Nigeria takes the lead, taking stock of the strong teams that have missed or may miss the World Cup (Part 1)

The African qualifiers for the World Cup have all ended. In the final African play-off final, the African Eagle Nigeria lost 3-4 to the Democratic Republic of Congo in a penalty shootout and officially missed the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup finals. For a strong team with top forwards like Osimhen and Lookman, it is really a pity. In addition, Italy, the four-time World Cup champion, suffered a 1-4 home defeat to Norway in the final qualifying battle and had to participate in the World Cup qualifying play-offs for the third consecutive time. Whether it can go to the United States, Canada and Mexico is still unknown. In addition to Nigeria and Italy, which other strong teams in the eyes of fans have missed or may miss the World Cup? Who among them is the most regrettable?

Let’s look at Oceania first. New Zealand defeated New Caledonia 3-0 in the final and directly advanced to the World Cup finals, while the latter will participate in the intercontinental play-offs. So, apart from these two teams, which other team in Oceania would be a pity for not qualifying for the World Cup? No, except for New Zealand, no other country in Oceania can leave an impression on fans in football. To be honest, 1.5 places for Oceania is really redundant. 1 or even 0.5 is enough.

Looking at Central and North America, in addition to the automatic participation of the United States, Mexico and Canada as hosts, this region actually has three direct quotas for the World Cup and two intercontinental play-off quotas, which is really incredible. After the 5th round of the 3rd stage, Suriname and Panama in Group A share 9 points, ranking the top two in the group; Curacao in Group B ranks first with 11 points, and Jamaica ranks second with 10 points. In the final round, Jamaica will face Curacao at home. If they win, they will overtake their opponents and advance to the world. Cup; in Group C, Honduras and Haiti both ranked the top two in the group with 8 points, and Costa Rica ranked third in the group with 6 points. In the final round, Costa Rica will face Honduras at home, and Haiti will face Nicaragua at home, which is currently at the bottom. Everything is possible. It can be said that if any team from these three groups does not appear in the US-Canada-Mexico World Cup finals, it will not make any fans outside their home countries feel regretful. After all, there are no big-name stars in these teams. After the United States, Mexico and Canada automatically take away 3 places, it is enough to give Central and North America 2 or 2.5 places.

Then there is Asia. After the fourth stage of qualifiers, Qatar and Saudi Arabia also obtained tickets for the United States, Canada and Mexico World Cup, becoming the seventh and eighth Asian teams to qualify for the World Cup finals after Japan, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Jordan. In the first leg of the fifth stage, the UAE drew 1-1 with Iraq at home. The two sides are about to play the second round. The winner will qualify for the intercontinental play-offs. Among the strong Asian teams that have been determined to miss the World Cup finals, the one that fans feel the most regretful is naturally China. A country with a population of 1.4 billion, the last time it participated in the World Cup was in 2002. However, when the Chinese team has 8.5 quotas in Asia, it is still unable to qualify. It can only be said that its skills are inferior to others. Judging from the number of Asian teams and their performance in recent World Cups, this quota is basically relatively reasonable.

Next is Africa. Africa has a total of 9 direct quotas and 1 intercontinental play-off quota. Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Tunisia and Canada These nine teams in Namibia have already qualified for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. After the Democratic Republic of Congo defeated Nigeria on penalty kicks in the African play-off final, they will participate in the intercontinental play-offs. With their strength, they are very hopeful to become the 10th African team to participate in the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Among the African teams that have missed the World Cup, the absence of many teams has made fans regretful. The first one is naturally the African Eagles Nigeria. This team that once and now has a large number of top stars has missed the finals of two consecutive World Cups. The 26-year-old Osimhen has not participated in the World Cup so far. I don’t know if there will be a chance in the next one. The African Eagles cannot go to the World Cup, and the African Lions are not immune. Cameroon, which has Manchester United forward Mbemo, ranked second in the group behind Cape Verde in the African qualifiers. They lost 0-1 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the African play-off semi-finals and also missed the US-Canada-Mexico World Cup. In addition, Burkina Faso, which has two stars worth 35 million euros in Ouattara and Tapsoba, Mali, which has many stars playing for the five major league teams such as Bissouma and Haidara, as well as Aubameyang's Gabon and Gilasi's Guinea, did not participate in the World Cup, which also made fans feel a little regretful. With the huge number of African teams and numerous stars, it is not an exaggeration to give Africa another direct quota.

There are 10 countries in South America, but they have 6 direct quotas for the World Cup and 1 intercontinental play-off quota, with a qualifying rate as high as 65%. After the South American World Cup preliminaries, six teams - Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay - advanced directly. Bolivia finished seventh and will participate in the intercontinental play-offs. Venezuela, Peru and Chile ranked in the bottom three and missed the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Venezuela is the only country in South America that has never qualified for the World Cup finals. This time it is only one step away. If it wants to achieve a historic breakthrough, it must wait another four years. The most regrettable team in South America is Chile, which won the Copa America in 2015 and 2016. Ten years later, the Chilean team has already fallen into a dilemma. The two veterans Sanchez and Vidal are still struggling to support themselves, and elimination is inevitable. Although the overall level of football in South America is relatively high, the qualifying rate of 65% is still a bit exaggerated. It may be more reasonable to reduce one quota..

Finally, let’s talk about Europe. Apart from Italy, which other teams may miss the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, or will definitely miss it? For example, there are Sweden, Hungary, and Serbia, and there seems to be quite a few. Due to space limitations, our next article will focus on those absentees in Europe.

Note: The picture comes from the Internet.