Ed Dove remembers six times Africa’s giants failed to qualify for the world’s grandest stage
Jay-Jay Okocha of NigeriaBen Radford/Getty Images
Nigeria 2006
The only time the Super Eagles have missed out on the World Cup since their debut appearance in 1994 was in 2006, when they were stunned by Angola en route to Germany.
The two sides had identical results in a sprawling six-team Group 4, and even though Nigeria had scored more goals and had a better goal difference, they were undone on their head-to-head record with the Lusophone country.
Angola duly advanced to the World Cup thanks to their 1-0 Akwa-inspired victory over the Eagles in Luanda, whereas Nigeria failed to beat Angola in Kano.
Cameroon 2006
One of the most infamous entries on this list, Cameroon appeared well-placed to represent the continent in Germany ’06, and even finished ahead of almighty Egypt in their qualifying group.
However, they were pipped to the tournament by the Ivory Coast, who took 22 points to their 21 points to finish as Group 3 winners.
The Indomitable Lions still had it in their own hands heading into their final match at home against Egypt, but Pierre Wome’s infamous penalty miss in the 95th minute ultimately resulted in a 1-1 draw, with Cameroon missing out on progression.
He later claimed that both Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song had refused to step up, and that he’d received death threats in the days after the critical miss.
Egypt 2010
Egypt’s glorious team of 2004-2010 will forever be remembered as one of Africa’s greatest sides, after all, they won the Africa Cup of Nations three times in a row—an unprecedented feat.
However, success at the Afcon was contrasted with consistent failure to reach the World Cup…it was only in 2018 that Egypt finally made it back to the high table.
2010 was probably their best chance, where if they’d scored one more goal in the group stage—or conceded one fewer—they would have pipped Algeria to top spot in their qualifying pool.
Ultimately, Emad Moteab’s 95th-minute winner in the final—fractious—group game between the two in Cairo meant that the pair had exactly identical records after all matches had been played.
This led to a one-match winner-takes-all playoff in Omdurman, which Algeria won via Antar Yahia’s 40th-minute goal.
Ed Dove remembers six times Africa’s giants failed to qualify for the world’s grandest stage
Jay-Jay Okocha of NigeriaBen Radford/Getty Images
Nigeria 2006
The only time the Super Eagles have missed out on the World Cup since their debut appearance in 1994 was in 2006, when they were stunned by Angola en route to Germany.
The two sides had identical results in a sprawling six-team Group 4, and even though Nigeria had scored more goals and had a better goal difference, they were undone on their head-to-head record with the Lusophone country.
Angola duly advanced to the World Cup thanks to their 1-0 Akwa-inspired victory over the Eagles in Luanda, whereas Nigeria failed to beat Angola in Kano.
Pierre Wome of Cameroon, Jay-Jay Okocha of NigeriaBen Radford /Allsport
Cameroon 2006
One of the most infamous entries on this list, Cameroon appeared well-placed to represent the continent in Germany ’06, and even finished ahead of almighty Egypt in their qualifying group.
However, they were pipped to the tournament by the Ivory Coast, who took 22 points to their 21 points to finish as Group 3 winners.
The Indomitable Lions still had it in their own hands heading into their final match at home against Egypt, but Pierre Wome’s infamous penalty miss in the 95th minute ultimately resulted in a 1-1 draw, with Cameroon missing out on progression.
He later claimed that both Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song had refused to step up, and that he’d received death threats in the days after the critical miss.
Egypt's Mohammed Shawki Essam al-Hadary after losing the 2010 World Cup qualifyingGetty
Egypt 2010
Egypt’s glorious team of 2004-2010 will forever be remembered as one of Africa’s greatest sides, after all, they won the Africa Cup of Nations three times in a row—an unprecedented feat.
However, success at the Afcon was contrasted with consistent failure to reach the World Cup…it was only in 2018 that Egypt finally made it back to the high table.
2010 was probably their best chance, where if they’d scored one more goal in the group stage—or conceded one fewer—they would have pipped Algeria to top spot in their qualifying pool.
Ultimately, Emad Moteab’s 95th-minute winner in the final—fractious—group game between the two in Cairo meant that the pair had exactly identical records after all matches had been played.
This led to a one-match winner-takes-all playoff in Omdurman, which Algeria won via Antar Yahia’s 40th-minute goal.
Ghanas Vs Egypt WC2014 African zone qualifier second leg play-offGetty
Egypt 2014
This glorious Egypt generation, now post the country’s Arab Spring, had another golden opportunity to end their magnificent cycle with a World Cup showing.
Now with a young Mohamed Salah joining the ranks to play alongside his hero Mohamed Aboutrika, Egypt topped their group containing Guinea, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to advance to the Third Round.
They were pitted against Ghana in a mouth-watering double header, but no one could have expected that the Pharaohs would have been blown away so emphatically.
A 6-1 obliteration in Kumasi was a devastating result for the Pharaohs, whose 2-1 victory in the return match in Cairo was rendered moot.
Algeria 2018
After reaching the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, Algeria were handed a nightmarish group on the road to Russia 2018.
Cameroon, Nigeria and Zambia were always going to be tough opponents, but no one could have predicted that Algeria would have bombed quite so dreadfully.
They failed to win a single match on the field, drawing two and losing four of the six matches played to finish bottom of the group.
Even though their home draw against Nigeria was revised to a victory after the Super Eagles fielded an ineligible player, Algeria still finished at the foot of the table.
In 2018, however, they would embark on their African-record undefeated streak, putting the disappointment of Russia behind them.
Ed Dove remembers six times Africa’s giants failed to qualify for the world’s grandest stage
Jay-Jay Okocha of NigeriaBen Radford/Getty Images
Nigeria 2006
The only time the Super Eagles have missed out on the World Cup since their debut appearance in 1994 was in 2006, when they were stunned by Angola en route to Germany.
The two sides had identical results in a sprawling six-team Group 4, and even though Nigeria had scored more goals and had a better goal difference, they were undone on their head-to-head record with the Lusophone country.
Angola duly advanced to the World Cup thanks to their 1-0 Akwa-inspired victory over the Eagles in Luanda, whereas Nigeria failed to beat Angola in Kano.
Pierre Wome of Cameroon, Jay-Jay Okocha of NigeriaBen Radford /Allsport
Cameroon 2006
One of the most infamous entries on this list, Cameroon appeared well-placed to represent the continent in Germany ’06, and even finished ahead of almighty Egypt in their qualifying group.
However, they were pipped to the tournament by the Ivory Coast, who took 22 points to their 21 points to finish as Group 3 winners.
The Indomitable Lions still had it in their own hands heading into their final match at home against Egypt, but Pierre Wome’s infamous penalty miss in the 95th minute ultimately resulted in a 1-1 draw, with Cameroon missing out on progression.
He later claimed that both Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song had refused to step up, and that he’d received death threats in the days after the critical miss.
Egypt's Mohammed Shawki Essam al-Hadary after losing the 2010 World Cup qualifyingGetty
Egypt 2010
Egypt’s glorious team of 2004-2010 will forever be remembered as one of Africa’s greatest sides, after all, they won the Africa Cup of Nations three times in a row—an unprecedented feat.
However, success at the Afcon was contrasted with consistent failure to reach the World Cup…it was only in 2018 that Egypt finally made it back to the high table.
2010 was probably their best chance, where if they’d scored one more goal in the group stage—or conceded one fewer—they would have pipped Algeria to top spot in their qualifying pool.
Ultimately, Emad Moteab’s 95th-minute winner in the final—fractious—group game between the two in Cairo meant that the pair had exactly identical records after all matches had been played.
This led to a one-match winner-takes-all playoff in Omdurman, which Algeria won via Antar Yahia’s 40th-minute goal.
Ghanas Vs Egypt WC2014 African zone qualifier second leg play-offGetty
Egypt 2014
This glorious Egypt generation, now post the country’s Arab Spring, had another golden opportunity to end their magnificent cycle with a World Cup showing.
Now with a young Mohamed Salah joining the ranks to play alongside his hero Mohamed Aboutrika, Egypt topped their group containing Guinea, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to advance to the Third Round.
They were pitted against Ghana in a mouth-watering double header, but no one could have expected that the Pharaohs would have been blown away so emphatically.
A 6-1 obliteration in Kumasi was a devastating result for the Pharaohs, whose 2-1 victory in the return match in Cairo was rendered moot.
John Ogu - Algeria vs Nigeria
Algeria 2018
After reaching the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, Algeria were handed a nightmarish group on the road to Russia 2018.
Cameroon, Nigeria and Zambia were always going to be tough opponents, but no one could have predicted that Algeria would have bombed quite so dreadfully.
They failed to win a single match on the field, drawing two and losing four of the six matches played to finish bottom of the group.
Even though their home draw against Nigeria was revised to a victory after the Super Eagles fielded an ineligible player, Algeria still finished at the foot of the table.
In 2018, however, they would embark on their African-record undefeated streak, putting the disappointment of Russia behind them.
After Egypt failed to follow up their victories in the Nations Cup by reaching the World Cup, 2012 champions Zambia also missed out on 2014, before Cameroon—champions in 2017—failed to qualify for the 2018 event.
Like Algeria, the Indomitable Lions were unfortunate to have been drawn into a tough group, but they were blown away by Nigeria, and wholly failed to build on their 2017 success under Hugo Broos.
Winning just one match during their six-game group stage was a miserable return for the Lions.
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