Blame the system not the players for Africa’s World Cup woes.

In a World Cup that has produced such joyous football, spare a thought for a continent which has been reduced to tears by events on and off the pitch.

There are no African teams in the quarter-finals — three of their five representatives failed even to get out of their groups — and there are allegations that Cameroon were involved in match fixing during their 4‑0 loss to Croatia.