Written by Sandile Van Heerden
While South African football continues to stagnate, football fans across the country and continent still had a reason to cheer during the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
While we can only guess who will win the event come December 18, this will go down as one of the most successful showings by Africa.
For the first time in the history of the competition, all five representatives (Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia) registered wins in the group stage.
Even more impressive was that those victories came against highly respected opponents such as Brazil, Belgium, France, and Ecuador.
The story got even better once the world cup moved into the knockout stage.
Morocco proved to be the surprise package and darlings of the tournament eliminating Spain in the Round of 16.
To prove that their achievement was no fluke they then beat Portugal in the quarterfinals to set a date with defending champions France in the semis.
Having failed to have an African country advance from the group stages in Russia four years earlier, these performances were exactly what the continent needed ahead of the 2026 World Cup which will see the competition expanded from 32 teams to 48.
Because of Morocco’s efforts, Africa is now guaranteed 10 spots for the next Fifa World Cup, and let’s hope South Africa will be a part of those festivities in North America.
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