Two of the five African representatives are now out of the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil.
After Cameroon, Cote’Ivoire was the second African country to be eliminated from ongoing 20th edition of the World Cup in Brazil. However the circumstances of the defeat of the Elephants were different from that on the Lions in that while the Lions were eliminated even before the last group game, Cote d’Ivoire lost their dream of sailing through to the second round of the tournament barely three seconds to the final blast of the whistle in their last group game against Greece. Greece obtained a controversial injury time penalty to snatch qualification from Cote d’Ivoire.
Cote d’Ivoire began the day as second in the table and, with Colombia beating Japan 4-1 in the other Group C match; they needed only a point to become the first African side to qualify for the second phase in this year's competition. However, Greece, who offered little as an attacking threat in the second half, were given an opportunity to grab the winner when referee Christian Lescano pointed to the spot, despite strong Ivorian protests.
They were unhappy that Samaras, who kicked the turf, had fallen to the ground, but the official gave the decision and Samaras kept his composure to shoot past goalkeeper Boubacar Barry of Cote d’Ivoire. Soon after their elimination from the tournament was confirmed, Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi resigned.
Cote d’Ivoire’s elimination raises questions about the real ambition of African teams in the tournament. It is aching that Cote d’Ivoire could not score a second goal or conserve the parity when they had complete ascendancy during the second half of the encounter though the substitutions made by Lamouchi cast doubts on their determination to win.
With Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire now butted out of the competition, Africa’s hope now lies on the three remaining representatives; Nigeria, Algeria and Ghana. Of the three remaining survivors, Nigeria stands the best chance of qualifying owing that it will need a victory for Iran and defeat for Nigeria for the Super Eagles to ebb out. Ghana and Algeria absolutely need victories.
