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Pelé’s prediction still a distant prospect

The ten African World Cup teams have largely outperformed expectations, but the continent’s teams still struggle to defeat the world’s best

Thirty-two years ago, an exciting Nigeria team narrowly fell short of the quarter finals at World Cup ‘USA 94’, following Italy’s 89th minute equalizer and subsequent extra-time winner in Boston, and ten days after the Super Eagles’ narrow 2-1 group-stage defeat to an Argentina team led by Diego Maradona in his last ever World Cup game. While Africa’s two other qualifiers in 1994 – Morocco and Roger Milla’s Cameroon – departed the United States after the group stages with just one point between them, Nigeria’s promise and population raised the question of when an African nation could realistically (rather than merely because Pelé predicted it) win the World Cup.

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