sports show: Mr. Rohr, the Africa Cup of Nations was rocked by the spectator tragedy on the fringes of the game between Cameroon and Comoros. As an Africa insider, have you received more information about the accident?
Gernot Rohr: No, I didn’t get any more information either. It’s tragic that it happened and it casts a dark shadow over the tournament.
sports show: With eight dead and 38 injured in the mass panic, it’s hard to look at the sporting side. If we still dare: how do you rate the sporting level of the tournament so far?
Pipe: It started slowly, in the first part of the preliminary round we didn’t see many goals. It then got better once the players and coaches got to work together for a while. The preparation of the teams for the tournament was very short.
sports show: The general development can also be observed in African football: the game is getting faster and more intense. And tactically and technically more perfect?
Pipe: Yes, that’s basically the case, but now at the tournament in Cameroon you can’t see too much of that. Which is due to the enormous heat. At 2 or 5 p.m. it’s so hot there that pressing and counter-pressing just aren’t possible the way we see it in Europe, for example.
sports show: Which teams have impressed the most so far?
Pipe: Hosts Cameroon are doing a good tournament, they will certainly go far with Bundesliga player Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Nigeria was disappointing – losing to a weakened Tunisia in the round of 16 came as a surprise. Although Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin played a very good tournament. You could see his potential, but there was still a lack of coordination with the team – he hasn’t been there very long.
Basically, it could be seen that the classic point providers no longer existed. The smaller nations have also caught up enormously in African football. I’m curious to see how far Burkina Faso, who have played very well so far, will go. I am enthusiastic about Gambia. A team without a big name, excellently set up by coach Tom Saintfiet and playing strong counter-attacking football. A real team. It’s fun to watch them.
sports show: The World Cup is on the agenda in Qatar at the end of 2022. What role will African teams be able to play there?
Pipe: As before, only five teams from Africa will be allowed to start, which is a pity. The continent deserved more starting places. The chances will be the same as in previous tournaments. You have outsider opportunities. An advantage could be that it is still very warm in Qatar even in November. The African players feel comfortable there.
sports show: Have African teams closed the distance to the top teams in the world? After all, some of their stars have been playing in Europe for a long time now.
Pipe: No not true. Organization still remains a major problem in African countries. There are deficits compared to European teams, for example. I know this from my own experience in Nigeria. There is a lack of professionalism, which is important for such a long tournament.
Also, and this is just the truth, African teams aren’t as consistently filled with top players as South American or European teams. Their players are all under contract with big clubs that train and play at Champions League level week after week.
In the best African teams, there are at most two or three players who bring this class with them. And in the end, the class of the players decides at a World Cup tournament. The qualitative deficits cannot be compensated for in the long run, even with the best team spirit.
The conversation was conducted by Olaf Jansen
Status: 01/28/2022, 07:15