From AFCON 2021 victorious organisation to the outstanding performance of football players on the pitch to Qatar 2022 world cup, the   future is bright for a sub  Saharan or West African team to be crowned winner in Qatar.

 

The lethargic state in which the war in Ukraine, COVID, the cost of living crisis has plunged the planet, almost stole the world’s joie de vivre. 

But the spectacular AFCON 2021 sport event, hosted in Cameroon (from January the 9^th  to February the  6^th  2022) and the 2022 football World Cup edition in Qatar, kicking off today on November the 20^th 2022 came just on time, like magic wands, that put on hold  racial  stereotypes,  social etiquette , religious feuds,  political differences,  relationship issues… to  reunite  and entertain humans  as a whole from  all the countries in the world .

 

According to statistics, “Impressions across all channels was almost 950 million, more than 22 million on Twitter only. The YouTube channel has hit the 1 million subscriber milestone, adding more than 350,000 new subscribers and 3 million hours of watch time from opening to final. 300 million video views.”

 

Not to mention The BBC broadcasted 10 games live, including two quarter-finals, both semis and the final.

Sky Sports also joined the crew by showing every match in Cameroon, with IN SPORT, Canal+ and SuperSport among those offering coverage across Africa.

The BBC Sport website was also keeping the world up to date during the tournament, englobing news and daily round-ups of matches, with live text coverage from the quarter-finals to the final.

 

 

The 22nd quadrennial international World Cup competition of men’s football starts today.

The championshipis contested by the senior national teams of the member associations of FIFA: For the occasion, our editorial may have chosen to wear The Cameroon National Team wear.

 

This is to pay tribute, to honour and congratulate The country to have recently hosted an unprecedented African Football Cup   prior to Qatar football world cup 2022: Where Senegal was crowned the winner and Cameroon the third. 

 

As a reminder, The Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the largest sporting event in Africa and the third largest football competition in the world after the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship.

Total Energies is the title sponsor of the tournament as part of its eight-year partnership agreement with the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF).

 

Despite negative headlines and obvious sabotage, based on the escalation of separatist conflicts in Cameroon, disease, and danger – the African Cup of Nations was a success that is worth celebrating, especially considering the magnitude of the sporting event in the midst of a pandemic.

 

When it comes to football, and in whatever they do, Cameroonians know how to work hard, and  know what to do to thrive even if they are not loved at least they earn respect.

 

Few days ahead of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 , Football legend  Samuel Eto’o  gave his world cup predictions to the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in these words : ‘ During the years, African teams have acquired more and more experience, and I think they’re ready not only to participate in a World Cup, but also to win it. ‘Cameroon will win the World Cup final against Morocco.’

 

The four-time African Player of the Year expects the Indomitable Lions to be the shining star of the tournament, to become victorious over continental rivals Morocco in the Qatar 2022 final at Lusail Stadium on December 18.

Football legend Samuel Eto’ o  is making UK tabloid headlines with his predictions for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar .

 

The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea forward has learned the ropes from the best Western & Russian clubs and has no fear of openly acknowledging his confidence he is not shy to say he has cracked the code of the game and have a well trained and confident team.  

 

Today, 32 nations are participating in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.  This year’s edition is the first tournament hosted in the Middle East and the first to be held at the end of the calendar year: starting from November 20th, 2022 till December 18th 2022.

 

(FIFA reportedly received agreements from football officials worldwide in 2015 to delay the tournament previously set for the usual June-July period, as temperatures routinely hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Qatar.

Officials feared the weather may impact some teams performance on the pitch.

 

 

The Bridge Magazine’s top 10 favourite power ranking revealed and why.

 

 

1) Cameroon  

 

2) Brazil

 

3) Senegal

 

4)  England

 

5)  France

 

6)  Portugal

 

7)  Argentina,

 

8)   Denmark

 

9)   Spain

 

10) Germany

 

 

Our editorial will provide a brief overview of few teams, but will  only analyse two teams with more in-depth: one sub Saharan African Team: Cameroon ( for the aforementioned reasons )  and one Wester team :

England ( Because The Bridge Magazine is a UK based International publication and Great Britain invented football)  picked up from our top ten potential winner selection list. Analysing by showing each of our 2 top teams weaknesses and strengths.

 

Cameroon.

Team Cameroon: The Dark Horse of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022:  tournament

 

 

Manager: Rigobert Song

 

Captain: Vincent Aboubakar

 

Qualifying record: Eighth appearance at a World Cup

 

2018 World Cup: Did not qualify

 

Average age of squad: 26.3

 

Most caps in squad: Vincent Aboubakar (88)

 

Top scorer in squad: Vincent Aboubakar (33)

 

Big names, high profile players in Cameroon Football  past and current  History (not in chronological  competence):

 

Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, Rigobert Song, Joseph-Antoine Bell, Pat Mboma/ Jean Manga-Onguene,  Abega, Thomas N’Kono, Roger Milla, Samuel Eto’o to list a few. 

 

 

History spotlight in brief

 

In reaching the quarter-finals in the 1990 World Cup, Cameroon set not only a benchmark that has not been beaten or surpassed by other African countries, but most importantly, has broken the myth of Western football supremacy.

Cameroon were six minutes away from a semi final in 1990 against England but conceded a careless penalty.

 

Making Pelé to predict  that an African side would win the World Cup before the turn of the last century. Pelé legal name is ( Edson Arantes do Nascimento ). He is the octogenarian Brazilian former professional gifted footballer who played as a forward.

 

There were rumours and some superstitious allegations from fanatics and hooligans like in Cameroon who still believed in white magic (as in cults and sects energy and power) was used when the ball was changed as England would have rather died than being beaten by a black African football country.  But paradoxically black footballers within the England Premier league team have shaped British football history by making Britain Football Great.

 

There is another view. Since football is not an exact science, people have to believe what they have to believe but Cameroon was not good enough and lost that game one may say!

When it comes to football,  only God knows the length to which some are ready to go to protect their interests  when pride, money and or power is at stake.

 

Weaknesses and strengths of Team Cameroon

 

Weaknesses   of Team Cameroon

 

Negative Mainstream media coverage

 

Never before an AFCON event had such bad press.  Is it because Team Cameroon was foreseen as a potential Qatar 2022 winner, a real threat to other teams accustomed to the cup by the football connoisseurs of the world if they managed to show their talent through the success of the competition?

 

The sabotage saga the mainstream media orchestrated prior and during Cameroon’s AFCON 2021 was not even airbrushed.  The war in Ukraine, COVID, the cost of living crisis, politics cards could not be pulled here to justify the media negative coverage, let alone media footage showing how aboriginal and squalid some areas in Cameroon were.

 

 

Dispute over sports wear Cameroon kit in sponsorship legal battle controversy:

 

Sponsorship battle prior to the World Cup (Deemed by our editorial as bad timing, unnecessary and pure distraction for fans and the players who need calm and serenity for an event of such magnitude)

 

Tribal and big ego feuds:

 

Cameroon team has sometimes been accused of being torn apart by ethnic and big ego clashes among the players.

Tribal and big ego clashes are also deemed by our editorial as: immature, futile and an unnecessary topic to bring up when it comes to individual talents, gifts, aptitudes and the Nation’s interest.

 

 

Strengths of Team Cameroon

 

A crucial part of the great Cameroon is to be heavily represented by Samuel Eto’o the current President of the Cameroon Football Federation.

 

He has a heavy CV, a heavy football career under his belt and a consistency that few football players can match.

 

Eto’o himself was already described as the football prodigy in one of our successful articles under our Sport Category entitled: “The pride of a country, the pride of a continent, the pride of football”

 

 

In 2011, our editorial already described “Eto’o as the footballer who was a currency all by himself: as the highest paid footballer in the world in the history of football in 2011: The Inter Milan legend’s fortune  sky rocketed when he was  earning £17.5m per season after tax, the equivalent of one euro per second. This made him the highest paid footballer in the world,  after being signed up by Suleiman Kerimov, the Russian oligarch billionaire oil magnate tycoon and club-owner.”  The Bridge MAG. on December 11^th 2011.

 

According to sources, Samuel Eto’o’s net worth is about $95 million. Which makes him maintain his titled  as the wealthiest African footballer in the world from 2020 to 2022.

On December 11^th  2021, Eto’o was elected President of the Cameroon Football Federation. He appointed  Rigobert Song Bahanag  as Cameroon senior football team head coach. 

 

Mr Eto’o is the hand shaping and restructuring the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon football team via the head coach Rigobert Song (former Liverpool centre back) no wonder  the team’s confidence and performances have sky rocketed. As he passed on Western and foreign football tips and techniques earned from his impressive European career.

 

He is the all-time leading footballer in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, with 18 goals, and is Cameroon’s all-time leading footballer and third most capped player, with 56 goals in 118 caps.

 

He won two Cup of Nations tournaments, Olympic gold and represented the Indomitable Lions in three World Cups.

With outstanding  victories  to the national side whilst being the top football player  in both the 2006 and 2008 editions of the tournament.

 

Mr Eto’o rose to fame by playing for Cameroon during the 2000 African Cup of Nations, where he scored four times, including a crucial goal in the Indomitable Lions’ gold-medal victory over Nigeria.

 

A four-time African Footballer of the Year, Eto’o has also featured in the top three on a further four occasions.

Eto’o was once voted third in the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Not to mention his International Honours.

Eto’o remains Cameroon’s all-time football player and is the all-time scorer in Cup of Nations history.

 

 

Club Honours

 

Eto’o has won three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and Internazionale—an unparalleled achievement among African players.

 

When it comes to world cups, almost everyone radiates the zest and gaiety of enjoyment.

 

The fearless athleticism mindset can be mirrored on the following slogan in every Cameroonian supporter chant ahead of Qatar clash of the football titans “nothing will ever be the same again” showing how the team has surpassed  the level of self-belief and self-confidence.   The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon said they are ready to lift and bring back  the trophy to Cameroon, the land of surprises.

 

 

England.

Why Britain The Great, the Nation who invented football over a century ago also feature in our   FIFA World Cup Qatar2022 Power Rankings winner list prediction?

 

Manager: Gareth Southgate 

 

Captain: Harry Kane will lead England

 

Qualifying record:  England has qualified for the World Cup 16 times.

 

2018 World Cup:  Qualified

 

Average age of squad:  26

 

Most caps in squad:  Raheem Sterling (79)

 

Top scorer in squad: Wayne Rooney is the top England goal scorer with 53 goals for national team.

 

Big names, high profile players in England Football past and current History (not in chronological competence): 

 

Ian Wright, Gary Lineker, Gordon Banks,  Rio Ferdinand,  Bobby Moore, Gareth Bale , Alan Shearer, Raheem Shaquille Sterling , Bukayo Ayoyinka T. M. Saka , Steven George Gerrard, Charles Joseph John Hart , Marcus Rashford to list a few .

 

History spotlight in   brief

 

The Bridge Magazine pays tribute to Great Britain, the nation who invented football.  FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle sport event that moves Nations more that any other game in the whole world and remains at the top in terms of popularity, with more than 3 billion views in terms of statistics.

 

Team Britain needs a win of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022  tournament as a double redemption:  not only to restore   the trust they lost from  their home and worldwide supporters after the loss of the Euro 2020 final of England vs Italy in penalty shootouts.

 

But also, to prove to themselves and the rest of the world that they didn’t create  football in vain and that winning FIFA World Cup only once is not enough for the Nation who once came out with the genius idea to create such a game.

 

It is believed football’s modern origins began in December 1863 in England over 100 years ago.  

 

Weaknesses and strengths of Team Britain

 

Weaknesses of Team Britain

 

Deep rooted racial controversy  or stereotypes within  British Team    

 

Home racism faced by black England football  stars has recently made  Britain not that Great. Marcus Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and Bukayo Saka, 19, were the targets of racial abuse after they missed spot-kicks in a penalty shootout with Italy at Wembley Stadium  in London  Euro 2020 final.

 

The world still hasn’t come to terms yet with  how hooligans have been so blinded by their loss to the point that they expressed  gruesome  acts of racist abuse over Rashford, Sancho and Saka  after missing the penalties in that Wembley final.

Bringing back overnight to square zero all the hard work British  diplomacy has done for decades to clean Britain’s tarnished colonial past to erase  racism via a multicultural representation in different sectors across  UK .

 

Like it or not,  England football being associated with deep rooted racism does not play in favour for the team and may have prevented other black England football stars  players to play with their heart and to invest themselves 100%. Witnessing how colleagues  of ones’ similar colour are being treated after missing a penalty will play a strong negative and long  lasting psychological impact or damage a player .

 

The wound is still too fresh to have scared. Rejection is one of the worse forms of bulling and abuse humans can experience in their life time and football careers make no exception.

Unlike what some may believe, even if black England football stars earn a fortune, they might still not deliver well out of fear, out of flash backs, sad memories and pressure for fear of rejection as money is not always the issue: to fully deliver an exam paper or a final on the pitch one needs to be physically and mentally healthy and confident.

 

Racism in all shapes has always been a huge NO in our editorial and shouldn’t be in no way used as an escape goat to justify a failure ,  a bully and or  discrimination.

 

 

Strengths of  Team Britain

Powerful and Excellent Mainstream media coverage

 

With some of the best televisions, newspapers,  radios and social media platforms on their side, always prompt to  get messages across on a daily basis, Team Britain is set.

 

When it comes to British football, The mainstream media always knows how   to promote their past and current achievements and  football prowess to a wider audience . This  has helped British football team to establish a powerful brand,  an  outstanding and  credible football  reputation worldwide.

 

Central London is home of premier league and Premier League is best known as Britain’s biggest brand.

 

The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men’s English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs.  The Premier League has most of the highest paid footballers in the world and is managed on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL).

 

With a total value of $1.40 billion, England have the most highly paid  squad in the world. Phil Foden is currently the most valuable player in the England team squad, followed by the team captain Harry Kane and the young shining star Bukayo Saka.

 

 

The robust calibre of Gareth Southgate:  the England national football team manager just needs to bring that trophy home to polish his football CV further .

 

British Team also has the advantage of being represented by Gareth Southgate,  an English professional football  manager and former defender /midfielder player.

 

He made more that 500 appearances as a player, played in a UEFA Cup final and won  two League Cups titles.

Mr Southgate has earned over 57 England caps and has represented the  England Three Lions at three major international competitions.

 

Southgate started his   managerial career with Middlesbrough in 2006, before being promoted England Under-21 manager in 2013, leading the team to victory in the Toulon annual international youth Tournament in 2016.

 

Southgate led England:   the Under -21s to 27 victories during his 33 matches in charge of the Young Lions.

As a permanent manager of England’ senior team, Southgate guided  England to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 

He also guided and led  England to third place in the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019.

 

In 2020, Southgate released Anything is Possible, a book that explores his journey from being released by Southampton at 13 to become the manager of his country at a World Cup.

Since signing a new four-year deal with England in 2018, Southgate earns an annual salary  of around  £3million. 

 

Few days ahead of the competition, Gareth Southgate confirmed to be  confident that England can shine at 2022 World Cup in Qatar: That  England have a “great chance” to have a “brilliant” World Cup tournament.

 

England team may have won only one  World Cup but the crown of inventing football is and remains their legacy! 

 

 

Senegal: 

 

Team Senegal took the world by surprise, led by Sadio Mané and offered a spectacular top class performance in Cameroon during their AFCON football adventure .  An inaugural AFCON 2021 (Has boosted the land of Teranga , The land of hospitality  confidence )  Becoming victorious  has  fuelled the belief in Senegal .

 

Senegal players are eager to prove to themselves, their fans and to the rest of the world that they were not crowned AFCON 2021 champion in Cameroon by chance, that their Golden title was not a one hit wonder glow.  

 

 

Qatar: 

 

A win for the host nation would not be a shocking result.  In 1960, Qatar Football Association (QFA) was formed and became a FIFA member three years later. Qatar’s team made its first impact at the Gulf Cup in 1984 by reaching the final but failed to lift the trophy to Iraq on penalties. In 1992, Qatar won its first-ever Gulf Cup and qualified for the Summer Olympics

 

Below are all the 32 qualified national teams for the 2022 biggest event in global football World Cup.

 

 

Host country: Qatar.

 

Africa: Tunisia, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana.

 

Asia: Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia.

 

CONMEBOL: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador.

 

CONCACAF: Canada, Mexico, United States, Costa Rica.

 

UEFA: Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland, England, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Wales. 

 

 

A fair media coverage for all 32 nations taking part in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

 

 

Bad press prior or during AFCON and or FIFA  competition is unprofessional and unnecessary as the games are live and people can watch  and judge for themselves.

 

According to our editorial, every single team needs fair coverage:

 

It looks as though, the worst nightmare of Mainstream media when broadcasting AFCON or FIFA world cup, is  to cover and show  global representation  of  black African men’s football senior national teams when they excel and win the biggest sports event in the world as  what the world can visualise live may prove manufactured news WRONG.

 

It may also seem like the mainstream medias biggest fear of a black African team winning a gold medal is that it might trigger a mechanism   in the youths brain of their community and similar skin colour who may question their  stereotypical portrayal in society  as constantly  rehashed by the media  and project themselves as able to succeed and be the best not only in football but in every other aspect of life.

 

 

African youth  may put themselves in their men’s football senior national teams  shoes. Their men’s football senior national team are metaphorically their inspirational  father figures they can look up to and aim to mirror that success and later  become prodigies in art, school, education, movies, successful entrepreneurs, and prove media propaganda wrong …

 

This might awaken a sense of global worthiness and make African Nations rethink their place . The media  is always trying to put forward an agenda and degrading portrayal of them being depicted as second class humans. A black African team winning a gold medal then casts away the colonial cockiness stereotype along with their superiority complex of  winning ownership from past colonial contexts.

 

Despite speculations, bias or unbiased media coverage, gossip, superstitions, beliefs, preferences for a specific team over others- no one is safe when it comes to football.

 

Football is not an exact science. As despite the tactic of watching previous games in the hope of managing to grasp certain techniques and footwork/ dribble from the greatest athletes,  who then go on to achieve one of the most prestigious awards a football player  can have in his career such as : Ballon d’Or.

 

Inevitably , there will always be surprises: what a footballer executes in one game cannot   be copied as that will most likely not be the same tactic or the same technique  the coach will utilise as many  evolve and replenished aspects come into creating a team such as who is striker, midfielder and which trio work best at breaking  a specific defence and scoring or who is best at penalty shoot outs and can score under severe pressure.  

 

No one can pretend to be experienced enough. FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022  is a cultural exchange and  a game.  There have been allegations of match fixtures a couple of days ahead of the opening tournament but remember, the first purpose of the game is to gather and entertain nations from around the world.

 

The Bridge Magazine wishes good luck to Team Cameroon, to  Team Britain, to Team Senegal, good luck to all the 32 nations taking part  in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar . Enjoy, make the most out of the game, remain fairplay whatever the outcome of your team by extension your country and may the best team win.

 

As a follow up and update of The Bridge Magazine’s 10^th Anniversary celebration announcement, Rachel Tcheungna has published 23 educational books in both English and French which are now ready for global distribution.

 

 

Follow the links below to purchase one or various of The Bridge Books. 

 

 

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Rachel Tcheungna, 

Author, Writer of The Bridge Books and 

The Bridge Magazine Editor.