Cameroon were the first African team to reach the quarter-finals of the Fifa World Cup in 1990. Four years later at the 1994 tournament in USA, they finished bottom in their group.
Senegal became the second African nation to make it to the quarter-finals in 2002. Four years later, the Teranga Lions could not even qualify for the 2006 tournament held in Germany.
Ghana almost made it to the semi-final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Four years later in Brazil, they finished bottom of their group without a single win.
Africa’s number one ranked team Morocco wrote history by reaching the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and by their performance on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Kenya) at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey they have shown they want to break this curse.
More than 80,663 fans, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani watched the Atlas Lions show scant respect for five-time record champions Brazil.
The business-like Moroccans deservedly took the lead via Ismael Saibari on 21 minutes before a disappointing Brazil equalized via a superb Vinicius Junior strike 11 minutes later.
Morocco's Achraf Hakimi embraces Brazil's Vinicius Junior after their 2026 Fifa World Cup Group C match at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on June 13, 2026.
Photo credit: Reuters
Some ugly tackles threatened to ruin the game in which Morocco showed panache against a supposedly superior opponent who had crushed them 3-0 in their last World Cup meeting in 1998.
And the Moroccans boldly declared they were not done yet. Morocco’s coach Mohamed Ouahbi who was appointed to the job on March 5 said: “We are satisfied with the draw against Brazil but we are not over the moon.”
“It was not easy. We played against a top team. One of the favourites of the tournament. We are happy with the draw. We want to improve as we continue and keep going,” he said.
Morocco have fixtures against Haiti and Scotland and will feel a group win is well within their reach.
Brazil must vastly improve if they are to challenge France, Spain, England and Argentina for the title.
What came out clearly on the night, was that Brazil enjoys massive support in the area with a sizeable Brazilian migrant population living in Newark.
They came out in their numbers, but if they expected a football treat, they found a Selecao side lacking in imagination and technical ability. Vehicular traffic was heavy on match day, and residents of New York were warned to plan their day accordingly.
New York City authorities urged residents not to travel on routes leading to the stadium if they could help it. The next fixture at Metlife will be tomorrow when favourites France take on Senegal in a Group I affair.
