The Top Five Moments When Africa Shocked the World
Upsets are one of the many reasons why we all love the FIFA World Cup. Very few things will tantalise us more than watching a group of minnows slay one of football’s giants.
For several years, African teams had it hard on the world stage. They were often dismissed as a group of braindead animals with little to no knowledge or understanding of the game. Although it is hard to imagine, this was the sort of virulent racism that Africans were subjected to in the previous century.
Many African countries are still not taken too seriously by the top dogs. Why should Germany be worried about a country like Guinea-Bissau? The difference between the two is almost like night and day.
However, the Europeans and South Americans know better than to completely overlook the Africans because when this has happened before, they were the ones who had the last laugh.
Here are the top five moments when Africa defeated some of football’s powerhouses and left their mark on the global stage:
West Germany 1–2 Algeria (1982)
After a goalless stalemate in the opening 45 minutes, the game burst into life less than 10 minutes into the second half.
Djamel Zidane drove forward towards West Germany’s penalty box and played a through ball into the path of Lakhdar Belloumi.
Belloumi’s shot was parried away by Harald Schumacher, but the ball fell to Rabah Madjer, who slotted the ball into the open goal to put the Algerians in front after 54 minutes.
West Germany equalised in the 67th minute after Felix Magath’s cross into Algeria’s penalty box was tapped in at a close range by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
But just a minute later, the Algerians stung the West Germans yet again.
After some intricate play from Algeria in the midfield, Salah Assad broke forward down the left-wing. His low cross was then successfully converted by Belloumi to restore Algeria’s lead. This goal turned out to be the winner for the North Africans.
To date, this is one of the greatest ever upsets in World Cup history.
Argentina 0–1 Cameroon (1990)
The World Cup champions, who were spearheaded by Diego Maradona, were the heavy favourites going into the tournament. But in their opening game, the Latin Americans ended up on the wrong side of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.
In all honesty, the game was dry as dust. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it was worse than watching paint dry. Even Tony Pulis would have grimaced at some of the grotesque football played in the game.
The Indomitable Lions spent most of the game kicking Argentina from pillar to post.
Unsurprisingly, Cameroon were reduced to 10 men just after the hour mark when André Kana-Biyik fly-kicked Maradona in the chest. It was almost as if he was trying to impersonate Jean-Claude van Damme.
But the game erupted in the 67th minute. After Cyrille Makanaky flicked the ball into the air from a free kick into the box, François Omam-Biyik rose above the Argentine defence and headed the ball home to give the unfancied Africans the lead.
Nery Pumpido should have done much better in preventing the ball from ending up in the back of the net. It was a very soft goal to concede. But did Cameroon care? Absolutely not. Why should they have cared? They were beating the champions!
Shortly afterwards, Cameroon went down to nine men with just minutes to spare when Benjamin Massing cynically torpedoed Claudio Caniggia after he evaded two reckless lunges. It was a murderous tackle that is enough to put someone behind bars for grievous bodily harm.
But this did not deter Cameroon, who saw the game out and gained a famous victory over the world champions.
Spain 2–3 Nigeria (1998)
Nigeria left their mark in the 1994 World Cup with their youth, speed, skill, flair, athleticism, and exciting brand of attacking football.
The Super Eagles had some good players in Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Finidi George, and Daniel Amokachi.
Even though the Nigerians won the 1994 African Cup of Nations along with gold at the 1996 Olympics, you could not help but feel that they were going to get outclassed and outmuscled by a Spanish team that had La Liga and Champions League winners.
Spain were one of the favourites to win the tournament but after the game, they were left with their tails between their legs.
Spain took the lead in the 21st minute thanks to a deflected free kick from Fernando Hierro. But the Super Eagles were level just three minutes later after Garbal Lawal’s corner was met by an unmarked Mutiu Adepoju, who nodded the ball into the Spanish goal.
Raúl’s thunderous left-footed volley in the 47th minute put Spain back in front. But in the 73rd minute Andoni Zubizarreta had a moment that he would want to forget.
Okocha’s beautifully switched ball across the field found Lawal, who exchanged passes with Rashidi Yekini en route to the opposition penalty box. The striker brushed off Ivan Campo’s feeble challenge on his way to the by line and placed a weak pass across the goal, which Zubizarreta somehow pushed the ball into the back of his own net with his fingertips.
The game was then decided five minutes later. Nigeria’s second goal was lucky, but their third goal was anything but that.
Okocha’s long throw into Spain’s penalty box was headed away by Hierro, but before the Europeans could breathe a sigh of relief, Sunday Oliseh’s vicious 25-yard half-volley flew right past Zubizarreta and into the Spanish goal to put Nigeria in the lead for the first time in this feisty encounter.
The Spaniards had chances to draw level and even regain their lead in the remaining minutes; however, they failed to convert them and were beaten by the Nigerians.
France 0–1 Senegal (2002)
Before a ball had even been kicked, hardly anyone outside of Africa had ever heard of Senegal.
France, who were the world and European champions, went into their opening group game without their midfield maestro, Zinedine Zidane, who was side lined due to a thigh injury. But regardless, they still had a world class team that could cut through an opposition defence like a knife through butter.
The French outfit included the likes of Fabien Barthez, Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram, Youri Djorkaeff, Patrick Vieira, Bixente Lizarazu, Emmanuel Petit, Claude Makélélé, and Sylvain Wiltord.
In their attack, France had Thierry Henry, David Trézéguet, and Djibril Cissé, who topped the 2001/02 goal scoring charts in England, Italy, and France. These were the crème de la crème of footballers. They would have crawled their way into any team in the world at the time.
On paper, it looked like the game would end up being a French onslaught, but it was anything but that. They made the grave mistake of taking Senegal lightly, it was French arrogance at its finest. Ultimately, this eventually came back to bite them.
Senegal stunned the champions and the entire world in the 30th minute. Omar Daf dispossessed Djorkaeff near the halfway line and fed the ball to El-Hadji Diouf.
The then 21-year old winger attacked the left-hand side, skinning Frank Leboeuf in the process and leaving him dead in his tracks. Diouf’s ball into the box found Papa Bouba Diop, who poked the ball into the empty net to give Senegal the lead, following a bizarre mix-up between Barthez and Petit.
Throughout the game, Senegal continued to hassle, harry, and harass the ageing French team and make life exceedingly difficult for them. Despite both Trézéguet and Henry being denied by the woodwork, France were toothless and failed to break down a resolute Senegalese defence.
Senegal withstood the intense pressure, weathered the storm, and eventually hung on to claim a famous victory over their former colonial power.
The West Africans would then go on to qualify from the group in second place and reach the quarterfinal, becoming just the second African team to do so.
Czech Republic 0–2 Ghana (2006)
The Czechs were full of confidence going into this game after comfortably brushing aside the USA in their opening game with a 3–0 win. They had every reason to feel that they were going to do the same to Ghana.
Little was expected from Ghana and it would not surprise me if some people felt that they were there to make up the numbers. But that all changed after the final whistle was blown in this game.
Ghana were in front remarkably after just 70 seconds! Tomáš Ujfaluši failed to clear Steven Appiah’s low cross. Asamoah Gyan capitalised from this error by controlling the ball with his chest and smashing the ball past Čech to fire the Black Stars in front.
Things took a turn for the worse for Czech Republic when they went down to 10 men in the 65th minute. Ujfaluši was sent-off after his foul on Matthew Amoah in the box, which also gifted Ghana with a penalty and a chance to double their lead. However, Gyan was denied by the post.
Ghana continued to dominate the game and eventually the one-man advantage paid off.
Gyan exchanged passes with Appiah and laid the ball in the box to Sulley Muntari, who rifled the ball into the roof of the net from 12-yards to give Ghana a well-deserved 2–0 lead.
Ghana went on to win the game and it was a monumental moment for them. This was their first win ever in a World Cup.
Countries such as Algeria, the current African champions, along with Senegal, Nigeria, and Morocco have developed very good teams as of late.
Many of their players have gained the attention of Europe’s elite clubs and made big money moves. The most recent examples being Édouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech both moving to Chelsea for a combined fee of £55.3 million.
The World Cup in Qatar is just two years away. If those African countries and others in the continent continue making good strides, then perhaps they could create more upsets?
