Nine of Africa’s ten teams reached the knockout phase of the expanded World Cup, yet only Egypt and Morocco survived to the last 16 after a series of narrow defeats left the continent short of its target.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) campaigned for years to increase the continent’s representation beyond five slots. The expansion to a 48-team tournament granted Africa nine guaranteed places and a potential play-off berth, which the Democratic Republic of the Congo claimed. With nine sides advancing from their groups—compared with only Japan and Australia from Asia and merely the three hosts from Concacaf—Caf’s argument for greater representation appeared vindicated.
However, the last 16 draw brought disappointment. Egypt and Morocco both progressed via penalty shoot-outs, matching the 2022 haul of two African sides in the second round but falling short of the target to place three teams there for the first time.
Fine margins prove costly
Several African sides departed by single-goal margins after promising positions. Senegal suffered a dramatic collapse against Belgium, surrendering a two-goal advantage with four minutes of normal time remaining before conceding an injury-time penalty in extra time. DR Congo led England but tired in the closing stages, while Côte d’Ivoire equalised against Norway only to lose late.
Elsewhere, South Africa fell to an injury-time goal against Canada following a passive display, and Ghana struggled to respond after falling behind to Colombia. Algeria were comprehensively beaten by Switzerland despite another impressive performance from Ibrahim Maza.
Contrasting fortunes
The group stage produced wildly contrasting performances. Tunisia broke a 96-year-old record by trailing for 256 minutes across their three matches, surpassing Mexico’s previous mark of 240 minutes. Conversely, Cape Verde captured imaginations by reaching the last 32 on debut and pushing Argentina to extra time, twice levelling the scores before succumbing.
The pattern suggests African football is growing deeper—evidenced by the 90 per cent progression rate—but the ceiling remains difficult to breach. Several sides showed promise in the group stage, with Côte d’Ivoire leading Germany, Morocco leading Brazil, and Senegal holding a half-time advantage against France, yet none translated those moments into knockout victories. With Morocco having reached the semi-finals in 2022, supporters will note that fine margins turned potential history into a familiar tale of what might have been.