Argentina are on a seven-match World Cup winning streak against African teams
Newcomers Cabo Verde will face them for the first time in Miami in the Round of 32
Cameroon are the only African side to have beaten Argentina on the world stage
When , the surprise qualifiers from Group H, take on in Miami on Saturday, they will be bidding to produce potentially the biggest shock of this . It was one thing for the newcomers to oust Uruguay, Argentina’s neighbours, in the group stage; eliminating Lionel Messi and Co would be a whole different dimension of upset.
History shows that Argentina have stumbled against a CAF nation before on the global stage – with their in Milan in 1990 – yet they have won all of their seven subsequent World Cup matches against African sides. And their overall record from 30 past meetings with teams from that continent is strong, reading W22 D3 L5.
Additionally, it will surprise nobody to read that their leading scorer from those matches is Messi with 10 goals – including his hat-trick against Algeria in here in North America, a feat with echoes of his first double with his national team, also against the North Africans in a 4-3 friendly win at Camp Nou in 2007.
Messi’s other five goals against CAF teams have come against Nigeria (three), Angola and Zambia – the last-mentioned coming in the recent March double-header that brought warm-up wins against first Mauritania (2-1) and then the Zambians (5-0).
Of all the CAF nations, Nigeria's Super Eagles are the side with the highest number of past meetings with Argentina – nine in all. That number includes five group fixtures at past World Cups, all won by Argentina. The first was at USA 1994 when Claudio Caniggia’s final two goals for his country secured Argentina a 2-1 victory.
In more recent editions, Messi was on target in the wins against Nigeria at Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018. That latter match was a crucial one: Argentina went into it third in their group and needing three points to progress. Messi opened the scoring, Victor Moses equalised from the penalty spot but Marcos Rojo saved the day for the South Americans with an 86th-minute winner.
The only other African side to have previously faced Argentina at the World Cup are Côte d’Ivoire, who succumbed to a 2-1 group-stage reverse at the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Finally, only four teams from Africa have managed to beat the three-times world champions: Nigeria (twice), Cameroon, South Africa and Tunisia. For Tunisia that victory came at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the case of Cameroon, unbeaten in their two match-ups with Argentina, their 1990 encounter at the San Siro remains arguably the World Cup’s most memorable Opening Match.
Cameroon lost two players to red cards – Andre Kana-Biyik and Benjamin Massing – but thanks to Francois Omam-Biyik’s second-half header, they prevailed, becoming the first team from sub-Saharan Africa to win a World Cup match. "Historique!" read the Cameroon Tribune the next day. For Cabo Verde then, there is a precedent even if the overall history, not to mention the magnificence of Messi, suggest an altogether different outcome is more likely in Miami next weekend.
Sources: FIFA Official
