Another day at the 2022 World Cup, another winless game for Africa. Four African countries have played so and none is yet to win a game or score a goal.
The Indomitable Lions are Afrfrica’s biggest hope at the mundial but the succumbed to a European opposition as Switzerland beat them 1-0 courtesy a brilliant goal by Breel Embolo.
Here are three things we learned from the clash.
Switzerland manage to grind out ugly win
Sometimes it is not about pretty football. It cannot always be easy on the eye, and that is the best way to describe this game. The first 45 minutes were extremely poor as both sides struggled to show quality in the final third of the field.
The tempo was much better either side of the hour mark. It was not a match that will live long in the memory, but it was absolutely vital that the Atlas Lions secured all three points as they chase for the coveted trophy.
Embolo Scores Against His Motherland
Breel Embolo scored the only goal of the game to ensure his country of birth will lose their opening game of the 2022 World Cup.
The Monaco forward was born in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde. His parents separated while he was still a young child and his mother moved to France. While there, she met her future husband, a Swiss national, and the family soon moved to Basel. It was at Basel where Embolo would make his first appearance as a professional footballer, having previously played in the youth teams of Nordstern and Old Boys.
Embolo was eligible to play for Cameroon as it's the country of his birth, but he received Swiss citizenship in 2014 and would make his senior debut for the nation the following year.
Cameroon not different from Senegal, Tunisia and Morocco
Cameroon did not seem to have any sort of discernible attacking game plan, with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Karl Toko Ekambi and Bryan Mbeumo both anonymous for most of the encounter.
Switzerland ceded the initiative after the interval but were never unduly troubled by their opponents’ forays forward.
It was same with Senegal and Tunisia and Morocco and thus leaves Africa searching for its first victory and goal of the mundial.
