This year, five African sides will head to Qatar in the hope of making history for their country, and among them will be three who have got as far as the quarter-finals in past tournaments. The fates of Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia remain to be decided this year, but some of the best African teams have been landed with seriously tough groups. Cameroon are in a group with Brazil and Switzerland, while Ghana have to deal with Portugal and Uruguay.
That being said, African teams have been a fixture in World Cups and increasingly participants in the latter stages, since 1986 when Morocco reached the second stage. While the likely World Cup betting odds at betking and bet9ja will rate African sides’ chances of success as being pretty low, there are more than enough teams from the past who have overturned expectations. Below, we’ll look at four of the most memorable.
Nigeria (USA 1994)
Under the management of Gernot Rohr, Nigeria turned up to the World Cup of 1994 as an intriguing underdog and were placed in a group with Argentina, Bulgaria and Greece. While they could not match Cameroon’s 1990 achievement of beating Argentina, they did thrash Bulgaria (Stoichkov and all) 3-0 in their first group game. That’s a significant achievement bearing in mind that Bulgaria ended up in the semi-finals of this tournament. Nigeria won their group before facing Italy in the last 16. The game went to extra time before the Italians won, 2-1, but not without needing a late Roberto Baggio equaliser to stay in the competition.
Senegal (Korea/Japan 2002)
The late Papa Bouba Diop scored a scrappy goal to beat holders France 1-0, but there was nothing sloppy about this Senegalese side. They then drew their next two games to emerge from the group as runners-up, and faced Sweden in the last 16. Two goals from Henri Camara secured them a place in the quarter-finals, where they faced Turkey. Although Senegal controlled the game they couldn’t find a way past Turkish keeper Rustu, and exited on a sudden-death Golden Goal.
Cameroon (Italy 1990)
Overall, the 1990 World Cup was a drab affair, settled by a penalty after one of the dullest finals in competition history. However, the watching world were entranced by Cameroon, and in particular striker Roger Milla. The African side featured in the opening game against defending champions Argentina and, despite having two men sent off, secured a 1-0 win with an Omam-Biyik header. A further win over Romania put the Indomitable Lions in the second round, where they beat fancied South Americans Colombia thanks to two extra-time goals from MIlla. In the quarters, England waited - and despite leading 2-1 with eight minutes to go, Cameroon lost to two Gary Lineker penalties, one in extra time.
Ghana (South Africa 2010)
The most galling exit for an African side came in 2010, when Ghana emerged from a group containing Germany, Serbia and Australia. They knocked the USA out in the last 16 thanks to an extra-time goal from Asamoah Gyan, and led Uruguay at half-time in the semi-final. The South American side then equalised and took the game to extra time where, late on, Gyan shot at goal. His shot was heading in before Luis Suarez slapped it away with both hands, being sent off in the process. Gyan’s penalty was then saved, and Uruguay won on penalties, denying Ghana a semi-final appearance in the first African World Cup.