African Coaches : Reasons To Believe!

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has been the most productive global football tournament for Africa in terms of results. For the first time in the history of the tournament, an African side; Morocco reached the last four. The Atlas Lions alongside Senegal were also the two African sides that reached the knockout stages of the competition; the first time Africa had two representatives in the last 16 since 2014. You have to roll back the years to 1998 when an African side (Nigeria) topped a group at the World Cup and Morocco did that in 2022. For the first time, all African sides present at the tournament left with at least a victory and a cumulative 24 points at the group stages- the highest points total ever by African sides at the World Cup. All these successes were recorded thanks to the men placed in charge of these teams. For the first time ever, Africa went to the World Cup with five coaches from the continent.
Morocco’s fairytale journey to the semi final at the 2022 FIFA World Cup had the touch of Walid Regragui written all over it. The 47-year pulled out a tactical master class to stun so-called big teams on their way to finishing fourth at the tournament.  The achievement is even more stunning given that Regragui had just been at the helm of the team just over two months before the start of the tournament.  Senegal reached the knockout stages of the tournament with the guidance of Aliou Cisse who had already led to Afcon triumph earlier in the year. The patience ...