African Teams Gunning For The Knockout Stage Spot

With Senegal advancing and Tunisia missing the FIFA World Cup last 16 with just a goal by difference, more African teams can still make it into the knockout stages.

Morocco, Ghana, and Cameroon will be playing for their lives to book a spot in this year’s World Cup knockout stages.

Here we look at their chances to qualify for the knockout stages:

Ghana

The black stars are facing Uruguay in their final group-stage fixture. Ghana have lost their first opener against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, but came back and redeemed themselves in a five-goal thriller, beating the Korea Republic 3-2 in their second match.

In order for the black stars to advance into the last 16, they have to win their last match against Uruguay, the least that could happen in order for them to be safe, is to play a draw and hope the Korean Republic loses or play a draw against Portugal.

Cameroon

Cameroon lost their opening game to Switzerland 1-0, and played a 3-3 draw against Serbia in their second match, meaning they are yet to taste a victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Cameroon needs to win their match against Brazil at all costs in order for them to qualify for the 2022 World Cup knockout stage. Even if they win, they will have to pray to the football gods of Cameroon for Switzerland to lose against Serbia or play a draw considering that they score more goals and not concede against Brazil.

Morocco

Morocco’s fate is in their hands, being the only African team yet to taste a defeat. All they need to do is to win their game against Canada this afternoon, and they are through to the knockout stages. The worse scenario for them would be playing a draw and hoping Belgium lose or also playing a draw against Croatia whom they are in a tie with the number of points (4).

Should Morocco get a straight win and Croatia loses or plays draw, they take the number one spot in Group F.

Siphamandla Lindwa

Siphamandla Lindwa is a sports writer and a publisher for Bet Central at Bet.co.za. He obtained a B-Tech in Sports Management from Tshwane University of Technology. When not writing sports content, Sipha scouts talent and networks for his future Sports Management agency.