Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
By USAfrica contributor Nkiruka Ugo Uche
As the competition continues, millions of fans are watching and asking:
Can an African team win the World Cup for the first time, in 2022?
On the other hand, some people are hopeful that an African team can actually shock the world for the first time and qualify for the finals of the World Cup! That will be great and certainly commendable.
The World Cup 2022 entered its crucial, knockout phase on Saturday, December 3.
Before this USAfricaonlime.com assessment of the latest performances by African soccer teams, here are fixtures for the round of 16.
Netherlands v USA Argentina v Australia France v Poland England v Senegal Japan v Croatia Morocco v Spain Brazil v South Korea Portugal v Switzerland
Senegal will play England in their knockout stage on Sunday 4th December, while Morocco will take on Spain on Tuesday.
In terms of historical highlights of some African teams, Egypt became the first to participate in the World Cup.
Thirteen (13) different African nations have competed in world football’s biggest tournament including the “giant of Africa” Nigeria —although they could not qualify for this 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
We’re watching beautiful moments where top footballers show the most excitimg and entertaining football and Africa is not left out.
Five (5) countries are in this tournament: Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, and Ghana.
Nevertheless, the performance of those countries has not been fantastic, but they were able to up their games.
Tunisia lost a match, drew one, and won one making them to have four points. Though this wasn’t enough to land them into the next round of sixteen.
Senegal lost one and won their second and third matches securing six points for them. Making them the first African team to qualify for the round of sixteen.
Morocco drew their first match and won their second and third matches; securing seven points, and also qualified for the round of sixteen.
They became the first African team to beat Belgium in the World Cup.
Ghana lost their first match, won the second match, and lost their third match securing three points for the Black Stars.
Cameroon lost their first match and drew the second and won the third match. They also made history in Qatar as they are the first African team to beat Brazil in the World Cup despite the fact that they didn’t qualify for the next round.
Senegal and Morocco are the teams giving Africans great hope. They are in the round of sixteen.
Morocco became the first African team since Nigeria in 1998 to win their World Cup group.
Africa fans wish the Lions of Teranga and the Atlas Lions fantastic and historic outcomes!
Notwithstanding the long history of little faith in an African team winning the World Cup.
In about two weeks, we’ll see….
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