The Squirrels Have Arrived

September 29th, 2008 | by: shane | Comments(1)

The Benin squirrels that is.

One of the rising nations of African football finally gets its due with a blog on this site. While Benin is not a side well known outside of Africa over the past decade they have steadily been rising and their days of being labeled as minnows are long gone. They are now a force to be reckoned with on the continent.

Many observers of international football are probably not at all familiar with Benin’s national team. That is not an unjust position as for most of the state’s history they were one of the whipping boys of African football. They first attempted to qualify for the World Cup in 1986 and were trounced by Tunisia in the first round. Four years later they did not participate and in 1994 were bottom of their group with just one win and five losses. In 1998 they again did not attempt to qualify while in 2002 they went out in the opening phase to eventual quarterfinalists Senegal 2-1 on aggregate. Progress was made in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup as they dispatched of Madagascar in the opening round 4-3 on aggregate but only won the tie on a 90th minute penalty at home. In the six team group stage they finished dead last with just five points though to be fair that group did contain Cameroon, Egypt, and finalists Côte d’Ivoire.

Benin’s African Cup of Nations history is almost as bleak as their World Cup qualifying history. Benin did not make its first Nations Cup appearance until 2004 when they won their qualifying group containing Zambia and Sudan. The actual tournament saw them lose all three games to Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa. They conceding a whopping 8 goals and only scored one goal themselves.

They returned to the Nations Cup in its most recent edition in Ghana 2008. They qualified as one of the three best runners up beating out neighbors and World Cup 2006 finalists Togo. Again the actual Nations Cup was less kind to Benin as they once again lost all three matches to Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Mali. They scored but one goal and gave up seven. A slightly better performance then four years prior but still dreadful.

So with their paltry resume why does Benin have a blog and why are they a rising force on the continent? Well for one thing they are one of the few nations to already have qualified for the final round of World Cup 2010 qualification. They won their first round qualifying group beating out the likes of 2006 finalists Angola. That means Benin will be one of the final 20 teams competing for five World Cup berths from Africa. Additionally they will be one of 19 or 20 teams competing for the 15 berths in the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

While they are only dark horses for the World Cup they will certainly be expected to qualify for the Nations Cup and take their first ever points as well. And while the World Cup seems unreasonable lets remember that Togo, Angola and even Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire were not given much of a chance to make the 2006 World Cup and all four did. The number of minnows in Africa is rapidly decreasing and makes the region maybe the most competitive in qualification as there are no longer any mortal locks to make the World Cup as all the other regions have. So Benin cannot and should not be counted out.

And if that still isn’t a compelling reason for Benin having a blog then surely the fact that they are nicknamed the Squirrels is. That is probably the best nickname of any national name with the possible exception of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

So Alléz Squirrels of Benin. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa beckons.