The last few minutes! …how Africa let the World Cup slip away
NINETY minutes! That is all Africa needed – not 90 spectacular minutes. Not 90 flawless minutes. Just 90 disciplined minutes!
Instead, one African team after another watched a promising World Cup campaign collapse in the closing moments, turning what should have been the continent’s greatest tournament into one of its cruelest.
The scoreboard kept repeating the same cruel script: Eighty-sixth minute. Eighty-ninth minute. Ninety-second minute. Ninety-third minute. Extra time!
One after another, African dreams died within touching distance of history.
For once, Africa looked ready to rewrite World Cup history. Nine of its 10 representatives in the expanded 48-team tournament – Morocco, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, DR Congo, Cape Verde, Ghana, South Africa and Algeria – survived the group stage, raising genuine hopes that the continent’s long-awaited breakthrough had finally arrived.
Tunisia was the only African side to fall at the group stage, finishing without a point after heavy defeats to Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands.
Yet, their disappointing campaign could not overshadow what was otherwise Africa’s strongest collective group-stage performance at a World Cup.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when Africa had five representatives, only Morocco and Senegal progressed beyond the group stage. Four years later, with nine teams reaching the knockout rounds, expectations had never been higher.
But it turned out to be a mirage.
What made Africa’s exits so painful was not merely the defeats themselves, but the excruciating manner in which they unfolded. Time and again, victory slipped through the continent’s fingers in the dying moments as avoidable late goals turned hope into heart-ache.
Côte d’Ivoire were the first to feel the sting of the dying minutes. After squandering a host of opportunities against Norway, the Elephants appeared to have rescued themselves when Amad Diallo levelled in the 74th minute.
But just as they looked set to force extra time, concentration deserted them. In the 86th minute, Erling Haaland struck the decisive blow, leaving the Ivorians wondering how a winnable contest had slipped through their fingers.
If the Ivorian collapse was heart-breaking, it was merely the opening chapter. Just hold on – it would soon pale into insignificance. The real agony was still to come.
At 2-0, Senegal had one foot in the quarter-finals. Belgium looked beaten. Then came the collapse. A goal in the 86th minute. Another in the 89th. Suddenly extra time. Then, in the 125th minute, Youri Tielemans buried the decisive penalty.
In the space of one unforgettable collapse, Senegal had gone from celebration to devastation.
Again, after taking a seventh minute lead against England through Brian Cipenga, Congo DR went into the recess with plenty potential of the team to upset the applecart, but some defensive frailties saw them lose the advantage – falling to the sword of Harry Kane – whose double strike (75th and 86th) did enough damage.
Come to think of it, South Africa also crashed out to Canada in another heart-throbbing manner, after being slashed with a fatal 93rd minute goal by captain Stephen Eustáquio.
Then came the match that broke Africa’s heart further.
The Egyptian Pharaohs were on the verge of staging one of the biggest upsets of the tournament after racing into a 2-0 lead over Lionel Messi’s Argentina with just 11 minutes remaining.
Yet, even before the dramatic collapse, controversy had cast a huge shadow over the contest. Two minutes after the hour mark, Mostafa Zico thought he had doubled Egypt’s advantage, only for VAR to chalk off the goal after spotting a foul in the build-up.
The decision left the Pharaohs furious and handed Argentina a lifeline.
That lifeline proved decisive as Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute before Messi restored parity four minutes later. Egypt’s agony deepened in stoppage time when Enzo Fernández headed home the winner in the 92nd minute, finishing a stunning come-back that shattered African hearts.
The frustration of the Pharaohs was compounded moments earlier when their appeals for a penalty after Hamdy Fathy went down under a challenge were ignored. Instead of pointing to the spot, play continued. Argentina poured forward – and moments later, Fernández delivered the coup de grâce
The controversy will dominate conversations for years, but it should not obscure another disquieting reality. Egypt still had both hands on the steering wheel. Had they shown greater composure, stronger game management and the discipline to see out the closing minutes, the Pharaohs would have denied Argentina any opportunity for a dramatic comeback.
With one African giant after another falling, all eyes turned to Morocco to halt the trend after earlier dispatching co-host Canada 3-0 in the last 16, but they also crumbled to the firepower of France – bowing 2-0.
That result meant the Atlas Lions failed to make it to the semis, a feat they convincingly achieved four years ago in Qatar – to become the first African side to do so.
Clearly, the African contingent seemed to take their eyes off the ball at the crucial dying moments, raising pertinent questions about game management.
Several days after crashing out, many are still wondering what exactly is holding African football back at the decisive moments? Is it poor coaching? Fatigue? A fragile mentality? Ineffective game management? Lack of experience? Player indiscipline? Or is it simply an inability to cope with pressure when victory is within touching distance?
Others opined that inexperience at the personal level may have played a silent role in the African story.
Due to long absences from the global stage, countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Congo DR, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and debutants Cape Verde had entirely fresh rosters – meaning all 26 players on each team were making their personal World Cup debuts.
Only a few African sides brought proven tournament veterans to the table.
However, popular Argentine football enthusiast Danny Fort thinks Africa’s biggest obstacle is neither talent, tactics nor experience, but mentality and discipline.
“I have followed the African game for a while now and I have a strong conviction they can conquer the world in the next few years if they are able to hold tightly to their composure and discipline,” he told the Times Sports.
Ironically, Africa’s smallest nation may have left the biggest impression. World Cup debutants, Cape Verde, never reached the Round of 16, yet they earned admiration across the globe for refusing to surrender against far more illustrious opponents.
They thought the football world the true meaning of the adage: it is not about the size of the dog in a fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
Some say they were the true ambassadors of the African game at the Mundial, fighting for every ball with ruthless intensity.
With just a little over 500,000 population, the Islanders gave Argentina a real scare, pushing them to their last limit – twice coming from behind before an ill-fated 110th-minute own goal settled matters.
Perhaps, Cape Verde were the only African side that did everything right and who knows what could have happened had the game travelled into the lottery of shoot-out?
Indeed, Africa did not lose because it lacked talent. It stumbled because it repeatedly failed to finish what it had brilliantly begun.
What the continent needs is the discipline to protect victories, the courage to manage pressure and the composure to cross the finish line.
The gap between Africa and the world’s elite is no longer measured by skill. It is measured by moments.
And, until Africa learns to master those moments, the World Cup’s biggest prize will remain painfully close – yet agonisingly out of reach.
The 2030 World Cup will offer Africa another chance to dream. By then, the continent will not need better footballers.
It will need better endings – because history has shown that Africa can match the world’s finest for 80 minutes, even 85 – and beyond.
The challenge is lasting the full ninety – and protecting the prize!
BY JOHN VIGAH
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