By Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 FIFA World Cup has seen the competition's last Arab hope disappear thanks to Tunisia's 5-2 loss against Belgium on Saturday, adding more evidence to the argument that Arab football has a long way to go to demonstrate real competition on the world's biggest stage.
The Tunisian squad is preparing to go home along with fellow Arab competitors Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, each of which have suffered defeats in their first two matches.
Following the match against Belgium, Tunisian national team coach Nabil Maaloul told reporters that Arab teams had a long way to go before they could compete effectively at the World Cup.
While Tunisia were beaten by Belgium and England, both Saudi Arabia and Egypt were defeated by Uruguay and Russia, and Morocco lost against Iran and Portugal in Group B.
"For Arab teams, qualifying for the World Cup itself is an accomplishment, but our levels don't allow us to compete," said Taha Ismail, football expert and former striker for Egypt's Al-Ahly football club.
Most experts attributed the Arab sides' poor performances at the World Cup to a lack of fitness and effort on the players' part, rather than any strategic or tactical inadequacy.
"Arab teams lack professionalism and seriousness in their World Cup preparations. We don't have sufficient training camps or enough finance. We have a long way to go," Ismail told Xinhua, adding that "our level in football is low and we should admit that."
Non-Arab African teams like Nigeria and Senegal have acquitted themselves better, with each of them having won one match so far in the World Cup group stage.
"African teams have capabilities lacking in the Arab world. Their players are physically fit, tall, strong and fast. They have many footballers playing at high levels in Europe, which makes a big difference too," said Ismail.
Farouk Gaafar, a retired star of Egypt's popular Zamalek football club, described the performance of Arab teams in the World Cup as "so weak."
"For many Arabs, merely qualifying for the World Cup has become an achievement, rather than demonstrating good abilities and distinguished performances in the competition," Gaafar told Xinhua.
"The players don't try hard enough in training or in matches. Many of them don't regularly attend training camps and friendly games. All these factors affect the general performance," added the former midfielder.
The 2018 World Cup opener on June 14 saw Saudi Arabia lose 5-0 to hosts Russia.
"The big scorelines and the fact that many goals were scored against Arab teams indicate the big difference between Arab soccer and that of European and Latin American teams," Gaafar noted.
Arab soccer fans have been surprised and disappointed by the results in Russia, with some of them posting mockingly on social media websites that FIFA should stand for "football isn't for Arabs."
"The Arab defeats at the World Cup are not a surprise. The surprise is when an Arab team advances to the round of 16 or beyond," said renowned Egyptian sports critic and writer Hassan al-Mestikawi.
The pundit argued that Arab footballers lack the physical fitness of their Western counterparts, as well as being lacking in teamwork, effort and persistence.
"I have always been saying that our performance in the World Cup is more important than taking part in the competition," Mestikawi told Xinhua, stressing the need for well-built, fast and tall Arab players to be able to face strong teams and compete effectively at the World Cup.
He continued that the poor standard of Arab football also has to do with technological and scientific levels, arguing that Arabs will be good at football when they're more developed and advanced. "Football is a small model of our development."
"We Arabs have a long way to go to have a real presence at the World Cup and to compete for the title," said Mestikawi.
