So the players of the Olympic Team Emine began to bombard their own goal non-stop. For a full 90 minutes of the game, the rival AS Adema was a crowd of spectators. The stubborn referee did not stop the game, and watched the Olympia Emine players complete a total of 149 oolong balls, creating the craziest 149-0 score in football history. This data was finally recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records and went down in history in one fell swoop.
04. 75-year-old grandfather: Stepped on the professional stage
The madness of African football doesn't stop there, they also have a super-hard record in football history: the 75-year-old grandfather played as a professional player.
After his 75th birthday, Ezaldin Bahad of Egypt made his debut in the third professional league in his country, becoming the world's oldest professional player on record.
Obviously, even at the age of 75, this old grandfather is still physically fit, and he is indeed a good hand. Even when the opponent faces him, he is somewhat scrupulous and does not dare to tackle the ball easily or fight closely. But even so, Grandpa was injured in the game and failed to play the full 90 minutes of the game.
05. Strange Africa Cup of Nations format: It took 56 years to understand that you can't crash with the World Cup
Speaking of fans, players, we also need to talk about the football managers of the African continent. Not only the FA officials who regard contracts as nothing, but even the African Football Federation is doing things at will. The first Africa was held in 1957, the second in 1959, the third in 1962, and the fourth in 1963.
From 1968 onwards, the African Football Federation decided to host the Africa Cup of Nations every 2 years, with qualifiers each time. As a result, every time it is either a collision with the European Championship or a world cup to grab fans, making Africans feel "why is our attention so low"? Until 2013, the African Football Federation suddenly realized that the African Cup of Nations would be held in an odd-numbered year, avoiding the Limelight of the World Cup and the European Championship.
In fact, the African Cup of Nations is held so frequently and intensively, nominally shouting the slogan of "for the development of African football", in essence, it is still for the sake of interests. In 2015, when the Ebola virus ravaged the continent, the host country, Morocco, wanted to give up, but the NON-FA union refused to give up the $11.7 million TV broadcast and sponsorship contract, and finally moved the competition to Equatorial Guinea.
Conclusion:
Although African football has not yet performed particularly prominently in the World Series, the 2018 "African Continental Champions Selection Team" reached the highest podium in football, proving that its players do not lack talent.
But because of the repeated absurdities, we can only say one thing: despite the madness of football in Africa, the football here is sometimes not pure enough.