IT IS AFRICANS WHO WILL BATTLING AGAINST EACH OTHER IN QATAR.

  The curtains are about to open in Qatar for the World's best football bonanza. The World Cup where , 32 teams will be battling out for the most coveted prize. Fans too will be gracing the events despite the many moral rules that have been erected by the Islamic republic of Qatar. It is this rules that many across the World view it will erode the fanfare and mojo that comes along with this football tournament that happens in every four years. It is the first World Cup to be staged in the middle East. It is said that , the then FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his contingent in were bribed inorder to give the Qatar bid to host the 2022 World Cup. From his end just the other day , he owned the responsibility that , giving Qatar bid to his this World Cup was the worst mistake. Reasons , they are better known to him but fans across the globe understands why?

What is most interesting is , in the World stage, Africans will be playing against each other. So far , African continent will be represented by five teams namely: Cameroon ( Indomitable Lions) , Tunisia ( Carthage Eagles) , Morocco ( Atlas Lions) , Ghana ( Black Stars) and Senegal (Lions of Teranga). This are the teams the African continent will be rallying behind. Through the spirit of pan Africanism, we will all be supporting them atleast, have an African team which will reach at either quarter finals , semi finals or even the finals. From my end , we have all it takes. In this tournament too, all the five teams are being coached by our very own coaches. This is the time to proof whether, the foreign coaches who have been coaching African teams are the problem that we have been living with thinking we are looking for solutions or it is us who have that problem. It is something that in the next one month we will proof. For now, we are just formulating hypothetical questions and statements.

The gist of my observation is that , Africans too will be playing against their fellow Africans who will be playing for the Nations they camped in as immigrants. That is out of the 32 teams in this World Cup tournament, three quarters of them have Africans who migrated from this Continent and settled there and got citizenship. Players like Bukayo Saka from Nigeria, Antonio Rudigger from Sierra Leone , Leroy Sane from Ghana , Tim Weah from Liberia to mention but a few. Again, the late reggae artist Peter Tosh once ssnf that , it doesn't matter where you come from , as long as you are black , you are an African. However much you may recant it , your complexion will always betray you. We all know how Africans found themselves in the Americas , that is USA , Ecuador , Guatemala, Panama etc. It is during the slave trade that our brothers were shipped from their mother land and taken to the outside World to work in their masters plantations.

In Qatar , this brothers will be competing against each other. In 2018 World Cup in Russia, France won the cup but out of the eleven players who were in the pitch, 9 of them were Africans. So , to say the truth and in unequivocal manner , any daily newspaper that reported in its headline ," Africans delivers World Cup to France" , could have demanded a very handsome reward , either in kind or in monetary form. That was the painful truth. It is our brothers who even after facing racism and other forms of discrimination , when they are being used to deliver something for their masters there , they are showered with all the accolades. Wait until they mess , hell breaks loose. I have keenly analyzed all the teams which will be squaring out in the 8 magnificent stadia in Doha, Qatar and to say the truth, it will be a tournament that will be entertaining. Every National team with Africans inside, it will be interesting match to watch.

I hope against hope that , racist chants and actions won't surface in this tournament that kicks off today at 7pm between Qatar and Ecuador. For example , we have a litany of our African brothers in this Ecuadorian team. We are proud of them and we can't chidd them because they are from another mother. The genes of their fathers and ours is one. So , when they face racist attacks , we take it like it has been done to us. We cannot say that , a Suriname like Van Dijk or Ake or Memphis Depay , when racism is meted on them as Africans we bury our heads in the sand. No , we should come out and condemn that act in the strongest terms possible. That's because, if we don't , how will our brothers from Africa plying trade in European football clubs get respect they deserve? 

As I conclude , let me remind you of something they happened in the last edition of the European cup. In the finals , England was playing Italy. They battled alone another until it is only penalty shoot outs that could have separated them. Something interesting happened. In the list of penalty takers for England , our African brothers , Bukayo Saka , Jason Sancho and Marcus Rashford , MBE lost their penalts. Italy cruised and won the cup. Immediately , racist chants and insults were directed to our three brothers. They were also threatened. The English media stations didn't spare them. That's the time they were being reminded that they are emigrants and their stay in England can be quashed. Reason , because of losing a penalty yet , the coach had placed this players in the bench for the entire 90 minutes before introducing one during the extra 30 minutes and two after 120 minutes.  In short , an African living in this European or America nations should not make a mistake. Why should they do it when their masters expect the to deliver?Sad!!!

Qatar too should be in a position to know that , its human rights abuses have already left an egg on their faces even before the tournament has begin. That's what it should know and it's team exit from this World Cup in group stages will be celebrated across the globe and especially in Africa. You should be in a position to know why. May the best team win and let's rally behind our five African teams.