SPORT - The African Mirror

Jul

11

2026

Africa’s last Lion falls to a French side it basically raised

FOOTBALL

AND then there were none. Morocco's remarkable run through the 2026 FIFA World Cup has ended in heartbreak, as Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé combined to send the Atlas Lions home 2-0 in the quarter-finals - and with them, the last African hopes of a first World Cup on the trophy cabinet. Africa's continental dream, carried so gallantly by Achraf Hakimi and company, has officially been retired for another four years. Somewhere, a vuvuzela sighed. There is, however, a delicious irony sitting at the heart of this elimination, and it would be journalistic malpractice not to point it out: Africa…

Jul

08

2026

By Sports Correspondent

So close, Pharaohs: Egypt made Argentina sweat blood before Messi remembered he was Messi

FOOTBALL

THERE is a particular kind of heartbreak reserved for teams that do everything right and still go home. Egypt lived it in Atlanta. For seventy-nine merciless minutes, the Pharaohs did not just compete with the two-time reigning world champions - they bullied them, embarrassed them, and had eleven million people in Cairo out of their seats screaming for a miracle. Then Lionel Messi remembered who he was, and the miracle evaporated like Nile mist at noon. Final score: Argentina 3, Egypt 2. On paper, a comeback. In the stadium, it felt like daylight robbery with better PR. The Setup: David…

Jul

08

2026

By The African Mirror

‘Prestigious teams are calling’ – Mbekezeli Mbokazi’s agent opens up on transfer interest

FOOTBALL

MBEKEZELI Mbokazi’s agent, Basia Michaels, has revealed to SportsBoom that there have been enquiries from prestigious clubs for the Bafana Bafana and Chicago Fire defender, following what has been an impressive maiden FIFA World Cup for the 20-year-old. Mbokazi’s Future Mbokazi was one of the standout performers for South Africa in their historic 2026 FIFA World Cup run, where they progressed to the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time. The 20-year-old defender remained rock solid against some of the world’s best attacking players, not losing composure and winning most of the duels as he made an impression.…

Jul

08

2026

By JOSH BLAND

World Cup’s credibility in question after FIFA volte-face following call from Donald Trump

FOOTBALL

AFTER four weeks of dazzling action on the pitch, it may be an off-field scandal that comes to define this summer’s World Cup. FIFA’s decision to allow America’s star striker, Folarin Balogun, to play in a last-16 match against Belgium, despite having been sent off in the previous game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, is in clear breach of the association’s own rules. The move has been greeted with outrage pretty much across the board. Extraordinarily, FIFA, international football’s governing body, has not only so far declined to give any detailed reasoning for its decision to suspend what would be a…

Jul

07

2026

By MOKY MAKURA

The DRC may have lost against England, but they achieved something arguably more significant

FOOTBALL

THE Democratic Republic of Congo may have lost to England on Wednesday night, but over the past three weeks, they achieved something arguably more significant: they disrupted one of the world's most enduring narratives about Africa. For the DRC, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was never simply about football. It was a return to the world's biggest sporting stage after a 52-year absence and an opportunity to present a country that has long been described almost exclusively in the language of war, humanitarian crises and instability. The old narrative arrived before the team did. Before a single whistle was blown,…

Jul

06

2026

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Out, but undefeated in the hearts of millions: Cape Verde’s World Cup adventure ends in glory

FOOTBALL

CAPE Verde's improbable, joyous run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup came to an end in Miami on Friday, but the smallest nation ever to reach the tournament's knockout stages departed the competition not as a footnote, but as its central story. The Blue Sharks — Tubarões Azuis to the roughly 600,000 people who call the ten-island archipelago home — were beaten 3-2 after extra time by reigning champions Argentina in the Round of 32, a match that took the world's best team to the very edge of the greatest upset in World Cup history. Lionel Messi opened the scoring…

Jul

05

2026

By The African Mirror

2026 FIFA WORLD CUP: The Atlas Lions do it again – and this time, nobody can call it luck

FOOTBALL

LET'S just say it plainly: Morocco didn't knock on history's door in Houston on Saturday. They kicked it clean off its hinges, strolled in, put their feet up on the coffee table, and ordered a second round. A 3-0 dismantling of co-hosts Canada has done what precisely zero African nations had managed before - back-to-back World Cup quarter-finals. Qatar 2022 could have been a fairytale, a lovely once-in-a-generation flicker that African football fans quietly filed under "we'll always have Doha." Instead, the Atlas Lions have marched straight back into the last eight and, in the process, turned a fairytale into…

Jul

04

2026

By The African Mirror

2026 FIFA WORLD CUP: And then there were two…

FOOTBALL

THERE is a particular kind of silence that falls over a continent when its footballing dreams are dismantled one hydration break at a time. Africa has spent the last fortnight becoming intimately acquainted with that silence - and, in between, with some of the loudest, most delirious noise this tournament has produced. Ten nations touched down in the United States, Canada and Mexico as history's largest African delegation to a FIFA World Cup. Nine survived the group stage, a new continental record that had commentators reaching for words like "golden generation" and "changing of the guard" before a ball had…

Jul

02

2026

By The African Mirror

THE 86TH MINUTE: Africa’s new enemy at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is a clock

FOOTBALL

THERE is a moment in every horror film where the music goes quiet, the babysitter checks the closet one more time, and you already know - you know - that something is coming. At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, African football has found its own jump-scare soundtrack, and it strikes with metronomic cruelty somewhere between minute 74 and minute 89. Call it the Curse of the Late Kick-Off. Call it Cinderella Syndrome. Call it whatever you like - just make sure you're sitting down when the clock gets there. Senegal: Two Goals Up, One Belgian Waffle-Iron Away From Glory Pape…

Jul

01

2026

By The African Mirror

FIFA 2026 WORLD CUP: Morocco shines, the Elephants crash out, with pride

FOOTBALL

Somewhere in a FIFA marketing meeting months ago, someone probably penned a tidy little narrative for this World Cup: the usual European heavyweights, a South American flourish, and Africa cast as the plucky extras who show up, smile for the group photo, and go home before the real drama starts. Africa did not get the memo. Or it got the memo, read it, folded it into a paper aeroplane, and launched it straight back at Zurich. Nine African sides made it into the knockout stage of this expanded tournament, and even as the continent's survivors thin out by the day,…