#zambiarising

the zambian sports series: world cup update — senegal vs france and algeria vs argentina senegal 1-3 france, in new jersey — at the same stadium that will host the world cup final on 19 july. the only previous meeting between these nations: senegal 1-0 france at the 2002 world cup, one of the greatest upsets in world cup history, eliminating the defending champions. yesterday’s rematch went the other way. senegal were the better team in the first half — nicolas jackson hit the post, ismaïla sarr missed a golden chance just before half-time, france goalless and stuttering. then mbappé changed the second half. he scored first in the 66th minute. bradley barcola added a second in the 82nd. senegal pulled one back through ibrahim mbaye deep in stoppage time — but mbappé scored again in the 90th to seal 3-1 for france. for senegal: the first-half performance told a different story. a team that bossed france for 45 minutes, hit the post, missed a chance that might have changed the match entirely. senegal face norway (22 june) and iraq (26 june) — both winnable. algeria 0-3 argentina, in kansas city. the match produced one of this world cup’s landmark moments. lionel messi — 38 years old, in his sixth and almost certainly final world cup — scored a hat-trick against algeria, equalling miroslav klose’s record of 16 world cup goals, the all-time record. algeria’s goalkeeper was luca zidane — the son of zinedine zidane, france’s 1998 world cup winner. the young goalkeeper performed well in a match algeria were never in. for algeria: the 0-3 against the defending champions is not a result to define a campaign by. austria and jordan remain — both winnable. the broader picture: nine african teams have now played their openers. one win (ivory coast). four draws (morocco with brazil, cape verde with spain, egypt with belgium, senegal’s consolation). four defeats (south africa, tunisia, senegal, algeria). no african team has been eliminated. every one still has a path through the group stage. today, wednesday 17 june, portugal face DR congo — congo’s first world cup appearance since 1974. the watching continues. the zambian sports series continues. 🇿🇲⚽

the zambian sports series: world cup mid-tournament — the african picture, seven nations in the african scoreboard so far: south africa: lost 0-2 to mexico. must-win against czechia on 18 june. morocco: drew 1-1 with brazil. one of the most extraordinary opening round results by any african nation at any world cup. scotland next on 19 june. ivory coast: won 1-0 against ecuador. the reigning AFCON champions making a winning start. germany next on 20 june. tunisia: lost 1-5 to sweden. the heaviest african defeat of the tournament so far. japan on 20 june — must-win. cape verde: drew 0-0 with spain. a point against one of the tournament’s pre-tournament favourites, at the island nation’s first-ever world cup. uruguay next on 21 june. egypt: drew 1-1 with belgium. group G left wide open. new zealand on 21 june — very winnable if egypt carry the momentum. playing today: senegal face france in new york — senegal famously beat france 1-0 at the 2002 world cup, one of the tournament’s greatest upsets. and algeria face argentina — the current world champions — in group J’s headline match. the continent of africa has never had so many teams at a world cup before. the question the series has been asking since 11 june — what separates the nations that qualify from the nation that came one result away — is being partially answered every day. cape verde drew spain. egypt held belgium. morocco held brazil. the question for zambia is not whether african football has the quality. this tournament is providing that evidence daily. the question is how zambia joins this company. the watching continues. the zambian sports series continues. 🇿🇲⚽

the zambian sports series: world cup update — the day africa stopped europe in its tracks cape verde 0-0 spain. in atlanta, cape verde — a nation of fewer than 600,000 people, at their first-ever world cup — faced the 2010 world cup champions, the 2024 european champions, one of the pre-tournament favourites. goalkeeper vozinha saved everything spain put at him. cape verde’s defenders held their shape. ninety minutes. 0-0. a point for cape verde against spain. vozinha reportedly gained five million social media followers in the hours after the match. egypt 1-1 belgium. in seattle, egypt battled belgium to a 1-1 draw — leaving group G wide open, with egypt and belgium equal on points, and iran and new zealand also level after drawing their opener 2-2. two draws. two points for africa from matches that were, on paper, unwinnable. cape verde against a european champion. egypt against belgium. both holding. neither losing. the series noted on sunday that morocco drew with brazil and wrote: “morocco did not lose to brazil. that sentence alone says something about where african football is now.” the same sentence applies in triplicate this morning. cape verde did not lose to spain. egypt did not lose to belgium. morocco did not lose to brazil. three african teams faced three of football’s established nations in the opening round. none of them lost. today’s african fixtures, tuesday 16 june: senegal face france in new york — a fixture charged with history, between the nation that colonised senegal and a team senegal famously beat 1-0 at the 2002 world cup. and algeria face argentina — the current world champions — in group J’s headline match. five played, five to play. three draws among the opening five. one win. one heavy defeat. and two more fixtures today that africa cannot afford to watch from a distance. the zambian sports series continues. 🇿🇲⚽