The achievements enacted by a trio of African countries at this year’s FIFA World Cup raise three related yet varying lessons that Nigeria’s senior national team, Super Eagles, should learn from.

The first lesson comes from an amazing chain of heroics pulled off by Cape Verde during their debut campaign at the global football fiesta, where they did not lose a single game within regulation time.

The tiny island that does not even have any sort of pedigree regarding football excellence in Africa proved all stats, experts, analysts and fans wrong with three straight group stage draws against Spain (0-0), Uruguay (2-2) and Saudi Arabia (0-0).

To confirm that those results were no fluke, they kept equalising against Argentina in the round of 32 and took the game into extra time before Lionel Messi’s squad eventually scaled the hurdle with a pretty tight 3-2 win.

The lesson for Nigeria here is that ‘big names’ don’t win matches – it’s the zeal, commitment, focus and determination of your players that will give you the results you deserve. Once our Super Eagles play with their heart, they will surely return to glory days.

That’s what they did at USA ’94 and almost deleted Italy in the second round. They then beat Brazil and Argentina en route to winning the 1996 Olympic Games’ gold medal in Atlanta, USA. Cape Verde did what we did 32 and 30 years ago in the same God’s Own country, and they almost shocked the universe.

Our Eagles will now have to beware of a potent threat from The Blue Sharks should any fixture in Africa bring them up against our team. All cheers to Cape Verde – you dare ignore them or underrate them at your own peril.

The same goes for Egypt, who eventually got their first ever knockout game at the World Cup. Despite having been Africa’s first World Cup representative as far back as 1934 and they have a huge record of seven titles from the Nations Cup, the Pharaohs had never gone beyond the Mundial’s group stage.

The Pharaohs are also the only country to win the Africa Cup of Nations at three straight editions (2006, 2008, 2010), plus a record number of 26 outings at the continental football showpiece and three previous FIFA World Cup appearances.

They eventually proved their mettle by not only reaching the knock-out stage, but also coming within just 12 minutes of a shock victory over Argentina (again!) and they nearly got what would have been a historic quarter-finals ticket at this year’s Mundial.

Sadly, tears rolled out for Egypt on Tuesday when they gave up a two-goal lead and fell 3-2 to Argentina. This time out, many fans, analysts and experts of the round leather game were crying wolf and screaming blue murder.

Egypt’s coach and legend, Hossam Hassan, alleged that FIFA gave Argentina the game due to marketing and commercial factors (leveraging Messi’s name and image).

Whatever the case, the lessons to be learnt by the Super Eagles are:

1. Fishy referee and VAR decisions can come out against any team.

2. Never stop powering strong until the referee’s last blast of the whistle.

3. Don’t celebrate your goals until you are sure the game is in your bag.

4. Don’t mock your opponents when they are down and you are in control.

5. There’s a thin but very ominous line between a game that’s almost won and one that’s eventually lost, but the pain of defeat lasts longer than the pleasure of victory.

6. The jinx that Argentina holds over African teams will not be easily broken (*remember they’ve besten us three times at the World Cup).

However, while all of Africa and many experts of the game shed tears for Egypt and slammed FIFA for orchestrating their exit, the case was different in the analysis of Morocco’s success story of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Instead of cheers for The Atlas Lions, they’re now getting jeers all the way.

Jeers for Morocco, instead of tears, following their 2-0 loss to France on Thursday night. Incidentally, two players with African blood and ancestry got the goals – Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. So, where would African sentiments flood after that result?

Yes, no one will begrudge the Moroccans about their acumen and aptitude. No one will fault their ability to enact historic feats on the global stage, and everyone knows that (on current form) they have what it takes to always make it into the semi-finals of the world’s biggest football event.

Conversely, though, the sore point for the men from Rabat came when one of their leaders and ‘elders’ declared in an uncouth spat that The Atlas Lions are not playing for Africa and they are not representing our continent. What audacity and effrontery!

Alarmingly, that blast from Morocco is akin to the bane of xenophobia in South Africa, which caused a loss of goodwill for Bafana Bafana from neighbouring countries and affiliate nations during their gallant surge into the round of 32.

Sadly, where South Africans erred with physical attacks on their ‘brothers and sisters across the continent,’ Morocco followed suit with a verbal assault and haughty bravado … leading to the same effect and consequences.

The lesson for Nigeria – no matter how good your team is, you can never rely on support from your country alone on the global stage – you need the solidarity of other countries within your shared hemisphere and similar historical lineage for you to excel globally.

Three lessons from a trio of teams with divergent fortunes at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Will our players take a cue or flow with Déjà vu? Time will tell…