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Africa has rewritten FIFA World Cup history after an unprecedented nine of its 10 teams from the continent secured places in the Round of 32 in the 2026 tournament, smashing the previous record of just two African teams reaching the knockout stage in a single edition.
Historically, only six African countries have qualified for the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup, with several teams making multiple appearances. The record for the most African teams qualifying in the same tournament occurred in 2014, when both Algeria and Nigeria advanced to the knockout stage during the World Cup held in Brazil. After 17 days of competition, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Egypt, Algeria, Congo and Cabo Verde all booked their places in the knockout rounds. Tunisia is the only nation from the continent which failed to qualify for the knockouts from Africa. The latest qualifiers came on Sunday in dramatic fashion as Algeria played out a 3-3 draw with Austria. Locked at 2-2 deep into stoppage time, captain Riyad Mahrez appeared to have won the match with a late strike before Austria equalised on the final play. The result was enough for both teams to progress from the group. Democratic Republic of Congo earned a landmark 3-1 comeback victory over Uzbekistan to register the country's first-ever World Cup win and seal a maiden appearance in the knockout phase. Their reward is a daunting Round of 32 clash against England, but the Central African nation is already celebrating a historic breakthrough. Cabo Verde continued its remarkable fairy-tale campaign with another goalless draw against Saudi Arabia and became the first nation since Chile at the 1998 World Cup to advance from the group stage without winning a match. The Blue Sharks progressed after successive draws, having earlier impressed by holding European champions Spain before sharing points with Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Veteran goalkeeper Vozinha also entered the World Cup record books. At 40, he became only the third goalkeeper in tournament history, after England's Peter Shilton and Italy's Dino Zoff, to register multiple clean sheets at a World Cup after turning 40. Morocco, the first African nation to reach a World Cup semifinal at Qatar 2022, has again looked among the tournament's strongest sides after holding Brazil to a 1-1 draw in the group stage. While Africa celebrates an unprecedented nine knockout qualifiers, Asia will be represented in the Round of 32 by just two teams - Japan and Australia. The Socceroos had qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026 from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers. (ANI)
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