Players to Watch: African Prospects

These African youngsters are all gifted players with a good season in Europe behind them, but who are also new on the international stage and have not yet fully establisheded themselves for their national teams. If they are given the chance in South Africa, it could be their first chance to shine at a higher level.


Gervinho

Nicknamed 'Gervinho' by his Brazilian coach at an Ivorian youth academy, Gervais Yao Kouassi lives up to his Brazilian influences; he's a flair player, a pacy dribbler and good finisher who can play as a forward or at any of the offensive midfield positions. He's had an excellent season for his club Lille OSC, where he was mostly used to the right in a three-man attack. In the French top division Ligue 1, he scored 13 and assisted 9 goals, and in the group stage of the Europa League, he only made two starts but impressively managed to score 5 goals (one every 57 minutes on average) against qualified opposition in Valencia, Genoa and Slavia Prag. Whether he's used as a starter or substitute in South Africa, he's one who can make a real impact for Côte d'Ivoire at the World Cup.


Seydou Doumbia

Seydou Doumbia's statistcs look like they're straight out of a Football Manager game: a goal every 81 minutes over 64 games for Swiss side BSC Young Boys. Particularly incredible was the striker's first season at Young Boys, where he scored 20 league goals in 8(eight) starts and 24 substitute appearances, and bagged the Swiss Axpro League Player of the Season award. His second season wasn't too bad either, scoring 30 league goals in 29 starts; 9 more than the second highest scorer of the Swiss league. Doumbia is not yet established in the Ivorian national team, having only made a few subsutitute appearances, but he showed his worth when he came on in a November 2009 friendly against Germany and displayed his shooting technique with a very good goal.



If Drogba's injury forces him to sit out at the World Cup, Doumbia could be given a very important role for Côte d'Ivoire. Any impressed club managers watching will, however, be disappointed to find out that the Ivorian and his club have already agreed a deal with Russian giants CSKA, with a reported transfer fee of about €10 million.


Lukman Haruna

Having captained Nigeria to victory in the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, Haruna was a highly rated youngster when he joined AS Monaco in January 2008. This season, he's succesfully established himself in senior football, as the young midfielder started in 15 of the last 19 fixtures, in spite of the very tough competition he faced for a spot in central midfield at Monaco. It will be an even bigger challenge for Haruna to establish himself in the Nigerian first team during the World Cup, considering Nigeria's manager Lars Lagerbäck is renowned for valuing experience, and reluctance towards taking chances with inexperienced players. But he will have increased his chances as he scored the only goal Nigeria have managed to produce over their pre World Cup friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Colombia, with a daisy cutter just inside the post from far outside the area, against the latter. Now that fellow midfielder John Obi Mikel has withdrawn from the Nigerian squad due to doubts over his fitness, Haruna has a real chance of playing an important role for Nigeria during the World Cup.



G. Lindström