I've tried to watch a couple of games.....
It's worse the standard is getting. Right across the board. Referees, players, Pele definitely got that prediction wrong that an African team would soon win a world cup.
The African Nations Cup - as old-timers like me used to know it - was notoriously dour, defensive, and brutal. World Soccer used to suggest that Euro coaches going there put most emphasis on organisation as the quickest win and so defensive solidity became the order of the day.
In reality, most international football today - mainly because of bloated tournaments - is rubbish. In the past, you had 8 or 16 team Euros, 16 or 24 team World Cups and 12 team AFCONs. There was something elite about them. Nowadays we look forward to Cape Verde and Uzbekistan in the World Cup... With the best will in the world, these may be very good generational sides from these countries, but we won't know simply by seeing them qualify for tournaments that are now so big that the worst Republic of Ireland side in history is two matches away from.
www.bbc.com
