Do the friendly victories of African teams reflect their readiness for the World Cup?

The friendly matches that the national teams played in preparation for the 2026 World Cup featured a series of surprises, as several African teams succeeded in outperforming their European counterparts.

The Algerian national team won against its opponent, the Netherlands, with a score of one goal to none, while the Ivory Coast team triumphed over France with two goals to one, and the Cape Verde team overwhelmed the Serbian team with a clean three-goal victory.

Regarding these results, sports analyst Majid Khal considered that they fundamentally confirm that global football is experiencing an increasing convergence in levels, and that teams previously classified as outside the competition are now capable of challenging the biggest football schools and achieving positive results against them.

Khal added, in a statement to Hespress, that these results should be approached with a sense of balance, as friendly matches remain a space for experimentation and testing players and tactical plans, and thus do not always reflect the true face of the teams. He emphasized that the main goal for coaches behind these matches is to assess technical and physical readiness and correct imbalances before entering the atmosphere of official competition.

The same sports analyst concluded that these victories provide an important morale boost for the winning teams, stressing that they possess real potential that could allow them to play an important role during the World Cup, highlighting that the final judgment on the strength of the teams and their true level will only come with the start of the official competition, where pressures and calculations differ and the result becomes the primary and ultimate goal.

For his part, national coach and sports expert Mohamed Ashiban stated that friendly matches do not provide the true picture, pointing out that many teams take advantage of preparatory matches to give opportunities to all players, including reserves, to assess their readiness.