FIFA World Cup 2026: Can Senegal and South Africa overcome tough group challenges?

South Africa
The Rainbow Nation's fans are hopeful that the a day will come when their football team, fondly called "Bafana, Bafana" would be elevated to the reputation gained by its rugby and cricket counterparts.

Absent till the start of the 1990s decade because of its government's apartheid policy, South Africa missed a large part of the FIFA World Cup - from 1966 to 1990 - and hence as been seen in action only thrice before the competition in North and Central America.

It did not get through the qualification process in 1994, but made it to the finals in 1998 and 2002, where it did not go past the group stage. The country was awarded the hosting rights for 2010, and unfortunately, it became the first host nation not to advance to the round of 16. South Africa did not win a match in the 1998 World Cup, but won its first finals match against Slovenia.
Its best chance to make the round of 16 was cut short by a negative goal difference with Mexico (the Central American country's +1 against South Africa's -2). South Africa scored three and conceded five.

The team was then coached by the famous Carlos Alberto Parreira. The Brazilian had coached Ghana, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, apart from three stints with the Selecao and finished his coaching career with South Africa, for which he won and drew seven and lost one.

This time, South Africa's performance in the World Cup will be directed by the 74-year-old Belgian Hugo Broos. The team has stuck with him for six years, which means the authorities, the team and the fans are happy with the results he has delivered - 34 wins and 25 drawn matches, and losing 12 in the 71 matches the team has played.

The Belgian had managed Cameroon for almost two years, and in all, he has experience of coaching in over 900 matches for Club sides in Belgium and the two countries. As a player, Broos was part of the 1986 Belgian team that finished fourth at the World Cup.

The team from the Southern Hemisphere will have the benefit of having someone who has 52 years of emotional connection with the game. Playing in its last friendly against Nicaragua at Johannesburg, South Africa did not score a goal and leading to this match, it lost to Panama 1-2, Cameroon 1-2 in the Africa Cup of Nations playoffs and to Mohamed Salah's Egypt, with the striker converting a penalty.

It will have to look back at the 3-1 win against the Pharaohs in the African Nations Championship qualification match in March 2025; it has been South Africa's best showing in a long time.
The Broos-coached team will play Mexico in Mexico City, the Czech Republic in Atlanta and South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico, which would entail a travelling distance of 3500 miles. The team will be based in Mexico.

History hardly matters. South Africa has not lost a match to Mexico in the two games played in 2005 and 2010. It beat Mexico 2-1 in 2005. It drew 2-2 with the Czech Republic in 1997, and has not had a run-in with South Korea. Not though encouraging is its only win in an international friendly since the Qatar World Cup of 2022. South Africa has won 19 matches of the 25 it has played in the last 42 months; most of them in African tournaments and the World Cup.
Senegal

The Lions of Teranga (Senegal) ought to be looking at the draw sheet of the FIFA World Cup with optimism. The over-confident ones in the team could even be thinking of reaching the round of 32. Well, Senegal has never proved to be a walkover team even for the mighty.

Senegal - another African team to advance to the World Cup finals - are drawn to meet France, Norway at New Jersey and Iraq in Toronto. Senegal, a Western African country, got the better of France through Papa Bouba Diop in a group match of the 2002 World Cup in South Africa and Japan. Then Senegal beat the Scandinavian country 2-1 in a friendly international in an away match. It has not played Iraq at all.

The Lions will play two warm-ups against the USA and Saudi Arabia to get into the mood of the high-octane competition. Senegal holds a record for being unbeaten in 24 internationals, and it shares with Cameroon and Morocco as the third team from the continent to advance to the round of 16, which is regarded as an achievement. It will be the round of 32 that the teams will first hope to reach.

Senegal qualified for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 and for the 2026 event, which means the country has been doing the right things in the process of achieving growth. It qualified for its third consecutive World Cup with a 4-0 win against Mauritania. But it faced a scare against DR Congo, winning the match 3-2 with Pape Matar Sarr getting the ball into the woodwork in the 87th minute. It won seven games and drew three in the CAF World Cup qualifiers.

The team is coached by Pape Thiaw, a centre forward, who was part of the team that reached the last eight in 2002. He took charge of the team in December 2024 and has had a splendid run, winning 18 of the 23 matches, drawing three and losing two. Of late, though, there was the controversial news of Pape not travelling with the team for the World Cup because of there not being clarity about his contract with the national federation, which has denied the rumours going around.

Pape, 45, showed the way for the Teranga Lions to win the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title by a 1-0 margin against Morocco. Thereafter, the title was given to Morocco, which appealed, saying that Senegal left the match mid-course.
Senegal's world-class player is Sadio Mane, who missed the Qatar World Cup due to injury. He has played 118 matches for his country, scored 52 goals, assisted in 23 and has played 459 Club games in England, France, Germany, Austria and Saudi Arabia. He is 34, and it has to be seen the time he can be kept on the field. He has spent six seasons with Liverpool and quite a few in the Bundesliga - reasons that make him the playmaker of his side. Sadio has played four World Cup qualifiers and one World Cup (Russia 2018), in which he played three matches and scored a goal to boot!