Dario Bonetti is Zambia's new coach

A team littered with players successful in Africa and others making headway in Europe, such as Jacob Mulenga of Utrecht and Jonas Sakuwaha at Lorient, Zambia’s is a squad with the potential to greatly enhance the reputation of football in the country over the course of the next five to ten years.

This development will, following yesterday’s announcement from the Zambian FA, now be overseen by a new coach, the former Italy international Dario Bonetti.

Where other African nations have rushed into panicked appointments of “big name” European coaches (Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire being two of the guiltiest parties), Zambia’s recruitment strategy comes across as a far more pragmatic move, a workable blueprint for the years to come having been clearly set out and – at least from the outside looking in – thoroughly planned.

Bonetti, a coach with experience at Dundee, Potenza and Dinamo Bucharest amongst others, has been given an initial two-year deal and a brief to fully realise the young talent at his disposal within that time-frame. All being well, the Italian will see the Chipolopolo through to the conclusion of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, by which time the Zambian FA have stated that they want their team to be amongst the top 10 African sides in the FIFA rankings. Currently sitting 14th in the CAF standings, it is an achievable goal but the pressure to increase the team’s rate of development is most certainly on.

That said, at 48, Bonetti is a relatively young coach and will be eager to prove himself in the complex and pressurised world of international management. He is also unlikely to approach the job with the laissez-faire attitudes Sven Goran-Eriksson and Lars Lagerback were accused of adopting, whilst in charge of the aforementioned Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria respectively, during the World Cup. This is, judging by his comments to the media, a job that Bonetti is relishing and a project and vision to which he is fully committed.

“We have great talent and I think it’s a wonderful challenge for me,” Bonetti said at his unveiling.  ”I chose this work because I like the pressure and my life has been full of that because I played for a long time – pressure is part of my life”

Zambia are a rising force in the African game

The Italian’s predecessor – the Frenchman Herve Renard, who quit in March to take up a position with Angola – did much to revive the standing of Zambian football within Africa and it is now down to Bonetti to take the team on to the next level.

Zambia could be a real force to be reckoned with in 2012, but first they must negotiate qualification by overcoming Mozambique, Libya and the Comoros, a feat that should be comfortably attainable for Bonetti and his charges.

Watching the potential evolution of the Italian’s players into a more mature, cohesive and tactically intelligent side over the coming years is a truly fascinating prospect. It may be a cliché to say it, but the sky’s the limit for the Chipolopolo.

Uruguay will contest their first World Cup semi final since 1970 on Tuesday, but the way they’ve achieved it will not be one of the greatest footballing memories for a nation that’s won the World Cup twice. Ghana were bidding to make history themselves; a win tonight would have seen them become the first African nation to have ever appeared in a semi final, after joining Cameroon and Senegal as the only three African nations to have reached the quarters.

The Uruguayans began the match brightly, exerting control over their African counterparts in the opening moments, but twice denied by Ghana keeper, Richard Kingson, as they sought to capitalise. John Mensah deflected a corner towards goal, with Kingson pulling off a good reaction save, but his second, denying the in form Suarez with his fingertips,was even better.

After the opening exchanges, Ghana came into the match a little more.  As half time approached, they were beginning to get the upper hand. On the half hour, Isaac Vorsah headed a corner wide, with Gyan following up with his own miss, after being fed through by Kevin Prince Boateng.

On 38 minutes, Diego Lugano had to leave the field of play with an injury, adding to the headache caused by the absence if his regular partner, Diego Godin.

Muntari celebrates a goal even he must not have expected to score

With the teams well balanced, it looked likely that the scores would be level at the half way mark. For once,Sulley Muntari had other ideas.  More accurately, he could be described as being devoid of options and deciding to trust to luck. After receiving a pass around 40 yards out and nothing doing in front of him, he decided to hit a hopeful left footed shot towards goal. It would have been a routine shot for the Uruguayan keeper, Federico Muslera, to deal with, if only Asamoah Gyan had not been in his line of vision.

Seeing the ball hurtling towards him, Gyan ducked out of the way at exactly the right moment. Muslera was left with egg on his face as the ball sailed into his bottom left corner, despite a despairing dive. To be fair to the lad, he would not have seen it until very late and, despite the lack of real pace on the shot, he simply wasn’t in a good enough position to be able to reach it in time.

The South Americans came out in search of an equaliser in the second half and this helped to open the game up somewhat. Palermo striker, Edinson Cavani, felt hard done by when his penalty appeals were turned down but Diego Forlan, the man of the moment, decided not to dwell on it.  In the 55th minute, Uruguay were awarded a free kick around 20 yards,to the left of goal. Awaiting the referee’s whistle, Forlan only had one thing in his mind; going for goal.

Kingson can't keep out Forlan's free kick

Despite seeming well positioned, Kingson appeared to misjudge the flight of the incoming ball. Having sidestepped to the right, he could only watch as the looped shot sailed over his outstretched fingertips into the net. Forlan dispatched the free kick well, but the shot was not into the corner.  In fact it was little more than a yard to the right of centre. I am sure that Kingson will be watching the replay back tonight, wondering how he managed to let the ball slip by him.

Both sides had opportunities as the game progressed with Ghana looking to strike on the break and Suarez unable to finish on two occasions for the South Americans. Despite the best efforts of both sides, the score remained level until the final whistle blew and, for the second time in the tournament, extra time was upon us.

In typical fashion, the added 30 minutes was a little nervier than the football in regulation, with both sides acutely aware of what was at stake. Ghana looked the more likely team to score, as Gyan saw an effort blocked by Andreas Scotti in the first half of extra time. In the second half, Ghana once more threatened and will feel that they should have wrapped things up in the dying moments.

After Muslera had flapped at a header into the box, Suarez was on the line to block an effort from Ghanaian substitute, Dominic Adiyiah. When Adiyiah struck again, Suarez was once more the man to get in the way, this time deliberately punching the ball away from his own goal to deny what would surely have been the winning goal. Predictably, a penalty was awarded and Suarez was dismissed from the field of play.

Already the knives are out across various message boards, with Suarez being branded a cheat, but if you watch the replay again, you might just notice that Adiyiah appears to be in an offside position when the ball is headed towards the onrushing Muslera. Adiyiah is clearly interfering with play, as he strikes a shot at goal as soon as the ball falls towards the ground. Regardless of whether Suarez denied Ghana a goal, the linesman should, in my opinion, have flagged for offside.

Gyan looks to the sky after his penalty miss, apparently unaware that the Gods have already deserted him

From the resulting penalty, Asamoah Gyan stepped up to send his team into the semi final of the World Cup, only to strike the ball against the cross bar with the final kick of the game. As a result, the game was to be decided on penalties. Gyan courageously stepped up to take Ghana’s first, confidently stroking it into the top right hand corner to level the scores, following Forlan’s opening strike.

Uruguay number 6, Mauricio Victorino, placed the ball into the top left corner to make the score 2-1, with Stephen Appiah placing the ball in almost exactly the same place for Ghana to level the scores once more. Uruguay’s third effort from Scotti was straight down the middle, whilst Ghana captain, John Mensah, was the first to miss, Muslera saving Mensah’s weak penalty to his left.

Maximiliano Pereira followed up by blasting way over the bar, failing to capitalise on the good work of Muslera, before his goalkeeper saved once more down to his left from another weak Ghanaian effort, this time from Adiyiah. 33-year-old journeyman, Sebastien Abreu, stepped up with the chance to put his team through to the semi final to face Holland, and cheekily chipped the ball down the centre.

Sebastien Abreu seals victory for La Celeste

There will inevitably be much debate that comes out of the decisions made by the officials in this match; in fact, it has already started. Did Suarez cheat? Of course he did! Would I have done the same? Of course I would! Whatever people think of him, I am sure he won’t mind.

Of course some players will always choose to play for another national team with a bigger reputation. Besides, you can always rely on the schedule of the African qualifications to force most of them to choose between their country and a successful club career. But there are a couple of steps you can take to make things even easier.

1. Make a big mess out of a trip to a decisive away game

Unless they live in Portugal, getting to Cape Verde is already a drawn-out process for most people. The flights from Europe are few, the local company, TACV, is (in)famous for its delays, and the long trip usually includes a stop-over in Canary Islands.

If that’s not enough, you can always turn a decisive away game into a logistical nightmare. On October 2008, the players were gathered in Portugal before a game in Tanzania. Cape Verde needed to win by two goals in order to squeeze into the final stage of the qualification for the 2012 World Cup.

The plan was simples: a short hop to London and then a direct flight to Dodoma, with two days to focus for the match. But there was a problem on the trip from Lisbon to the UK and the squad missed the plane to Tanzania. After a night in a hotel, they found a far-from-ideal solution.

A first group flew to Kenya and the other to Qatar. When the squad was finally reunited in Tanzania, there were just three hours left before the game. Cape Verde lost 1-3.

And they got their first “drop-out”. Mickael Tavares, a midfielder with Senegalese and Cape Verdean nationality, had made some huge strides since signing for Slavia Prague and was called up for the first time. He flew to London to catch up with the team. And he waited for hours before going back home. Tavares refused the next call-up and, last March, made his debut for Senegal.

2. Forget to pay your manager during almost a year

At the end of 2006, the Cape-Verdian Football Federation was tricked by a Brazilian sports agent into hiring Ricardo Rocha as the national manager. Everyone thought he was the famous international central defender, World Cup champion in 1994. But it was somebody else, who happened to have the same name. Four games later, Ricardo Rocha was back to Brazil.

One of his deputies, the young Portuguese João de Deus, took over. Results picked up, but, even more important than that, there was finally a plan for the grass-roots development of football in Cape Verde. The under-21 and under-18 national teams were created.

And this summer Cape Verde’s young guns defeated Portugal to win the football tournament at the Lusophony Games. And a future star was born. Rody was called up by João de Deus when he was only 16. Less then two years later, he was snapped up by FC Porto.

How do you reward these accomplishments? João de Deus’ wages are paid by a sponsor, one of Cape Verde richest entrepreneurs. With the economic crisis, he stopped forking out the money in January. For ten months, the Portuguese coach kept working, without a word to the media about what was happening. The news only popped up last month, when he finally decided to cut his losses, now up to more than 90.000 euros, and went back to Portugal.

I had just arrived in Cape Verde when the latter was called up for the Portugal Under-21 squad. The outrage reached a surprising level, especially in the online fan forums. Working as a journalist, I routinely wrote articles about his eye-catching performances for Benfica. For each and every one of those, I would get several negatives comments. Some went as far as suggesting that I should stop writing about Nélson, because “he is no longer a Cape Verdean”.

The full back is, I suppose, a special case, because, out of the four mentioned, only Nélson was born in Cape Verde. In fact, “Netcha”, as he is nicknamed in his home-island, Sal, moved to Portugal when he was already 17 years old, to pursue a career as a professional player. But the resentment remains towards all the others, even if at a lower level.

Due to chronic droughts and famines, there are nowadays more Cape Verdeans living abroad than in the archipelago. But, from a political perspective, the country has maintained a somewhat uneasy relationship with its diaspora. Even Amílcar Cabral, who led Cape Verde (and Guinea-Bissau) to independence, stated that “The escapist dream, the desire to leave, cannot remain the only theme. The dream must be different… No longer a desire to depart but to create a new land inside our land.”

Only in 1997 did the country fully recognized the right to hold a double nationality. But a myth remained, with an unmistakable touch of nationalism: a Cape Verdean will always be (and feel) Cape-Verdean, wherever he is in the world.

So, if it’s acceptable to live, work, marry in Portugal and to even gain the nationality, why is it so unacceptable to play for the Portuguese football team?

Again, it’s all about pure and simple nationalism. In modern times, 11 players replace the army and a football march becomes a war. When the game is over, the winner takes home the biggest reward of all: pride. The 18-year-old who runs away from the army is called a deserter. The player who refuses to play for the national team is called a traitor.

In the end, it’s still ironic that so much can be said against “Netcha”, nowadays a Second Division full back, and nobody talks about another Cape Verdean, Nelson Évora. After all, he is only the current triple jump Olympic champion, who was chosen, for the third year in a row, as Portugal’s top athlete.