Past African encounters suggest no easy pickings

Asked what he made of Cameroon shortly before England began their epic quarter-final in the 1990 World Cup, Paul Gascoigne remarked: "Well, they're tanned aren't they, so they'll be used to the heat."

A dozen years on and England's experiences of African football have not noticeably improved. It will be hot in Osaka tomorrow and Nigeria will probably be more used to it than England, who, the optimists will point out, have yet to lose to an African nation.

Yet, England should probably have been beaten in Naples. Bobby Robson conceded that for much of the game the Lions of Africa were the better team. Only defensive naïvety, which saw them concede two penalties, cost Cameroon a place in the semi-finals.

That night was the first time England had encountered a team from sub-Saharan Africa. Since then, there have been three more games against Cameroon, bringing two victories and the fortuitous 2-2 draw prior to this tournament.

Nigeria, the team England must at least draw with in the Nagai Stadium, have been encountered only once, in November 1994 as Terry Venables sought to rebuild England after the humiliations of Graham Taylor's reign.

They were more formidable opponents then than they are now. Under their Dutch coach, Clemens Westerhof, Nigeria had won the African Nations' Cup and performed well in the World Cup in the United States, where they had beaten Bulgaria (who finished fourth in the tournament), were unlucky to lose to Argentina (the game in which Diego Maradona failed his drugs test) and should have knocked out the eventual finalists, Italy.

At Wembley they found the new, reorganised England too much, going down 1-0 to a goal from David Platt. Teddy Sheringham is the only survivor from the team Venables sent out that night.

Even against countries from the more accessible parts of North Africa, England have not gone out of their way to find fixtures. They had played 641 full internationals before their first game against an African nation in January 1986, when Bobby Robson's side beat Egypt 4-0 in Cairo.

In the four subsequent World Cup finals England reached, they have always had African opposition in the group stages. Tunisia were dealt with comfortably enough in the opening game of France '98, a victory overshadowed by some vicious rioting in Marseilles' Vieux Port, while, in 1990, Robson's side needed to beat Egypt to guarantee their place in the second round. This they did, courtesy of Mark Wright's headed goal, although the use of a faith-healer, Olga Stringfellow, eight years before Eileen Drewery, did not succeed in healing Bryan Robson's achilles injury.

It was not much of a game but it was better than England's first taste of Africa in a World Cup finals when in 1986 they faced Morocco. A goalless draw was made worse by Ray Wilkins' red card and an injury to Bryan Robson. After the match the players rebelled and demanded a change in tactics, which was to see them beat Poland 3-0 and progress to a fateful quarter-final against Argentina.

In 1986 a draw with an African nation was seen to be almost the end of the world. Sixteen years on, it will do very nicely indeed.