Desailly disappointed by African sides

World Cup winner Marcel Desailly has been unimpressed by the performances of the tournament's African teams in South Africa.

The former Marseille, AC Milan and Chelsea defender was an integral part of France's triumph in 1998 and has been a keen advocate of African football due to his Ghanaian roots.

However, Desailly admits he has been underwhelmed by the displays put in by the continent's teams during the first World Cup to grace African soil.

"Overall I am a little disappointed with the African teams performances but maybe my expectations were too high," he said from South Africa.

"I'm especially disappointed with Cameroon. Nigeria have been a bit naive and Algeria made too many mistakes defensively even though they drew with England.

"I feel that Ghana didn't take the opportunities that were put in front of them.

"The Ivory Coast - I have seen some great potential from them but they are in a very difficult group.

"And finally South Africa, they have played with great passion but the level of World Cup football has been too high for just passion to get them through."

:: Desailly is a global ambassador for official FIFA World Cup sponsors Castrol and the Castrol Index, which objectively analyses and ranks player performance.