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Africa had a historic 10-nation qualifier for the 2026 World Cup. After Congo’s 3-1 win over Uzbekistan and Algeria’s stunning 3-3 draw against Austria on Saturday night, nine teams are destined for the knockout stage.
The previous record was two.
After 17 days of competition, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Congo and Algeria have qualified for the round of 32.
Morocco were the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals four years ago in Qatar and look capable of going deeper, having already held Brazil to a 1-1 draw. He is co-host of the next edition of the World Cup in 2030.
Only six African countries had qualified for the knockout stage (many of them multiple times). The most in the same year were two, in 2014 and ’22.
This year’s tournament demonstrated that the strength of African football runs deep, with Cape Verde and Congo both surprise names in the round of 32.
Congo have a tough task facing England, but for now the team is immersed in the moment.
“It’s really historic for our country, Congo,” forward Fiston Mayele said after the match. “It’s the first victory and the first knockout stage. Today I have to be proud here, and almost everywhere in my country everyone is happy with what we did. We are proud to be Congolese and I think we will move forward.”
Mayele scored a goal in the 78th minute, sandwiched between two scores from Yoane Wissa: a penalty kick in the 68th minute and another in stoppage time.
Algeria advances after the most emotional finale to a World Cup match this year. They drew 2-all with Austria in stoppage time and looked content to play for the equalizer until captain Riyad Mahrez suddenly scored for the go-ahead goal. Austria responded two minutes later on the final play of the match, but the equalizer was still enough to advance both teams.
After Congo’s victory, with the player’s trophy by his side, Wissa described the long road his country had to travel to get to this point.
“It’s only the second time we participate in the World Cup, 52 years later. We started qualifying for the World Cup four years ago with this group,” Wissa said.
“In the first match against Portugal, you drew. You lost against Colombia. Now you’re losing one-nil after (10) minutes, so yes, nothing is easy in football. We just have to show resilience, and when a moment like this comes, you have to enjoy it, because it’s not easy.”
Wissa hopes that the success of this World Cup shows that the future is bright for African football clubs with young talent leading the way.
“Now every African team can dream big. In the last World Cup, Morocco reached the semi-finals. Now I think there are eight teams,” Wissa said.
“What comes next is good for African teams, and we can see that now younger players come first, and we showed our team with (Noah) Sadiki, (Ngal’ayel) Mukau, so it’s good and shows that our federation can dream big.”
ESPN
