Why African teams keep struggling at World Cup

Senegal qualified for the Round of 32 as the last team of the eight best teams in position three in the groups.

Here, they joined the top two teams in the 12 World Cup groups. The seven teams all had four points except Senegal who had three. They squeezed in ahead of Iran who drew all their three matches in Group G where they finished above bottom placed New Zealand.

Senegal, meanwhile lost to France and Norway but won one match against Iraq who they defeated 5-0. This is what gave them the better goal difference over Iran who had a goal difference of zero.

Democratic Republic of Congo topped the list of position three teams with four points and a goal difference of one. Ghana and Algeria were the other African sides on the list.

This reminded me of 2018 World Cup in Russia. Senegal was in the same group with Japan, Poland and Colombia. Colombia led the group and Poland came in last with three points.

Japan and Senegal both had four points, scored four goals and conceded four goals.

They played to a 2-2 draw against each other, which meant they were tied on head-to-head.

Fifa has rules of determining who proceeds to the next round when two teams tie in groups stage.

The first tie-breaker is head-to-head result between the two teams and who scored more goals when the two teams met.

Then they look at the goal difference. If there is a tie, then the team that scored more goals is considered. Then fair play and finally Fifa rankings, the team placed above the other in rankings proceeds.

Fifa had to look at fair play to determine who goes into the second round. This was determined by yellow cards and red cards received.

Senegal got two yellow cards against Poland. In their match against each other, Senegal got three yellow cards as Japan got two.

Japan only got one yellow card against Colombia, while Senegal also got one yellow card against Colombia. Japan got one caution against Poland. In total, Senegal got six yellow cards while Japan had four.

So Senegal missed out on proceeding to the second round. If they had tied on fair play, where a yellow card deducts one point, indirect red is less three points and direct red less four points, then they look at Fifa rankings.

Senegal would have proceeded to the second round because they were 27th in the Fifa rankings, while Japan were 61.

No African country qualified for the Round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup. It was a poor show for African countries who had been struggling to reach the semi-finals.

In Brazil in 2014, Nigeria and Algeria reached the Round of 16 and lost to France and Germany respectively. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Morocco became the first African country to reach the semi-finals.

They played Spain in the Round of 16 and Portugal in the Quarter Finals to set up a meeting with France. France defeated them 2-0. Morocco ultimately lost the Third Place play-off against Croatia to finish fourth.

This year, the World Cup was expanded to 48 teams, where 10 teams from Africa qualified for the tournament.

So far, South Africa, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Egypt qualified by finishing second in their respective groups. They were joined by the four countries I have mentioned above. Only Tunisia failed to go past the group stage.

Africans were left in a dilemma when two teams people swore never to support, qualified for the knockouts.

South Africa and Morocco have endured the ire of African fans. For South Africa, it is due to the xenophobic attacks on foreigners that have been going on in the country.

Gangs have been roaming South African streets and neighbourhoods looking for African immigrants to attack.

For this, most Africans cheered Mexico when the two sides met at the beginning of the tournament.

The angst against Morocco is the drama that followed the 2025 AFCON that was held in Morocco early this year.

Morocco appealed their loss to Senegal and CAF nullified Senegal’s win and declared Morocco winners.

This is definitely a good show for Africa. Let us hope that as many teams get to experience international football at the highest level.

As I write, this Morocco have just eliminated Netherlands in the Round of 32 and slid into their Quarter Final berth.

If you have been following Morocco, they have put in the work over the years to get here.

Meanwhile, something is still missing in African teams. That confidence that is evident in teams that can lift the World Cup.

The football most Africans teams are playing is beautiful and world class in terms of technical aspects.

However, the differentiating line is drawn in mentality.

Lack of belief seems to be the area CAF needs to work on.