Johannesburg - Former Bafana Bafana coach and retired soccer legend Jomo Sono says African teams should use the FIFA World Cup in South Africa as a wake-up call to improve the standard of the game on the continent.
Sono, who led the Bafana team to the 2002 World Cup, was among the guests speakers at a FIFA discussion panel on the state of African football held at Soccer City on Friday. Also present during the discussion was former Namibian footballer Kalusha Bwalya and Senegalese born Patrick Vierra who played most of his football in France.
Sono said he was disappointed that the majority of the African teams had bounced out of the first round of the World Cup, despite an increased representation in the tournament and the advantage of playing at home.
"One is very disappointed, honestly, but I guess there are a lot of positives to be learned from what we have seen. What we need now is to build on this moving forward and see where we can improve," Sono said.
Ghana is the only African team that still has a chance to shine in the tournament after doing fairly well in its group matches. "I sincerely hope that the Ghanaians can be able to do their best and they have our support," Sono said, who was also part of the Bafana technical team when they won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations.
But Sono believed despite the unsatisfactory showing of the national team, one thing the World Cup has managed to do was to unite the people of South Africa, something which he said will leave a lasting legacy long after the final whistle.
"Today I'm proud to be South African, the way this tournament has united this country is amazing...I was a coach of Bafana Bafana but I have never seen so much support for the team, its really been amazing," said Sono.
Bwalya said a lot of work still needs to be done to ensure that Africa produces its own world-class coaches as it does with players.
Africa is exporting more players to Europe while it imports 90 percent of its coaches from that continent. This has been blamed for the slow development of football in the tournament.
"Clearly a lot needs to be done for us to be able to manage the talent we have in Africa. There is still a lot of work to be done on the administration front to ensure that we do what is best for our countries.
"We have a lot of talented former players who can be trained to take over as coaches of their own countries both at club and national level, it can be done".
FIFA has invested $17 million to improve national leagues and associations in Africa. But Bwalya insisted that until football administrators on the continent get their houses in order, no amount of money could address the existing challenges.
His sentiments were echoed by Vierra, who questioned the performance displayed in the world cup by many well-known top players in the continent.
Vierra said most of the players, who play in big leagues in Europe, did not give their best during Africa's first FIFA World Cup.
"They play in Europe and they are great players, but it becomes a challenge for them to display the same performance they show when they play with their teams in Africa," Vierra said.
