The second and third day of the FIFA World Cup saw Africa's participants make their first appearances in Russia. Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria were all beaten in their opening group fixtures which leaves them in a must win situation in their remaining matches.
The bigger issue though is that while they were all edged out, with the exception of nigeria, by a solitary goal none of the three teams were able to find the back of the net.
Egypt were first up in Friday's early kick off and looked comfortable in the opening stages as they were solid on defence and controlled the game for some time.
However, their limitations were evident as their game plan appeared to be centred around containing Uruguay as opposed to taking the game to them which was evidenced by the chances they created, or lack thereof, with only two shots on goal with the one on target resulting in a routine save for Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera.
The Egyptians sought to cause problems for the South Americans but lacked penetration as they rarely found themselves in good positions to do any damage to a tough Uruguay defence.
From the looks of it the Egyptians were waiting on some inspiration from their forward thinking players, but it never arrived given that the Pharaohs have made their stock and trade on a good solid base, but not much firepower upfront.
Their main weapon of attack ssems to be Liverpool star Mohamed Salah who's scored an impressive 33 goals in 57 matches for seven time African champions, but with him out injured the next highest goal scorer is midfielder Abdallah Said with just six goals.
Though they lost by a late goal from a header from Jose Jimenez, Egypt left the match with more questions than answers as they couldn't muster a credible goal scoring opportunity throughout the 90 minutes.
It will be do or die for the Pharoahs when they take on hosts Russia who are riding high on the momentum of the home support and their 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia and if they play like they did against Uruguay we'll see an early end to their trip to Russia.
Even with that the Egyptians are very much still in the competition and received a boost with the news that star striker Salah will be available to provide the much needed finishing touch.
Morroco went into their group B opener knowing that a win was a must when they took on Iran knowing the odds were thoroughly stacked against them with Spain and Portugal making up the numbers in their group.
The Lions of the Atlas did themselves no favours, however, as they conspired to lose a game they had full control over with 63 percent of the possession.
For all their industry they could only get three shots on target the whole game which is a poor reflection of a team which had the quality on their side with the players, and also the form after having gone on a run of ten games unbeaten.
The own goal in added time pretty much summed up the game for Morrocco as they showed that nobody can hurt you more than you can hurt yourself.
Nigeria, as the most consistent team in qualifying for the World Cup, was looked to with much expectation and the only lasting impression they made was their team kit rather than their work on the field as they lost 2-0 to Croatia.
Again, the pattern of events which had occurred for Egypt and Morocco took place for the Super Eagles as they found it hard to fashion chances in front of goal.
It took about 69 minutes into the game before the Croatian goal keeper had to make a save, if you could it that, when Odion Ighalo headed the ball on towards goal.
The Nigerians also didn't seem to have an outlet in terms of their offence as most of their game plan proved to be indecisive in the final third.
In all honestly man for man and as team Nigeria were out of their element as their tactics weren't all that clear.
All this doesn't make for good reading for the African hopefuls at this year's World Cup as they've left themselves with an uphill battle on their hands. From first impressions one thing that's clear is that African teams are missing that cutting edge in front goal and that imaginative spark they've come to be known for.
Clearly something has to change.
For Nigeria and Morocco it looks to be too late considering how well their next opponents played in the opening fixtures and how much of point they still have to prove.
All eyes will now be on Senegal and Tunisia in the hopes of getting the tournament off on a good note for Africa.
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