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KENYA
NIGERIA
Better
In an interview with Reuters on Friday Nyantaki said that despite some disappointing World Cup performances in
recent finals, the top African teams
were now on a par with many European ones. At the last World Cup in South Africa, Ghana was the only African country that got pass the group stages. They missed out of the semi-final to Uruguay through penalty.
-Based on the overall performances of African teams in recent years in many competitions, Africa really deserves more, Nyantakyi said.
-In the 2006 World Cup an African team was the only one from Asia, Africa, and North and Central America to make it to the second round. Only Ghana did that, he said.
-Many European teams continually fail to get beyond the first phase of the competition. Africa has 52 countries, Europe has 53 countries and Europe normally has 14 to 16 teams in the finals and we should get at least half of that number, he added.
Tilted
European nations will comprise 13 of the 32 sides at next year's World Cup in Brazil while Africa will have five teams.
-I think we should have about eight teams by now because our teams have excelled in other competitions like the Olympic Games and FIFA junior titles, Nyantakyi said.
-Obviously 2014 is too soon, but we should look at Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. As Africans we need to thank FIFA for increasing our allocation from one to two, to three to five. But now the time has come to pressure FIFA for more, he said.
