For 85 minutes on Wednesday, July 1, in the heart of Seattle Stadium at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Belgium were dead and buried.
The Belgian Red Devils trailed Senegal’s Lions of Teranga by two goals and appeared destined for elimination after goals from Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr in the 25th and 51st minutes respectively. Then Belgium scored twice in the dying minutes before winning it at the death in extra time. Senegal’s hopes of reaching the Round of 16 died, felled by their own sword.
The Senegal collapse unfolded like a tragedy in slow motion, captured in technicolour. They slept off in Seattle and fell off the edge of victory.
Football is a fickle game; it is not over until the final whistle is blown by the referee. But this level of carelessness in the last minutes of the game on the world’s biggest stage was almost unforgivable. It was a capitulation the FIFA World Cup knockout stages have rarely witnessed.
Conspiracy theories will inevitably fly. Senegal, who recently protested against Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat after the Moroccans were awarded a stoppage-time penalty, could not force a reprieve here when the referee awarded a soft penalty to Belgium in the 124th minute of extra time. But the Lions of Teranga have only themselves to blame for failing to see out the match and for lacking basic gamesmanship at the most critical moment.
Senegal outplayed, outthought and outfought Belgium, 2018 and 2022 World Cup semi-finalists, in every department. They held a comfortable two-goal lead with only five minutes of normal time remaining in the biggest match of their tournament. Then the psychological structure broke.
Romelu Lukaku scored in the 86th minute, and Youri Tielemans equalised in the 89th after Senegal’s goalkeeper completely misjudged a cross. Just like that, a comfortable lead evaporated in the space of three minutes, seemingly from nowhere. Tielemans hammered the nail in Senegal’s coffin with the penalty goal in extra time.
This pattern of losing games at the death was not an isolated incident.
For many African teams, the question over the years has not been one of ability, but of mentality. Côte d’Ivoire conceded in the 86th minute, DR Congo in the 86th minute, South Africa in the 90+2nd minute, and Senegal in the 86th, 89th, and 120+5th minutes of their respective Round of 32 matches. These were not merely cases of physical exhaustion. They pointed to lapses in concentration, game management and composure under pressure.
How many FIFA World Cups have Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo and South Africa participated in? Compare their historic pedigree to that of their opponents. Côte d’Ivoire and Norway each arrived at their Round of 32 clash with four World Cup appearances. Ivory Coast had an edge, having participated in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions, they returned after a 12-year absence. In contrast, Norway faced a 28-year drought, having last appeared in the World Cup in 1998. The numbers tell only part of the story, but they serve as evidence of deeper issues.
And therein lies the bigger question: Is it a lack of mental strength, fortitude, concentration, tactics or big-game players? Or do we point to an inferiority complex, poor administration on and off the field, or perhaps a vestige of past decades of underdog conditioning? The honest answer is probably all of the above, at different times and in different proportions.
But the thread that runs through all of them is this: a lack of a winning mentality remains the most consistent bane of African teams.
To a larger extent, this footballing trend mirrors the broader underdevelopment of a continent rich with incredible human and natural resources that has yet to fully convert potential into sustained dominance, whether in football or in any other field of human endeavour.
The recurring downfall of African teams is that they too often feel inferior to their European and South American opponents, failing to realise that they deserve to be on the world stage — and deserve to go far.
For the Red Devils of Belgium, the biblical irony was complete as they literally rose from the dead to resurrect their World Cup hopes by stealing two goals at the death.
For Senegal, it was not daylight robbery. It was chronic self-sabotage at the peak of its powers. Belgium did not pull off a classic Houdini act. Senegal did – but in reverse.
How this talented West African team contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory will be debated for years. They were complacent. Perhaps they felt they had done enough simply by reaching the knockout stage again.
The Lions of Teranga were the second African team to reach a FIFA World Cup quarter-final in 2002 after Cameroon did the same in 1990, before Morocco eclipsed both with their semi-final run in Qatar in 2022. Did they not truly believe they could go further? Was it psychology, desire, a lack of thirst for glory or something deeper?
This is not a new story for African football. Nigeria did the same at USA 1994. Facing Roberto Baggio’s Italy in the Round of 16, the Super Eagles led for 88 minutes thanks to an early Emmanuel Amuneke goal. Even after Italy were reduced to ten men following Gianfranco Zola’s controversial red card in the 75th minute, a fatal lapse in concentration allowed the Azzurri to exploit space on the wing. Roberto Mussi cut a pass back into the box for Roberto Baggio, who finished superbly past Peter Rufai.
The heartbreak was compounded in extra time when a clumsy challenge surrendered a penalty, which Baggio converted off the crossbar to condemn Nigeria to a 2-1 defeat. One of the best teams of the group stages, ranked among the most entertaining sides of USA 1994, could not summon the elite mentality required to win when it mattered most.
Other factors — including dressing-room tensions that only emerged after the tournament — contributed to the damage. But late collapses under pressure have been a common refrain with African teams for decades: establishing a lead, only to concede and lose, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
South Africa. Cote d”Ivoire, DR Congo, and Senegal all reached the Last 32 at the FIFA World Cup 2026. All could have gone further. Only Morocco, after years of deliberate planning, investment and strategic development, and Egypt, are still breathing into the Round of 16.
They should have asked themselves: What if we can go all the way? And then stayed motivated to win, regardless of the pedigree of the opponent. Instead, African teams too often default to the attitude of: “We have come this far already; let’s congratulate ourselves and relax.”
But you don’t relax at the edge of conquest.
Africa can go farther with a deliberate mentality shift — one that refuses the comfort of believing that merely reaching the knockout phase is enough.
Côte d’Ivoire and DR Congo deserved more. Senegal did, even more. They just did not believe it enough when it counted. Too often, African teams leave their confidence on the bench and watch their dreams evaporate in the final minutes.
Ghana too exited tamely against Colombia. By contrast, FIFA World Cup debutants, Cape Verde perhaps came closest to showing the complete belief required at this level, refusing to be overawed by defending champions Argentina and twice fighting back against Lionel Messi and some of the world’s best players.
The talent has never been in doubt. The winning mentality and relentless belief have. That is the deficit that matters most.
It is time to rethink that mentality and force a shift. Africa deserves more, but success goes beyond belief and obvious talent; it requires hard work, relentless drive and ruthless execution on the pitch. Big dreams become reality when belief is matched by decisive action. The only ceiling to unlocking another level of achievement is the one the continent’s teams place on themselves.
