KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Africa set a record by sending nine of its teams to the knockout rounds of the World Cup.
Seven of them were KO'd in the first round.
Ghana was the last African team to play in the Round of 32 on Friday night, and the white-clad Black Stars went down with a whimper in a 1-0 loss to Colombia. That left only Morocco, which made a surprising run to the semifinals four years ago in Qatar, and Egypt to carry the hopes of the continent
when they play for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Morocco faces Canada in the first Round of 16 matchup on Saturday in Houston. Egypt survived a shootout with Australia earlier on Friday to earn a date with Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina on Tuesday in Atlanta.
La Albiceleste nearly made history of their own at the expense of Cape Verde on Friday, when the tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa took them to extra time. Argentina ultimately prevailed 3-2 in one of the best matches of the tournament.
“It’s a source of great pride so many African teams qualified for the round of 32,” Congo coach Sébastien Desabre said.
Africa has never sent three teams to the Round of 16. The most is two, when Senegal advanced alongside Morocco four years ago, and at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, when Algeria and Nigeria both made it — and were promptly beaten.
“For a long time, African nations have been doubted in what they can do at major competitions,” Ghana forward Brandon Thomas-Asante said earlier this week, “and I'm glad to see so much success among all the African nations, and it just shows much talent there is all across the world, and Africa is no different.”
Indeed, even in defeat, African teams acquitted themselves well at the World Cup.
Congo led most of its match against England before Harry Kane scored two late goals to rescue the Three Lions. Belgium needed two goals in the waning minutes of regulation before the eventual winner with seconds left in extra time against Senegal. Ivory Coast was even with Norway until Erling Haaland's goal in the 86th minute lifted the Vikings into the round of 16.
South Africa lost to Canada and Algeria to Switzerland when, like Ghana on Friday night, those teams were unable to score.
“Well, all teams that get to the Round of 32 have the will to go forward,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “Some get there wanting to continue — wanting to continue their adventure — and others will be happy (just to be there). There are certain teams that are a lot stronger on paper, but at this World Cup, we realize you can't really be sure of anything. You can't be sure that the strong teams will prevail over the less strong ones. We've had several examples of that.”
___
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
