Senegal and Tunisia break African World Cup records…could more fall?

Senegal’s 2-1 victory over Ecuador on Tuesday ensured their progression to the World Cup Round of 16, while also helping to establish an African record in the tournament history, while Tunisia broke another African record with victory over France on Wednesday.

The Teranga Lions’ triumph—secured by Kalidou Koulibaly’s magnificent finish after Ismaila Sarr had opened the scoring from the penalty spot—was enough to guarantee Senegal reach the knockouts for the second time in their history.

Having already won the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, Senegal are aiming to follow in the footsteps of the squad’s Golden Generation and advance to the quarter-final in 2002.

They’ll also be hoping, after being pitted against England in the Last 16, that they can not only emulate the 2002 side’s Last Eight finish, but even break an African record and become the first side from the continent to reach the semi-finals.

Already, Senegal have contributed to an African record being broken at this tournament.

Never before in Africa’s World Cup history have the continent’s teams won more than three matches between them in the group stage of the tournament.

Indeed, for the last six editions of the tournament, African teams have been very consistent, winning three group-stage matches every campaign from 1998 to 2018.

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Before that Africa had never won more than two matches at any edition of the tournament, having registered either one or two victories between 1978—when Tunisia secured Africa’s first ever World Cup win by beating Mexico—and 1994, when only three African teams took part.

On Wednesday, even though they were unable to avoid elimination, Tunisia broke another African record by defeating France 1-0 via Wahbi Khazri's goal.

Already this tournament, Africa have won five matches and the group stage isn’t even complete. It's already a record for a single edition of the tournament.

Senegal have been responsible for two victories—defeating Qatar before dispatching Ecuador—while Morocco’s 1-0 success over Belgium, Ghana’s 3-2 victory over Ghana and Tunisia's win on Wednesday have also contributed to Africa’s record-breaking haul at the tournament.

While Senegal’s victories—against teams ranked much lower than then in the Fifa World Rankings—were to be expected perhaps, Morocco’s win against Belgium, Ghana’s success against South Korea and Tunisia's triumph over the world champions have all been overachievements for the continent’s teams.

Does this represent evidence of long-term progression for African sides, or is it a fortuitous run? Only time will tell, perhaps, as the fortunes of Africa’s teams become clearer at the 2022 tournament, but already, it’s an impressive landmark to have passed.

In both 2002 and 2010, Africa hit a record four victories in a single World Cup tournament—with Senegal and Ghana adding to group-stage successes—Tunisia have already broken this record.

What else can Cameroon, Ghana and Morocco achieve before we reach the knockouts this year?