#WorldCupAtHome: Five African matches you would love to see from FIFA

With major football suspended amidst the coronavirus, at least for the foreseeable future, Fifa have moved to fill the void for fans.

World football’s organising body revealed this week that they are planning to open up their archives and show some of the great World Cup games of the past on their YouTube channel.

In this feature, Goal reveal the five African World Cup matches that we’d most love to see broadcast by Fifa as part of their #WorldCupAtHome initiative.

Ghana 1-1 Uruguay (Uruguay won 4-2 on penalties) | 2010 Ghana were on the brink of becoming Africa’s first side in the semis, only for Luis Suarez to deny the Black Stars a spot in the final four and fuel his notorious reputation.

The forward committed a blatant handball in the 121st minute to clear the ball off his line, and was punished with a red card. However, tournament hero Asamoah Gyan failed to score the resulting penalty at the end of extra time.

The Uruguayans ended up winning 4-2 in the shootout to send Ghana out.

Cameroon 1-0 Argentina | 1990

The Indomitable Lions were the surprise package of the 1990 tournament when they kicked off their campaign with one of the most notable giant killings in the competition’s history.

Francois Omam-Biyik scored the only goal of the game as the Central Africans—whose physicality proved too much for the reigning champions—stunned the holders in the tournament.

Cameroon had two men sent off during that fascinating clash of styles, but still reached the quarter-finals where they were defeated late by England.

Senegal 1-0 France | 2002

12 years after Cameroon’s memorable victory over Argentina, Senegal repeated the trick by securing a shock 1-0 triumph over holders France to kick off the 2002 tournament in Seoul.

The Teranga Lions’ victory was more impressive than the Indomitable Lions, not least because France had just completed a World Cup and European Championship two-peat.

It was also the West Africans first ever tournament appearance, and made legends of the likes of Salif Diao, El Hadji Diouf and Papa Bouba Diop.

Nigeria 2-3 Argentina | 2014

Nigeria’s victory over Spain in 1998 may have been celebrated more widely than this brave defeat against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, but in terms of pure enjoyment, it was surely hard to beat this roller-coaster.

Twice, Messi put the Albicelestes ahead, but twice his efforts were equalled by Ahmed Musa, who was enjoying the game of his life for the Super Eagles.

Vincent Enyeama delivered heroics between the sticks to deny Messi a third, although Marcos Rojo netted a second-half winner with both sides ultimately progressing.

Cote d’Ivoire 3-2 Serbia & Montenegro

The Ivorians were handed a nightmarish draw for their maiden World Cup appearance in 2006, and began their campaign with back-to-back matches against the Netherlands and Argentina.

They ultimately lost both matches—despite bold efforts—and were sent packing, but not before a gallant come-from-behind victory against Serbia-Montenegro in Munich.

The Elephants were 2-0 down after 20 minutes, but Aruna Dindane’s double and a late Salomon Kalou penalty ensured they exited the World Cup in style.