Looking at Facilities, Is Africa Taking Its Soccer Seriously?

South Africa's Bafana Bafana lost to Rwanda on Tuesday, November 21, on a pitch that was so bad that the game should have been called off.

Africa has long been playing a game of catch-up with the rest of the world in terms of the quality of football, opines Dylan Bettencourt in Scrolla. There are many factors why the northern hemisphere teams outperform the rest of the world such as money, development, and resources but they also hold themselves to a certain standard. The conditions in the Bafana game would've led to the game being called off in dozens of other nations - but in Africa it is accepted, says Bettencourt.

While Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos accepts the 2-0 defeat, he is calling for stricter Fifa regulations regarding the selection of stadiums for such significant matches. "We're talking about professional football. And this pitch is not professional. Plus, you don't make your opponent travel three hours from an airport to their destination," Broos told journalists. "I will not say it's the reason we lost the game. Not at all. But those things have to change. We're in 2023," he added.

Other African countries that played qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup include: Botswana 1-0 Guinea (Group G); Ethiopia 0-3 Burkina Faso (Group A); Lesotho 0-0 Benin (Group C); Malawi 0-1 Tunisia (Group H); Rwanda 2-0 South Africa (Group C); Somalia 0-1 Uganda; Eswatini 0-2 Cape Verde (Group D); Comoros 1-0 Ghana (Group I).