Africa's World Cup record dismal
Africa's World Cup record dismal
Posted: 2010-03-17 16:16
The draw has not been kind to African sides at this year's 2010 World Cup, but then their record of making it out of the first round of the competition has been pretty dismal over the years.
Of the 30 times that an African side has played in the finals, they have only reached the second round on six occasions.
Egypt was the first African nation to play at the finals, way back in 1934 when the tournament was hosted in Italy. They exited at the first stage, as did Morocco in 1970, the second team to compete after an enormous gap of 36 years.
It did not get much better for Zaire (1974), now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tunisia (1974), Cameroon (1982) and the Algerians (1982 and 1986).
The first side to progress was in fact the Morocco team who competed at the 1986 finals in Mexico, where they finished top of their group which also included England, Poland and Portugal. They lost 1-0 in the second round to eventual finalists Germany.
But then came the Cameroon side of Italia 90. Led by the evergreen Roger Milla, they beat defending champions Argentina in the opening match and went all the way to the quarterfinals where they were finally beaten 3-2 by England, but only after extra-time and having run Sir Bobby Robson’s side extremely close.
Since then, an African side has progressed from the group stages at every finals tournament.
Nigeria did so at USA 94 where they were unlucky to lose in the second round to finalists Italy, with only the brilliance of Roberto Baggio ending the dream for the Super Eagles.
The Nigerians repeated the feat at France 98, where South Africa debuted at the tournament but ended up going home early. But this time the Super Eagles were humbled 4-1 by the Danish in the second round, a team who Bafana Bafana had drawn 1-1 with in the group stages.
Senegal set the world alight in the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, beating France in their first match and going all the way to the quarterfinals, where they eventually lost to Turkey.
Finally, it was Ghana who made it beyond the group stages in Germany 06 with some fantastic displays against the Czech Republic (2-0) and United States (2-1), but they were beaten 3-0 by Carlos Alberto Parreira's Brazil in the second stage
AFRICAN RECORD AT THE WORLD CUP
1934
Egypt: First Round
1970
Morocco: First Round
1974
Zaire: First Round
1978
Tunisia: First Round
1982
Cameroon: First Round
Algeria: First Round
1986
Algeria: First Round
Morocco: Second Round
1990
Cameroon: Quarterfinals
Egypt: First Round
1994
Cameroon: First Round
Morocco: First Round
Nigeria: Second Round
1998
Morocco: First Round
South Africa: First Round
Cameroon: First Round
Nigeria: Second Round
Tunisia: First Round
2002
Senegal: Quarterfinals
South Africa: First Round
Cameroon: First Round
Nigeria: First Round
Tunisia: First Round
2006
Ivory Coast: First Round
Angola: First Round
Ghana: Second Round
Togo: First Round
Tunisia: First Round
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