It’s no news that 5 of the popular African football teams – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal have made it to the FIFA World Cup 2018, and would be representing the African continent in the prestigious event.
The tournament is scheduled from June 14 to July 15, in Russia, this year (here’s where you can get all news related to it). All these 5 teams worked their way through the qualification process, and finally secured their place after a two-year long struggle.
Talking about FIFA World Cup, it’s one of the most heavily punted sports event throughout the world. If you too wish to bet on the upcoming World Cup, you must do so only with a reputed online bookmaker, using some good football predictions service.
Let’s now provide you with a quick look at these 5 African teams.
Nigeria
The Nigerian football team secured its place in the World Cup after scoring a 1-0 victory over Zambia in group B. Alexis Iwobi scored the winning goal in the 73rd minute of the match.
It’s been quite an achievement for Nigeria as their place in World Cup was sealed even before playing Algeria. Additionally, this will be the 6th World Cup participation for the country, which had earlier appeared in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 editions.
By staying undefeated in its group, Nigeria has also lived up to his record of staying unbeaten on its own land, during the World Cup play-offs, for the last 36 years.
Senegal
The Senegalese football team is keenly looking forward to participate in its second World Cup. They made it to the finals after beating South Africa 2-0 during the qualifying tournament. The last time they appeared in the tournament was in 2002, when the prestigious event was held in Japan and South Korea. In fact, they went on to reach the quarter-finals in that edition!
Tunisia
Despite the 0-0 score line against Libya in their last group match, the Tunisian national football team finished in first position in their group. Resultantly, they secured their ticket to the upcoming World Cup.
Coached by Nabil Maaloul, it’s the 5th time that Tunisia will be playing in the World Cup, having played in 1978, 1998, 2002 and 2006 earlier.
Morocco
Courtesy their 2-0 win over Ivory Coast (who’d not be a part of the competition for the first time since 2002), Morocco secured their place in the upcoming FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1998. Although they’ve been absent from the tournament for 20 years now, it would be their 5th appearance in the cup.
You might be aware that FIFA has rejected Morocco’s request for release of Munir El Haddadi from Barcelona, for this World Cup. This has been a huge disappointment for the football fans of the country.
Egypt
Like Nigeria, Pharaohs also secured their World Cup spot before playing their final group match. They secured their spot by scoring a 2-1 victory over Congo. The popular Mohamed Salah of Egypt team scored the two goals at the 63rd and 95th minute of the match.
Having been absent from the FIFA World Cup since 1990, the Egypt team was very keen on qualifying for this edition of the tournament. After Nigeria, they became the 2nd African nation to qualify for the prestigious event. It will be there third World Cup, as they have played it earlier in 1934 and 1990 as well.