So far at the 2026 World Cup, there is only one African team left. We look at the reason why.
A record 10 African teams made it to the 2026 World Cup hosted by Mexico, Canada and the USA. This record-breaking feat gave many the belief that African teams could go all the way and, at least, one would win the trophy.
Right now, the World Cup is at the quarter-finals, and there is only one African team left. Slowly, after each stage of the competition, what has transpired in the knockout stages has left many wondering if there is a bug in the tactical systems of African teams.
African teams suffered some of the most painful endings at the 2026 World Cup. 💔🌍
🇿🇦 South Africa’s campaign came to an end after conceding deep into stoppage time.
🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire were knocked out after a late 86th-minute strike.
🇨🇩 DR Congo saw their hopes fade away after… pic.twitter.com/A8MnuGOJ2y
— Micky Jnr (@MickyJnr__) July 8, 2026
All the teams made it out of the group stage, bar Tunisia. In the round of 32, a record seven African teams were knocked out of the World Cup, and some of them in gruelling fashion. While the likes of Ghana and Algeria were seemingly outclassed by their opponents, the rest, bar Morocco and Egypt, put up a good fight but crumbled with minutes to go.
Ivory Coast were sent out by a late goal from Erling Haaland, with South Africa also suffering the same fate vs Canada.
Quite bizarrely, Cape Verde went toe-to-toe with defending champions Argentina. Cape Verde refused to back down, scoring each time Argentina took the lead to make it 2-2 with a few minutes of extra time to go. They were eventually undone by an own goal, losing 3-2.
While Cape Verde’s case is quite dissimilar, Senegal were beyond horrible in the final moments of their game vs Belgium. After outclassing the Belgians for most of the game, Senegal threw away a two-goal lead in less than five minutes to the final whistle, drawing 2-2 at the end of the 90 minutes and losing in the dying minutes of extra time to a Tielemans penalty.
The same thing repeated itself when DR Congo crumbled to two late goals from Harry Kane in the dying embers of the game.
This same saga continued in the round of 16 as Egypt blew a two-goal lead in under 10 minutes to cruelly lose to Argentina. While the Egyptians would’ve felt hard done by the officiating, they only had themselves to blame for not seeing out the game from when it was 2-0 or even 2-1.
They also represent a greater pattern of African teams losing after being superior for most of the game.
It’s A Mentality Thing
Apart from Morocco, no African has shown elite mentality going into games at the World Cup, and that is the problem.
While tactically, most teams have tried to defend a 1-0 or 2-0 lead, most of the African teams have somewhat played they feel inferior to their opponents.
Also, if you have matched your opponent stride for stride and you have been coming out on top, why drop back and allow them to boss you? There has been a severe lack of killing games off and dominating the game even when the scoreline is in their favour and that’s what has been the achilles heel of many African teams.
Egypt and Senegal’s case is a clear indication of African teams failing to kill their opponents off even when they hace the upper hand in the scoreline. It is less about scoring more goals and more about making feel that the scoreline truly reflects your quality and not some strings of lucky goals.
