I missed entering @VBrich’s prediction tournament for the African Cup of Nations this year. the cup which happens every two years, unless they decide to have it every year (like next year.) Given this lack of competition i have been following like the competition loosely.
Performance of the tournament so far has come for Sudan.
a country which has been war torn for decades, fighting with itself and its neighbours, currently existing under a Military Coup d’état. Worse still they ware ranked at 120 in the world. (That’s not good) Earlier this week, they qualified out of the group. Beating Angola (85 in the world) and Burkina Faso (66 in the world).
The team are young (average squad age of 23. Everyone of the players run currently play their football in Sudan. The Sudan national football league is a good league. They are playing together as a team, growing together as a team, working to make the team successful again.
Could this be the model for the Scottish national football team to follow.
Risk it all by picking a young team.
Sticking with them for 5-10 years.
Make it a requirement to be playing in the Scottish league to play for Scotland.
success
We couldn’t.
As fans we demand success, why else do so many thousand people from Scotland, Ireland & England travel to Ibrox/Parkhead every week. Success can be bought for a £600 season ticket.
But success is kind hollow in this way. Without quality competition sporting success is, well, meaningless.
I guess that’s why I fell out of love with big team football. Yeah sure i keep up to date, but I have no reason logically to support a big team. I need a small team.
the last three football games I went to within Scotland were Partick Thistle and Ross County.
fame
The appealing part of the Sudan story is the ‘journey’. Journey is an metaphor familiar to everyone who watches talent shows on the TV. Paul Potts or Susan Boyle probably being the best examples. I wonder about the story of David Sneddon or Michelle McManus. given the journey they went on, then were dropped. the journey was not enough. Constant ongoing success was all we were interested in.
Maybe journey isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
But with stories like that of Sudan this year, football maybe redeemed.
oh and heres a video of why we watch African football
