I was in Comoros last year and managed to get this photo there... hmmm.. and now they get 6 points after 2 games??!!! Just kidding of course by the way! Maybe my visit brought them good luck though. Good for them on getting the win vs Ghana. Mali are a bit like Uzbekistan... every time it's like, "maybe this is their year...." and nope. It's so hard to get that first qualification. I remember Ghana and Ivory Coast kept trying in the 90s but just couldn't break the Cameroon / Nigeria / North African domination until 2006 and now they qualify a lot. A crazy start to Africa though. Uzbekistan on the other hand got a good draw at home with Iran and with Hong Kong and Turkemenistan drawing should be well on their way to the final stages with a double against HK coming up in March.
Well they did draw away against Zimbabwe. It just seems like the north African teams are more stabile and better at getting result. Western African countries usually Got the most stars. But north African teams are much more well organized
I remember when I started following the fifa World cup qualifiers for the 2006 World cup. At that time there were so many minor teams who just Got their ass beat over and over again. Its cool how much they have improved. One of Them being Comoros. They also qualified from their group at the last African cup of nations. They are not a walkover anymore. That being said, I Would still be very very surprised if they manage to clinch the top two. But lets hope so. I always root for the underdogs
The underdog teams in Africa I follow are Tanzania, Gambia and Madagascar. The New kid on the Block is Lesotho I also like Burkina Faso, ever since I played with Them on football manager 2011. Even though they arent exactly a underdog The same with Guinea and Cape Verde. Teams from the second Best later, which I hope the Best for
Are you sure it is the weaker African teams which have improved? I think many of the traditionally stronger ones have deteriorated over the last decade or so.
I believe the weaker teams have improved. Although its true that many of the traditionally good teams arent as good as before, the weaker teams progress are bigger than the better teams downgrade. Many of the weaker teams have players playing in Europa now. Take Comoros for example. There are still teams like Seychelles, Sao Tome, Somalia, Djibouti who are very weak. But 20 years ago, teams like Lesotho, Comoros, Madagascar and others were also very weak. Mauritius managed a draw against Angola. Lesotho managed a draw against Nigeria and Benin. Comoros Beat Ghana and have 6 points. So i really do believe that the weaker teams have improved more than the bigger teams have fallen off. In World football now, most team have learned to defend and its more difficult to beat them. The same Can be seen in Europe
A lot of it is due to a switch in coaching tactics. The low block is used a lot more, and more effectively as well. If you can coach an average or even mediocre team to sit back and defend it can be very effective against much stronger sides. That's why a team like Senegal can beat Brazil 4-2 and then struggle on the road to teams like Togo. Yes I'm also seeing an improvement in minnow Euro sides who used to be training material, now able to get results against much more fancied sides. Football keeps evolving and part of that is the lesser sides not only improving, but being able to perform successful defensive blocks. But yeah it's also of note that all the North African power houses are the only teams to so far win on the road and have 100% records. (Edit also CIV)
if you take the results on big stage at the last world cup, then it is more that the smaller teams have improved.
funny how some countires are not allowed to play on home soli because their stadia don't match the fifa requirements.... ... but then in the stadia where they play the pitches look like a potatoe field
I was referring to Lesothos away match at Nigeria, when others stated ithat it is difficult for away teams to win in african qualifiers
Only Morocco reached the latter stages out of the 5 teams and they played ultra-cautiously in doing so (one goal scored in five hours of play between the R16 and SF). Teams like Nigeria and Ghana which were strong at times in the past now seem mediocre.
Well yes teams like Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria may not have the level as before. But instead you Got teams like Senegal, Morocco and Algeria improving instead. Its not the top teams that have gotten worse. Its just a power shift among who the top teams are at the moment
I dont know how anybody can make the claim that the top teams have gotten worse when CAF had easily their best WC ever. Even the teams that got knocked out on the first round beat Brazil and France, albeit 2nd string sides.
Maybe its because people in the early 2000s predicted that a African team Will soon win the World cup. Or that African teams Will cement themselves among the top teams in the World. There was much higher hopes for African teams than any other Continent too Challenge Europe and South America. Unfortunately it didnt happen, even though Morocco had a Great World cup. Maybe its the great results in the youth World cups that made people Think this and which disappoints Them. I dont believe African team has gotten worse. And there are more good African teams than ever. But in the early 2000s, I thought at this time we Would have more African teams among the top top teams
I dont even know what this means. They played smart and tactically. Pretty much a hallmark of most European teams. I would ask you how many teams in the world would dominate posession against Spain and Portugal ? Not to mention Morocco equalled or had more shots on target than all of France, Croatia, Spain, Belgium, Portugal. No team they played in that WC run had more shots on target than them. It was pretty much always equal. France was actually the only team to beat Morocco at their own game. France conceeded possession to Morocco, and thats how they beat them.
Other than Greeces euro victory in 2004, Morocco in Qatar is the greatest underdog story in modern football history. The greatest in terms of World Cup.
In Qatar, Morocco based their tactics on counter-attacking which is why they only scored two goals in the KO stage. It was very effective in that competition, but few people like their team to play like that.
Not so sure I'd go that far..... Morocco I think were a sleeper for a surprise run imo. Meaning not many predicted them to go that far, but I think the angles were there for them to be a surprise package. People thought Canada could cause a surprise in that group, but I kept saying how I doubted they'd even beat Morocco, who in my opinion were the true threat to Belgium and Croatia in that group.... Huge regional crowd backing them, a good mix of not spectacular but solid players playing at the highest level, problems or transitions in opponents camp, and tactically drilled solid, I wasn't that surprised they were that deep. I'd put Leicester winning the premier league ahead of them, but also Croatia reaching the WC final, South Korea the semis, or even Costa Rica's run in 2014 as great underdog stories too.
Let's not retcon history: Morocco were dead set on being an also-ran until their previous coach walked the plank after that friendly defeat to the US.
Im also not sure I Would Call it the Best underdog story After Greece. If we include club football, then Leicester for sure is a bigger story. There are also Turkey and South Korea in 2002. And my personel favorite is Costa Rica in 2014. They won a group over England, Uruguay and Italy. Thats mental. And reach the quarter finals where they lost to The Netherlands on penalty. Moroccos story is also Great. They were in Big trouble and fired their coach shortly before the tournament. They won the group over Croatia and Belgium. They beat Spain and Portugal in the knockout rounds. That is very impressive. But we cant deny that they also have very Great players. Their goalkeeper and defensive Line all play for good teams in the biggest leagues. Their attack is also good with players from Big teams. Plus they had so many in the crowd cheering for Them. Its a tough one. But for me, Costa Rica was the biggest Wow factor of Them all. No one saw it coming. People thought they Would get zero points in the group. Morocco had a realistic chance of qualifying from the group
Costa Rica was only penalties away from a Semi Final 2014. to me this is the bigger cindarella story as they had no stars at all, while Morocco has Hakimi, Ziyech, Bono, En-Nesiri which are all names in European International Football.