What is wrong with Africa teams?

[Gozie51]

African teams in this knockout stage of the world cup have not played to expected end after early lead up to second half, why?

So what reason could you attribute to this abysmal failure that cut across these teams. Senegal lost to Belgium after 2 goals up, Dr Congo had same issue.

Today, Egypt led Argentina up to 78 minutes of the second half by 2 goals and conceded 3 goals within 20 minutes, this is appalling. Although, this is the intrigues in the game but it has become almost like a routine for African teams.

A simple take, so what do we think is the problem?

Could it be lack of energy to conclude their winning?

Could it be defensive errors?

Could it be over confidence?

Could it be wrong substitute or no substitute / coaching crew mistake?

Could it be lack of focus from players and coaching crew?

What do you think?

[Filicius]

African teams in this knockout stage of the world cup have not played to expected end after early lead up to second half, why?

So what reason could you attribute to this abysmal failure that cut across these teams. Senegal lost to Belgium after 2 goals up, Dr Congo had same issue.

Today, Egypt led Argentina up to 78 minutes of the second half by 2 goals and conceded 3 goals within 20 minutes, this is appalling. Although, this is the intrigues in the game but it has become almost like a routine for African teams.

-snip-

I would simply argue that this is football...

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A simple take, so what do we think is the problem?

Could it be lack of energy to conclude their winning?

Could it be defensive errors?

Could it be over confidence?

Could it be wrong substitute or no substitute / coaching crew mistake?

Could it be lack of focus from players and coaching crew?

What do you think?

I think all this is within the expectations that many had before the World Cup started. No African team was favourites and only Morocco and, with many doubts, Egypt and Senegal, started with some chance of winning. And by some chance I don't mean with good odds, but it would have been a rarity.

Most African teams lack quality and experience, and I'm sure that over time they will be able to compete at the highest level, but for the moment expectations are simply being met, except for some surprises in the first games.

[blomen]

i think the final minutes of the world cup are a phase where experience really comes into play. teams like argentina, england, and brazil have played in this tournament countless times and have an advantage over newer, developing teams that could be considered rookies. even if they manage to maintain just a little composure as the match nears its end, they can capitalize on the slightest mistake by their opponent to create an opportunity.

i think that’s what really makes the difference. we’ve seen each african team’s unique style. some were very defensive, while others were capable of pulling off a surprise at any moment. but in the end, they were defeated by some of the best teams in the history of this tournament.

[Ronsbit]

This same pattern has been repeating itself over and over again. We saw it in other teams performance. I was thinking that the African coaches still left would be able look into it and approach it holistically so they don't make repeated mistakes bit still yet they keep failing in this same aspect. The opposition teams are fully aware of this lapses with the African teams and they tend to take advantage of it. I hope Morroco is also doing some observations also so they don't fallout like the rest of the other African teams.

[salad daging]

A simple take, so what do we think is the problem?

African teams are still unable to compete with other European or South American teams, Morocco is the only team left, and even then, it's likely to be eliminated in the quarterfinals by France.
African teams boast many good players, but the best have chosen other countries rather than their home teams, such as some in Europe, that's likely the problem, Overall it could be due to the coaches' lack of tactical expertise and the continent hasn't yet mastered it.

[Italian Panic]

There’s nothing wrong with African teams; it’s just that the best players are snapped up by European clubs, take France, for example, where three quarters of the players could play for African national teams. Furthermore, African teams still have players competing in less competitive leagues; in fact, the African team performing best is Morocco, which is very European in character and whose players compete in top european leagues. They also need to ensure they don’t give up 15 minutes from the end, as we’ve seen in this World Cup.

[Floxynice]

This is really a cause for concern. From my findings, no African team has ever won the World Cup, and this pattern keeps repeating itself every tournament. After Egypt lost to Argentina, I felt worried for the remaining African team. My instinct tells me that history will repeat itself, and Africa's history in the World Cup has not been nice.

Coaches should look into these lapses and fix them. At some point, I thought our players lacked the confidence to face big teams. If that is the case, the coaches should work on building their confidence.

I honestly think that African footballers are not given enough incentive to go the extra mile for their countries. If they were, our very skilled players wouldn't be playing for other countries as seen during every world cup tournament, they should bring the glory to Africa instead. African governments can do better to motivate these players.

[Alphakilo]

A simple take, so what do we think is the problem?

African teams are still unable to compete with other European or South American teams, Morocco is the only team left, and even then, it's likely to be eliminated in the quarterfinals by France.
African teams boast many good players, but the best have chosen other countries rather than their home teams, such as some in Europe, that's likely the problem, Overall it could be due to the coaches' lack of tactical expertise and the continent hasn't yet mastered it.

This issue isn't about if African teams lack the talent or the heart to play football and do well at international tournaments, it's more to do with tactical and systemic vulnerabilities rather than to even consider that it is mere bad luck.
They showed promise and strength and potential, but they lack such kind of world stage tournament maturity, they lack proper execution of tactical play on offense and midfield more than they show in defense and the bench management is not sufficient and enigmatic as it should be, mostly when they come under extreme pressure and need a super sub.
There's still much to be learned and done perfectly, but that is if the corruption in African football is brought to attention and quelled in total.

[POPOLUV]

Let us be honest to ourselves here, it was obvious that Egypt defense was not that strong from the beginning of this FIFA world cup tournament and on the second thought Argentina wasn't too good either and that is why Egypt were able to penetrate on then from the first half of the game but for Egypt to be able to defend the 2 goals they score, was a bit big problem for them, if not i don't see anything that could have make Egypt lose to Argentina, but in generalizing Africa teams as a whole, i don't think if anything is actually wrong with them because most of teams played out there best but they weren't like to win, my advice to all African teams, is for them to improve more when it comes to football.

[Nathrixxx]

Africans are not going to be the only one to made it up to the final so expect other teams as well to join and this is a battle of the fittest, I hope you should even talk about Spain and Portugal experienced yesterday, it's just same way you will discover sports to be unpredictable, those eliminated never wish to have such at this stage, Portugal consider Cape Verde and even Senegal the way you were being thrown out of the tournament.

I'm not only mentioning African countries here, so this is a general experience if you check the gambling board well, there's also a thread that talks about a decline in European performance in the World Cup, so let's not take it as a decline or failure, challenge to meet up for the next one.

[Jegileman]

Football is always full with uncertainties until the final whistle is being blown. One of the reasons I will attribute to this after watching some of these matches is fear, fear of losing in the game and that creates a lot more pressure for them and they racially concede goal because of that. I have also noticed that after they’ve conceded a goal, they concede more because they already lost their guard and have already being disassembled. Africans have great teams in this World Cup and I expected them to go farther than where most of them have been eliminated from the competition. From 9 teams qualifying for the knockout phase to just only 1 remaining to play in the quarterfinals is very bad.

[Issa56]

Could it be lack of energy to conclude their winning?

I feel that should just be the reason, maybe most of the players get tired towards the ending of the match, and they allow their opponents to penetrate easily. It’s surprising how most African countries do make early leads, and they going to end up losing the match, their opponents are always scoring towards the ending of the second half, and that’s why I just think the cause is lack of energy to conclude their winning.

It’s painful to see African countries conceding goals anyhow towards the ending of the match, I don’t really know the cause of that, but I don’t think over confidence should be the reason for that.

[ryzaadit]

Do before Africa Team are goods.

Like in previois world cups, I think is prety simple to see for next team are gonna to passed next round. In team group match to determined qualified for knockout round the match could be unpredictable.

But once we are on KO round, then is easy to predict even just by stats performance. IMO Africa max are always kn 16-32. Next 8, will always EU.

[Makus]

I honestly don't know the reason why African teams are losing in the same pattern, they way they are Losing makes it seem like the games are being sold out because tell me why a team would be leading by 2 goals in the 80th minute and end up losing In full time, this is quite puzzling to me and I cannot understand it. At the end of the day whether people say Argentina weren't supposed to win or not the game is finally over. There's something that's definitely what wrong and needs to be corrected with the African teams before the next world cup.

[Smartvirus]

What’s happening to African teams today has got a lot to do with confidence.

Just look at a team like Cape Verde, they don’t have the squad, they know that but, they’ve got a lot of confidence in their goalie, almost up to the point that, they’ve don’t mind going all out when they want to be on the offense and when it’s about defense, they are conscious enough to fall back and get the job done.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t mange the extra time.

For these teams like Egypt and Senegal, they hold out a good game, only to mess it all up in the final minutes. That’s just another level of bad performance and poor game management from the manager.

[EluguHcman]

A simple take, so what do we think is the problem?

As much as I know, the games has been going very fairly so i should believe you don't think the FIFA officials are rigging the match against the African teams? because such mentality will be dwelling in the mindset of many who with the impression the African teams had earlier started with tends to see them (African team) coming to the headlines victoriously in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Asking what the problem of their slacking is should be something that even the players, coach or anyone can not answer you genuinely because it is a competitive event that even when you put your best, it may not be enough to defeat the opponents.

Perhaps after all the big teams leading the tournament comes to an end, there will just be one country to win the world Cup champion where there was seven continents that participated in the event.

[Versatile_choice]

Op! There's nothing wrong with africa teams, that's football for you. Although thier performances lately is quite questionable, for example; Argentina vs Egypt imagine Egypt was leading with 2 goals in the 70th minutes then I was very confident that egypt would qualify. But I was surprised when I Left my room only for me to return back and discovered that argentina has equalized the two goals, and the funniest part is they even won, it was indeed a very nice come back for argentin and a very surprising one. Now it's only one africa team remaining and that's morocco if I'm not mistake who knows how things is going to play for them.

[Davidvictorson]

There’s nothing wrong with African teams; it’s just that the best players are snapped up by European clubs, take France, for example, where three quarters of the players could play for African national teams. Furthermore, African teams still have players competing in less competitive leagues; in fact, the African team performing best is Morocco, which is very European in character and whose players compete in top european leagues. They also need to ensure they don’t give up 15 minutes from the end, as we’ve seen in this World Cup.

Very spot on.
I couldn’t have said it better.
One thing I would add is that the football federation in most African countries have made the climate either too hostile or mediocre for players to play as a team.

To add further, one of the coaches said it is always at the 86th minutes that most African teams that are already ahead lose it and this just concluded game is a clear example.

I hope the Moroccans are taking a cue.

[LGD2Business]

What did you expect? African teams have never done well in the World Cup. When have they ever made it to the final or the semi final? How many times have they even reached that level? For them, making it to the quarter final or even the round of 16 is a huge achievement. How many teams do you expect to make it this far? There are already 6-7 very strong European teams and 2-3 South American teams. In every tournament these teams reach the semi final and beyond. There aren't many surprises in the World Cup.

This year Morocco pulled off a major feat by reaching the quarter final. The other teams didn't make it this far. Frankly none of them really deserved to be here. Egypt might have made it, but they played terribly in the last 15 minutes and deserved to lose.

You're complaining about the African teams, but there aren't any Asian teams either. The Asians don't come and ask why aren't we in the final? because they're aware of their capabilities.

[Onyeeze]

Football match is not predictable and that is why a match a remaining minute can change the story of that match, based on the initial performance of the match it is cleared out Egypt is supposed to win Argentina but it turn out that Argentina won Egypt it is because of it is unpredictable and at at the same time being predictable if you are lucky to predict it and correctly, so I cannot blame Egypt they have tried their best,  but football luck was not with them,