One of the six African representatives for the 2010 World Cup will lift the trophy, predicts three-time African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele."We definitely will have one African team that goes far and when I say goes far I mean as far as raising the trophy. When I make this prediction people laugh, but I believe it.
"This is our best chance of lifting the trophy because if you study the history of the World Cup Brazil are the only team to win it outside their continent.
"When I told football officials that African champions Egypt would defeat world champions Italy during the FIFA Confederations Cup this year they all laughed.
"It happened and they had to admit I was right," the former Ghana midfield maestro, whose son Dede Ayew helped Ghana win the U-20 World Cup in Egypt, told AFP.
Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and host South Africa are representing the continent in next summer's event that is being staged for the first time in Africa.
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"Look at Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria ... these teams are growing so fast."
Pele joins another African football legend George Weah of Liberia who has high hopes that Africa is destined to end its World Cup drought by winning the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Since the tournament was introduced some 79 years ago it has been an all Europe-South America dominance.Since Cameroon reached the 1990 quarter-finals in Italy and Senegal repeating same feat 12 years later in South Korea no African country had broken that record. Ghana came close when it was knocked out in the Round 16 stages in Germany 2006.
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Africa will surely win the World Cup in 2010, which will be held in South Africa. Home of Africa....
its is believed that we are playing home and will not let any country take food out of our mouth as the adage goes.....
three countries will go for quarter finals and two will go for the semi finals, then the winner in Africa will show off..... just like the way they did in Egypt...
The prediction that one african team will lift the 2010 world cup is very possible, but is not a gaurantee.It is possible because the weather condition and the african spectators support will all be in this team's favor. Also, the individual soccer standard of the African player has equalled or surpass that of their counterparts in other continents. It is not a guarantee because Brazil won the world cup of 2002 when it was hosted in Japan-South Korea, which venue was away from the continent of America. Before the 2002 world cup tournament, Uruquay, Brazil, Germany, England, France, Argentina and Italy won the cup at different times when it was hosted in their respective continents. Any african team aspiring to be the world cup soccer champions should have a positive mindset of looking at themselves as the best team in the world rather than puting up inferiority complex atitude.In this regard, can Ghana do this? Yes, the Ghana National team can do this. Their impressive recent performance in Eygpt in the under 21 world cup final in which they won, is a testimony that they can put up superiority complex atitude and win in African soil. Also, this achievement should serve as a propelling force to reach them to the final and ultimately win the 2010 soccer world cup.