African results justify World Cup slots increase amid criticism

JOHANNESBURG: When four-time World Cup winners Italy failed to qualify for the 2026 tournament, then head coach Gennaro Gattuso lamented that Africa had so many places at the global showcase.
“Africa deserves fewer World Cup slots,” he said, referring to the number of automatic qualifying places allocated to that continent rising from five to nine in an expanded 48-nation event.
It became 10 when the Democratic Republic of Congo won an inter-continental play-off and returned to the World Cup after 52 years.
Was Gattuso, a midfielder in the Italian 2006 World Cup-winning team, correct? Was Africa over represented in the United States, Canada and Mexico?
Apart from a disastrous showing by Tunisia, who axed coach Sabri Lamouchi after their first group game and lost all three matches, African flag-bearers proved competitive, justifying their presence.
The other nine representatives reached the knockout stage, five as group runners-up. The other four were among the eight best third-placed teams.
That represents 90 percent success, the highest among the FIFA regions, followed by South America (83.33), Europe (81.25) and Asia (22.22).
Europe did surge to the fore in the knockout phase with six quarter-finalists.

Africa and South America had one each.
African teams were less successful in the round of 32, with seven eliminated. Egypt made the round of 16 and Morocco became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals twice.
A worrying trend was conceding late goals, with star strikers Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland among those benefitting.
Messi levelled as Argentina turned a two-goal deficit against Egypt into a 3-2 triumph.