Backyard FIFA World Cup

Morocco beats Spain. Not yet Uhuru, but Africa backs its own.

They start playing soccer around five years old. Little boys in Africa, Brazil and other soccer loving places come back from school, take off the school uniform, eat, do some home chores and off they go to play soccer.

It is called football in countries invaded by Britain. Because it’s a foreign word, it is called ‘ibhola’ in southern Africa. It comes from -ball in football. Radio archives have radio legends and their colourful on-air reports in Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho, Tswana, Ndebele and other African languages.

Little boys are aware that there’s FIFA world cup action in Qatar. For some, it is the ultimate dream. Chances of achieving it are very slim, unless they come from football families, where great grandfather was the darling of South African or Egyptian football. It’s like Bollywood. Stars groom their own kids to keep the family name alive in cinema.

Little boys in Africa are not glued to television watching Qatar. They leave that to parents and grandparents, drowning the game with their commentary. It’s a group watch sport.

Qatar on not, little boys play soccer after school. Schools have soccer fields but their neighborhoods don’t, so they improvise. They nationalize empty spaces, put stones as goal posts, dribble and score.

No coaches. No medical staff on stand-by. It's for the love of the game. As for Qatar, those little boys support Africa, which means Morocco all the way.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.