African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 FIFA WorldCup 2026.

[Doan9269]

The world cup final was worth the hype and despite the fact that Argentina was frustrated all through the game from making any real impact, they were conscious of the fact that football is a game of numbers and focused on their defense all through the game. Spain was excellent and they displayed the highest level of team work with their tiki taka style of game.

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

[Sim_card]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals. A lot of Argentina fans and supporters were shocked to see how Spain took full control of the game. Argentina was praying for the match to extend to a penalty shootout but they don't deserve it.

[Doan9269]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals. A lot of Argentina fans and supporters were shocked to see how Spain took full control of the game. Argentina was praying for the match to extend to a penalty shootout but they don't deserve it.

On the other hand, I'm not also being surprised because something like this is now getting common with finals, if you just take a look at the way the last season of UEFA champions League ended with PSG winning against Arsenal, when everyone already taught on the possible outcome to be in a particular direction and before you know it, the entire show come in a different way and you discover that many we are just wrong about their perception, while not until the match begins before they realized for this, Spain already made it and the entire world recognized it.

[Sim_card]

On the other hand, I'm not also being surprised because something like this is now getting common with finals, if you just take a look at the way the last season of UEFA champions League ended with PSG winning against Arsenal, when everyone already taught on the possible outcome to be in a particular direction and before you know it, the entire show come in a different way and you discover that many we are just wrong about their perception, while not until the match begins before they realized for this, Spain already made it and the entire world recognized it.

Football is an unpredictable game because it doesn't go as expected most times and this is where gambling comes in since everyone wants to make profit from the games and most people end up losing because they bet on the wrong club to win the game. However, the odds were against Argentina to win that game but it's not all the time that the bookies are correct.

[reagansimms]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals. A lot of Argentina fans and supporters were shocked to see how Spain took full control of the game. Argentina was praying for the match to extend to a penalty shootout but they don't deserve it.

This proves that the tactics used by Luis de la Fuente are very effective, the Spanish players managed to make Argentina look like a small team that was unable to develop its game, so that they did not get a single shot on target in the normal 90 minutes. I saw Luis de la Fuente not using a fast pressing game like Jurgen Klopp often uses, he instead used a trap pressing tactic by letting the Argentine players control the ball in their own area, but when they started to cross the halfway line, the Argentine players were immediately surrounded by Spanish players, resulting in attack creators like Enzo Fernandez, Nico and De Paul being forced to send the ball back.

Spain wingers also played very disciplined, successfully closing down the passing lanes to Messi and Alvarez. Messi was forced to drop too deep to pick up the ball. As soon as he tried to build an attack, several Spanish players blocked him, leaving Alvarez isolated, leaving Argentina with no shooting opportunities due to the lack of ball supply. Tactically, Spain played so perfectly that Argentina didn't look like a strong team.

[SuperBitMan]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals. A lot of Argentina fans and supporters were shocked to see how Spain took full control of the game. Argentina was praying for the match to extend to a penalty shootout but they don't deserve it.

Those that were supporting Argentina was so embarrassed with their performance, they never believed Spain was going to actually mess up Argentina the way they did.
Spain came prepared and they were ready to lift the World Cup, Argentina didn’t play anything, Spain was in total control of the match from the beginning to the end. Spain would have scored many goals in that match but they were just so unfortunate because of the Argentina goalkeeper he saved a lot of ball, I most confidence his a very good and talented goalkeeper and he saved them from more embarrassment.

[Rruchi man]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals. A lot of Argentina fans and supporters were shocked to see how Spain took full control of the game. Argentina was praying for the match to extend to a penalty shootout but they don't deserve it.

This proves that the tactics used by Luis de la Fuente are very effective, the Spanish players managed to make Argentina look like a small team that was unable to develop its game, so that they did not get a single shot on target in the normal 90 minutes.

Lionel Messi had carried the Argentina team long enough in the competition, and it was time for another player to turn up for them, but it did not work out because the difference between this World Cup final and the last World Cup final, the one Argentina won against France, is that there was another Argentina player who was doing damage at his own end, so even when the French team was able to close down Lionel Messi and place a lot of defenders around him, it opened up space for another player, Angel Di Maria, to do damage from his end.

The performance from the other Argentina players was not consistent enough.

[snipie]

I had to check twice the name of the thread because the whole page was about FIFA World Cup and precisely Argentina vs Spain.
I was interested more in the ranking of the African nations according to FIFA after the World Cup and no surprises to see Morocco the first in the continent and 6th in the World.
Obviously Spain is the first, then Argentina, France, England and Brazil.
Germany is 12th for example, Italy 15th although not playing the World Cup.
Senegal is the 2nd in the continent and 18th in the World. The gap is quite big between them and Morocco.
Egypt is 3rd and Nigeria is 4th in Africa while being 24th and 26th in the World respectively. Algeria is 5th and sitting in the 29th position.
Five teams in the first 30 teams doesn't seem to be as bad. The problem that all these nations could do way better especially Nigeria than didn't play the competition, yet their position is quite interesting.

[Ishicryptic]

On the other hand, I'm not also being surprised because something like this is now getting common with finals, if you just take a look at the way the last season of UEFA champions League ended with PSG winning against Arsenal, when everyone already taught on the possible outcome to be in a particular direction and before you know it, the entire show come in a different way and you discover that many we are just wrong about their perception, while not until the match begins before they realized for this, Spain already made it and the entire world recognized it.

Football is an unpredictable game because it doesn't go as expected most times and this is where gambling comes in since everyone wants to make profit from the games and most people end up losing because they bet on the wrong club to win the game. However, the odds were against Argentina to win that game but it's not all the time that the bookies are correct.

If sports predictions were always accurate there wouldn't be anything like gambling, everybody would guess right and there wouldn't be any bet sites to stake games but the opposite is reality of football, anything can happen before the final whistle. Argentina, gave a good fight and a lot of bettors placed bet for them to win because of their narrow escape to come from goals down to equalize and win their matches, unfortunately it didn't happen with Spain, who's strategy were different from the other Argentina, opponents. A lot of analysts were predicting a France versus England, final but it didn't happen, they fell into third and fourth place which is not bad. The lesson for us bettors here is that we shouldn't be carried away by our analysis so we should always use small amounts that we are comfortable to lose.

[Rockson1]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

The game of soccer is like that sometimes, I know of many people that supported Argentina because of messi, they were all disappointed with the outcome of the match, although in football especially in the finals, it is only one among the competing teams that will celebrate either before 90minutes, extra time, added extra time or penalty shootout, Argentina did all they could earlier before the final but the final was difficult for them because they met with a team that is more determined to take the trophy home, the match was very bad for Argentina, Spain was every where and there nothing left for Argentina to do except playing defensively.
Spain victory is deserving, their performance throughout the FIFA world cup tournament for this year was remarkable, congratulations to them.

[Baki202]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

It was an unexpected occurrence, but I expected it to happen because I knew that Spain would come prepared, and despite how tight all directions were, it was a difficult one for Argentina. Another thing now is that I was impressed with how Spain was just focused on how they could score that one goal, and the moment they were able to score that one goal, that was what changed everything. I can bet you that almost everyone wanted Spain to win, and if Argentina had won, the Internet would have been on fire because they will want to shame Ronaldo at all cost.

And since Messi was unable to win this one, they are now saying that Messi has at least won it in comparison to Ronaldo, but what they don't realize is that just because Ronaldo did not win the World Cup does not mean that we will hate him; we love him with all our hearts and he is still our goat, so if they think we will hate Ronaldo, they should stop joking because we will love him even more.

[SatoPrincess]

Lionel Messi had carried the Argentina team long enough in the competition, and it was time for another player to turn up for them

I wouldn’t say Messi “carried” the Argentina team in the World Cup. The team was built around him and the players were more than happy to create chances for him to score. When I hear the phrase “carried the team”, the standard in my head is Luka Modric in Croatia’s World Cup run.

And since Messi was unable to win this one, they are now saying that Messi has at least won it in comparison to Ronaldo, but what they don't realize is that just because Ronaldo did not win the World Cup does not mean that we will hate him; we love him with all our hearts and he is still our goat, so if they think we will hate Ronaldo, they should stop joking because we will love him even more.

At this point, it’s too late to convince any football fan who is the GOAT is. We have all picked our favorite and supported them throughout the years. Personally, I think the debate is pointless.

[Oluwa-btc]

I wouldn’t say Messi “carried” the Argentina team in the World Cup. The team was built around him and the players were more than happy to create chances for him to score. When I hear the phrase “carried the team”, the standard in my head is Luka Modric in Croatia’s World Cup run.

These Lionel Messi fans are tiring. They will say anything to back him up. That statement undermines the midfielders bullying oppositions  and also the defenders making sure that they shield the backline properly. The game against England should also be enough to show you how Dibu Martinez performed, he made good enough saves to keep them hopes high up.
I'm in agreement with the description for Luka Modric,  just the way he did during the 2018 and 2022 fifa World Cup Competition.

I love the fact that the Cape Verde goalkeeper was involved as the only African who was involved in the FIFA XI

[CryptSafe]

I had to check twice the name of the thread because the whole page was about FIFA World Cup and precisely Argentina vs Spain.
I was interested more in the ranking of the African nations according to FIFA after the World Cup and no surprises to see Morocco the first in the continent and 6th in the World.
Obviously Spain is the first, then Argentina, France, England and Brazil.
Germany is 12th for example, Italy 15th although not playing the World Cup.
Senegal is the 2nd in the continent and 18th in the World. The gap is quite big between them and Morocco.
Egypt is 3rd and Nigeria is 4th in Africa while being 24th and 26th in the World respectively. Algeria is 5th and sitting in the 29th position.
Five teams in the first 30 teams doesn't seem to be as bad. The problem that all these nations could do way better especially Nigeria than didn't play the competition, yet their position is quite interesting.

I will agree with you that the African teams are currently in a better form than they used to be.  Morroco of course leads the African teams in football rankings as they have improved much better over the years. Morroco took sports development seriously as they invested heavily in it attracting their youths into sports as they began to make available sports facilities which could enhance sports activities and functions in their country. This gave them an edge over every other African nations in sports as they began hosting of African Cup of Nations Nd other sport's activities.

While other top African nations have their players in the European leagues most especially Nigeria and also the presence of their coaches matters as some African nations engage the services of a foreign experienced coach who will guide and train their teams on bringing our the best from rhem

[Fivestar4everMVP]

On the other hand, I'm not also being surprised because something like this is now getting common with finals, if you just take a look at the way the last season of UEFA champions League ended with PSG winning against Arsenal, when everyone already taught on the possible outcome to be in a particular direction and before you know it, the entire show come in a different way and you discover that many we are just wrong about their perception, while not until the match begins before they realized for this, Spain already made it and the entire world recognized it.

Football is an unpredictable game because it doesn't go as expected most times and this is where gambling comes in since everyone wants to make profit from the games and most people end up losing because they bet on the wrong club to win the game. However, the odds were against Argentina to win that game but it's not all the time that the bookies are correct.

Definitely a good proof that the game aren't rigged, and this is where both the bookies and the bettors get a leveled and fair playing ground, the bookies want to make sure they are right in their judgement so they can makes as much money as possible from bettors who bet against their own decision( I mean the bookies decision), and on the other hand, the bettors are hoping they are right with their prediction so they can make money from the bookies.

This is what makes betting very interesting anyways, because I bet if match outcomes were easily predictable, betting wouldnt have been possible, we can draw a good example from wwe (wrestling) where even before a fight starts, it is easy to tell who the winner is going to be.

[SatoPrincess]

I wouldn’t say Messi “carried” the Argentina team in the World Cup. The team was built around him and the players were more than happy to create chances for him to score. When I hear the phrase “carried the team”, the standard in my head is Luka Modric in Croatia’s World Cup run.

These Lionel Messi fans are tiring. They will say anything to back him up. That statement undermines the midfielders bullying oppositions  and also the defenders making sure that they shield the backline properly. The game against England should also be enough to show you how Dibu Martinez performed, he made good enough saves to keep them hopes high up.
I'm in agreement with the description for Luka Modric,  just the way he did during the 2018 and 2022 fifa World Cup Competition.

I love the fact that the Cape Verde goalkeeper was involved as the only African who was involved in the FIFA XI

The above image is an illustration of the five teams in the World Cups.
Some fans just cannot accept that Messi could not win the World Cup. I saw a lot of negative comments when Portugal were knocked out, it was all on Ronaldo. But Argentina losing the final can never be Messi’s fault, it must be the incompetency of his teammates.

[Bobrox]

I had to check twice the name of the thread because the whole page was about FIFA World Cup and precisely Argentina vs Spain.
I was interested more in the ranking of the African nations according to FIFA after the World Cup and no surprises to see Morocco the first in the continent and 6th in the World.
Obviously Spain is the first, then Argentina, France, England and Brazil.
Germany is 12th for example, Italy 15th although not playing the World Cup.
Senegal is the 2nd in the continent and 18th in the World. The gap is quite big between them and Morocco.
Egypt is 3rd and Nigeria is 4th in Africa while being 24th and 26th in the World respectively. Algeria is 5th and sitting in the 29th position.
Five teams in the first 30 teams doesn't seem to be as bad. The problem that all these nations could do way better especially Nigeria than didn't play the competition, yet their position is quite interesting.

I will agree with you that the African teams are currently in a better form than they used to be.  Morroco of course leads the African teams in football rankings as they have improved much better over the years. Morroco took sports development seriously as they invested heavily in it attracting their youths into sports as they began to make available sports facilities which could enhance sports activities and functions in their country. This gave them an edge over every other African nations in sports as they began hosting of African Cup of Nations Nd other sport's activities.

While other top African nations have their players in the European leagues most especially Nigeria and also the presence of their coaches matters as some African nations engage the services of a foreign experienced coach who will guide and train their teams on bringing our the best from rhem

Moeocco is one of the best African teams had concistent performance during last edition of world cup two time in a row, last world cup 2022 in Qatar, Morocco reached to semifinal round and the world cup 2026 success qualify until quarter final round. Difficult reache by other African teama when participating in World Cup indeed this world cup edition have many African teams qualified to round of 32 but only Morocco can reach until quarter final.
Many top players who playing for the top Europe club but returning back to the national teams get difficulty how to perform well to help their national team reach higher stage in world cup.

[Wakate]

I'm sure Argentina never saw this coming and that was why everything came to them at unaware, even though with all this, I still don't expect them to perform the way they did because it shows that the game wasn't meant for them as they are totally out of the play and can't afford to place a significant impact, Spain made it beyond our expectations and took the trophy by merit, which is obvious to everyone that they did well to have deserve where to they had, everything just seem like a dream to Argentina and the same appear to Spain when they discover they won at last.

The game of soccer is like that sometimes, I know of many people that supported Argentina because of messi, they were all disappointed with the outcome of the match, although in football especially in the finals, it is only one among the competing teams that will celebrate either before 90minutes, extra time, added extra time or penalty shootout, Argentina did all they could earlier before the final but the final was difficult for them because they met with a team that is more determined to take the trophy home, the match was very bad for Argentina, Spain was every where and there nothing left for Argentina to do except playing defensively.
Spain victory is deserving, their performance throughout the FIFA world cup tournament for this year was remarkable, congratulations to them.

The game of soccer is quite competitive and fans that are not aware of the risk in football will end up being too emotional when their team lose matches. In my little beginning when I started watching football matches then, I used to get too emotional when my team loses and that can make me not to eat for for days because I was not happy with the outcome of my team losing.

It will become a worse scenerio for someone that is losing bets everytime and unable to cope with the loses. Gambling is not fun and anyone that don't have full control of their emotions should watch ball only and never involve in gambling.

[Issa56]

Zero shot on target and only two goal attempts is embarrassing to me because I thought Argentina will bring it on to Spain 18 yard box just like they did to the rest clubs they played with before the finals.

I will say most people expected Argentina to play well in the match, it’s not really easy for a team to get to the World Cup final, so everyone were just expecting a interesting final, and we didn’t know Argentina will end up playing defensive game in the final. I don’t really know why they were even scared to attack in the match, how will a team get to the World Cup final, and they going to play a defensive game.

The most surprising thing is how they played 90 minutes without getting even 1 shot, that’s not the kind of performance we expected in World Cup final, Argentina didn’t perform so well in the final, they blocked their defense that was why it was difficult for Spain to score in the match.

[igebotz]

----

I agree with some of your point. When we talk about infrastructural development, North Africa is ahead of us, not only in terms of sporting activities but in almost all aspects. Nigeria is not far behind but we have problem of mismanagement.

But 80% poorly run is probably not applicable to Nigeria. Since last year, our local league has improved immensely and the champions reward also increased. We also have about 8 or more players that are regular starters in their respective clubs in Europe top leagues.

If this is a determinant for winning world cup, Nigeria can not be definitely ruled out. Our major problem is instability because there's no way you'll build a solid project under four different managers in space of four years.

The last time the super eagles Won the AFCON and qualified for the WC we had about 10-20% of home based players in the team and some also in starting lineup- it was an home based player that scored the goal that won us the 2013 AFCON trophy.

You need players who are hungry and have everything to lose not some players who are already playing in Europe who are more committed to their club than the national team. We don't give chance to those people and that's one of our problems.