How Far Can African Teams Go This World Cup?

The FIFA World Cup features players from all around the world, from different continents. This blog post will focus on teams representing the African continent.

While we have to wait for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to see more than five representatives from Africa feature at a World Cup, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia all have players representing the team at the mundial.

And with the tournament starting on Thursday, it has not been a great tournament for African representatives so far. On Friday, two African teams played their first game of the World Cup… and lost.

First, it was Egypt losing 0-1 to Uruguay before Morocco contrived to lose their opening game against Iran. These two results definitely put the qualification of both teams in question. And it, in one way or the other, may have affected the psyche of the remaining three remaining African teams still yet to play their first game of the tourney.

But all in all, how far can these African teams go at the World Cup?

1. Egypt

The Pharaohs struggled without Mohamed Salah in their opening game. Several chances went begging because the Liverpool talisman was not on the field of play. After the first loss of the tournament, Egypt’s qualification hangs in the balance. They now have to at least not lose their next game to stand a chance.

2. Morocco

Herve Renard’s men, surprisingly, lost the first game against Iran. In a group that contains Portugal and Spain, qualification out of the group has become *mission impossible* for the North African side. Their two remaining games – against Portugal and Spain – will be more than difficult to win.

3. Nigeria

The first game is most crucial for any team that wants to qualify out of the group. Win it and you’re well on your way to playing in the knockout stages of the tournament. Lose it and you might as well be on your way out of the tournament. For Nigeria, losing her opening game was a huge setback with the group of death we found ourselves in.

4. Tunisia

They’re in the same group with major names like Belgium, England and another dark horse in Panama. It looks tough already for the Tunisians, but it is football and anything can happen.

5. Senegal

One of the brightest teams representing the continent, the Senegalese team will be looking to make it out of a group that has Poland, Colombia and Japan. It’s one of the toughest groups of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the question remains whether they will be able to make it out of the group alive.

With five representatives, how many African teams will make it out of the group stages? Leave us a comment and share your thoughts with us.