Africa will have at least two, and possibly three, representatives in the next round, which is shocking given the zero out of five, four years ago in Russia, where Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal had exited in the first round.
The Croatian vice-champions of the world and the Belgians made up group F, which was extremely difficult. Morocco even ended first, just as it had in 1986 when Portugal and England were also in the group.
Nigeria in 1998 was the last African team to succeed in winning a group.
Senegal, which rebounded from Sadio Mané’s injury just before the competition began and a discouraging opening loss to the Netherlands, is now a part of it (2-0).
Tunisia came close, defeating a reorganised France (1-0) on the final day of Group D. Ghana, who finished second in Group H before playing Uruguay, could potentially get through the first round, but the task will be more difficult for Cameroon, who will play Brazil.
Africa has more than two teams in the round of 16 in the World Cup.
