PHILADELPHIA - It may not be 2010 anymore, but this one's for Africa as the Confederation of African Football has sent nine of their 10 teams in the World Cup to the knockout stages, and they didn't just squeak through with five of those teams finishing in the top two of their groups and the other four going through as third-placed teams. Cabo Verde, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and South Africa all qualified. Tunisia were the only team out of Africa to not advance, facing a challenging group in the Netherlands, Japan and Sweden.
South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cabo Verde, and DR Congo all qualified for the knockouts for the first time in their history, and Cabo Verde became the first World Cup debutant since 2010 to make the knockout stages in their first tournament. In 2022, only Senegal and Morocco made it to the knockouts.
"It says what it needs to say on the tin. I think for a long time African nations have been, you know, doubted in what they could do at major competitions," Ghana forward Brandon Thomas-Asante said after the Black Stars lost to Croatia but still advanced. "And I'm glad to see so much success among all of the African nations, and it just shows how much talent there is all across the world. And Africa is no different, and I think that will continue to show itself and hopefully records being broken, of course, we want to do that ourselves, but yeah, I think it's only a positive thing."
There has been a clear growth in African soccer, and it's paying dividends as these teams have young stars such as former Florida prep product Yan Diomande, Ayyoub Bouaddi, and others, and they've been able to sell a vision of what one can accomplish playing for an African nation that has players who may be eligible for other national teams now staying with African sides.
"It's big for all the African countries," Ghana's Kamaldeen Sulemana added. "I think everybody is improving. Um, there are very good national teams in Africa, and I think you can see it in this World Cup."
With Morocco finishing fourth in the 2022 World Cup, African teams are gaining respect on the global stage, and with Cabo Verde getting a draw against Spain and Uruguay, DR Congo drawing Portugal, and Ghana drawing England, they're continuing to show that they can keep up with other nations around the world, but now is when it gets real.
For true growth to continue, more of these teams will need to survive the round of 32 because if most of them get knocked out, it can be chalked up to expansion, but it seems to be more than that. At times, African teams can be boxed in and referred to as sides who use pace and power to overwhelm their opponents, but that couldn't be further from the case at this World Cup. These teams have used shrewd tactics, trickery, and squad rotation to get to this point, and they should be recognized for that.
Their road forward begins on Sunday with South Africa facing host nation Canada in Los Angeles, but after defying the odds to get out of Group A, they're going to continue to push, even facing another strong side in the Canucks, fully eager to prove that the group stage was not a fluke.
