And then there was one. This week Ghana was the only team to make it out of the preliminary group round of the World Cup this week after a 1-0 loss to Germany.
South Africa, Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire fell by the wayside - among the first teams to be knocked out of the competition.
I went to see the qualification games for each team -- whether in the stadium, fan park, bar or even prison (link). I dressed up, drank, sang, prayed and swore with the best of their supporters, as team after team almost did it.
Cameroon: What went wrong
The Cameroon game against Denmark was probably one of the most entertaining games I've ever seen. From the fourth row (despite being sold out online, I managed to get great tickets from one of the counters in the city), I could almost smell the players anguish at each squandered attempt at goal.
The Cameroonians moved the ball seamlessly back and fourth over the field. It was beautiful and exciting soccer. Every penetration was followed by a thunderous roar from the audience, especially if Samuel Eto'o was around. Fan waves circled the stadium again and again, only petering out in sighs after missed chances. See my photos of the match.
Most of the Cameroonian fans appeared to be South Africans. Unlike most of the other African teams represented, only a handful of Cameroon's official delegation ever made it to South Africa - ostensibly because of budget restrictions.
It's funny those budget problems didn't seem to exist during Cameroon's celebration of its 50th anniversary towards the end of May - when the government displayed all its military toys from hooded special forces to underwater scuba missions. I couldn't help feel sorry for all the officers squeezed into full-body black wetsuits smouldering in the sun for hours on end.
"The finance minister never released the money for the delegation," said one of the few Cameroonian dancers who made it to the event as part of the opening ceremony on FIFA's bill.
So although the picture of Ngando Pickett, Cameroon's official mascot, is plastered all over South Africa's shopping malls, Ngando himself never made it here.
Even the team's official send-off in early June (normally with great attendance from government employees) was a bit of a sham. Only a few officials showed up, and even the Prime Minister, normally a staple at these types of events, was represented by someone else.
The team was doomed from the start. Roger Milla said it as it was - the team lacks discipline. He was blunt, but he was right.
After the Denmark game, Milla was critical yet again.
"It's all of Cameroon, all of Africa that is disappointed. Cameroon dominated the game but couldn't win because of a lack of discipline on the field. I've been saying this for two years, but nobody wanted to listen to me... We will start again from zero as usual."
Most Cameroonians have pointed fingers at the team's coach, Paul Le Guen, whom they call incompetent. "He's going to lose his job," says Godfroy from Douala.
As soon as Cameroon stepped on to the field for their first match against Japan, followers of the team knew something was amiss. The starting line up was missing Alexandre Song, one of the team's best players, and Inter Milan star Samuel Eto'o was out on the wing. The debacle continued throughout the tournament, with the coach changing the starting line-up continuously to the confusion of the players.
"Two hours before the game, he calls us up with the starting eleven - a starting eleven that never even played together in practice," said Idrissou Mohamadou, one of the team's forwards.
But Cameroonians said the problems started earlier. "[Le Guen]'s first mistake was appointing Eto'o as captain," says Godfroy. "He's not a team leader."
Eto'o has been known to motivate his teammates in other ways - he offered his teammates designer watches worth £29,000 each (with an inscription from him on the back) for making it to the World Cup this year.
But he's known to be easily frustrated and even threatened to quit the squad in the days before the Cup because of a comment from Cameroonian soccer legend Roger Milla
After Cameroon's third defeat last night, Roger Milla was able to lash out against Eto'o once again.
"I know he's angry with me because of [what I said]," Milla is quoted. "Unfortunately, he wasn't able to disprove my criticism. He accomplished nothing."
There also have been negative dynamics brewing for months between the team's veteran players and new blood. Rumours have been circulating for months that the established players have tried to prevent younger players from playing, or even wearing certain jersey numbers in practice, said Beau-Bernard Fonka, a journalist in Yaounde.
There were also rumours that by taking the captaincy Eto'o might have been given much more control of the team than any player should. "Eto'o literally picked who played on the national team," Fonka said.
So instead of the indomitable spirit that has characterized the team at most of its previous World Cup appearances, the team was just "eleven strangers, eleven boys all dealing with their own problems," says Fonka.
It's no wonder that Le Guen has decided to throw in the towel.
Back to the game
Cameroon could have changed their fate against Denmark. Nearly the entire stadium was behind them. But despite an early lead, the Danes struck back and equalized. Tic, tac, toe.
Half-naked red Vikings streamed up and down the aisles in celebration, while the game ended Cameroon's dwindling hopes of advancing past the group round.
At last night's game Cameroon versus Netherlands, Cameroonian supporters were in short supply. The stadium was awash with orange.
Priso, a young man from Douala selling Cameroonian paraphernalia outside the stadium, said it's to be expected. "Not everyone wearing orange tonight is from Dutch," he said. "It's because of Holland's performance that people are behind them; we were hoping the same for the Cameroon side."
Despite moments of brilliant soccer, especially by the team's 18-year-old Vincent Aboubakar, Cameroon's only home-based player, the team still walked off the field with heads bowed.
All those of us in the stands wearing the side's green, red and yellow went home with head's bowed too.
Next up: More on the sub-Saharan African teams and the Super Fans are also still to come.
If you are interested in the politics of Cameroonian soccer, I highly recommend the website www.camfoot.com.