Blatter correctly identifies a key problem in African football

There is a school of thought in football punditry and football fandom that feels as if everything Sepp Blatter does is a veiled insult or threat to British (read English) football.

He commits to introducing goal-line technology after it benefits England in Euro 2012? Why didn’t he do it after World Cup 2010 when England suffered at the hands of it?

He criticises the number of foreign players in club teams? Surely a veiled insult towards the top Premier League clubs?

He awards the World Cup in 2018 to Russia following investigations by the British press into corruption at FIFA in the weeks leading up to the vote?…Yeah…fair point on that one.

Anywho, FIFA head honcho and part-time Churchill dog impersonator Blatter has said that African teams will not win the World Cup until they place their faith in their homegrown coaches. Cue ‘Little Englander’ point of view where it’s a subtle hint towards England for their reliance in the past on foreign coaches

Whatever. The Swiss said: “A coach must have a feeling for the heart and soul of his players – look at Nigeria for instance. The players may be in Europe but the coach must understand, deeply, the mentality of the players. How can someone from outside do this?”

Aside from the rather patronising and mildly racist tone, he has something of a point despite it being expressed poorly. Either that or I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Many countries in African football tend to employ homegrown coaches in the qualifying stages of major tournaments and then panic, employ usually French or Balkan coaches on six month contracts for major tournaments and then go back to another homegrown coach again for the next qualifying campaign.

This does not breed consistency or help tactical evolution in teams for them to grow together. It smacks of something of a panic move and happens very often. It is terribly short termist as it does not give the national teams adequate preparation time for tournament football as the plans of the previous coach are thrown aside.

There are a wealth of problems in African football including financial corruption at the governing level, the lack of youth facilities and the hawking of talented teenagers across Europe and there is no one silver bullet to help solve the problem and ensure the talent in African national teams results in corresponding success but Blatter has identified a key problem, albeit not particularly elegantly or humbly.