The 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered the knockout stages, yet it has been remarkable not only for being the biggest in football history so far, but also for its unusual moments. It has delivered remarkable fan antics, underdog stories, emotional scenes and controversial decisions.
On a personal note, because I’m visiting the US and Canada, two of the three North American hosts, I’m enjoying what I have often taken for granted, watching global games on live TV in my part of the world.
Replays are not my thing. I’m not sure I would have been able to follow the games so closely if I were watching them from home in Nigeria, where a five or six-hour time difference with the US, Canada or Mexico might have meant watching replays, missing several games played at “odd hours” or watching them with red, sleepy eyes.
Bafana beefing
Some unusual moments have caught my attention so far in the World Cup. The performance of South Africa’s team, Bafana Bafana was not only a thing of pride to the country and its players, I thought it would bring joy to many Africans that the team, one of the continent’s 10 representatives, reached the knockout stage by pulling off a stunning last-minute 1-0 win over South Korea in a last group stage contest that could have been drawn – or worse.
It was Bafana’s best performance since 2002, when it first qualified for the World Cup, surpassing even its 2010 record, when it hosted the event and finished third in the group.
But talking to several friends and monitoring social media posts across the continent revealed that the team’s exploits hardly carried a shared sense of continental joy. Echoes of the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa overshadowed them.
Transferred aggression
Fans wanted Bafana to crash out as quickly as possible, as a “recompense” for the attacks on immigrants from other African countries.
On June 28, for example, @Son_of_Laikipa posted a video of a wild party on his timeline, writing, “South Africa are out of the World Cup, they can now rush home to protect their jobs.” A Nigerian Nollywood actor, Charles Awurum, also mocked Bafana on his timeline, while @PopBase said, “Africa is happy.”
Many, especially Nigerian fans, who seemed to revel in this schadenfreude, didn’t seem to care that the joke was on Nigeria. Fans wearing Nigerian jerseys around many stadiums in North America have been taunted with jokes like, “When is Nigeria playing?” Nigeria didn’t qualify.
Soft power
The sentiment toward Iran was different – it proved the enduring value of soft power. At some point, no one was sure the national team would show up because of the US-Israel war in the country.
It’s to the team’s credit that, despite the difficulties surrounding their participation, one of the most fraught in recent sporting memory, Iran did not lose a single match in the group stages.
Team Melli’s resilience captured the imagination of the world, and its elimination (finishing just outside the eighth, third-placed) drew global empathy.
Riding the wave
