Africa was left reeling in shame after the continent failed to have at least a team in the round of 16 for the first time since 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
This followed Thursday’s elimination of Senegal by Colombia who beat them 1-0 when they needed only a draw to sail through. Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco had exited earlier.
Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi said after the Senegal match that most African teams don't take the tournament seriously.
"Painful lesson learned by African teams in this world cup... prayers alone can't take you to the 2nd round," he said adding that there is need for African teams to strengthen their players through intense training.
Thursday's elimination of Senegal reminded the continent of its past experience at the competitions.
In 1970 Morocco failed to secure a ticket for the knockout phase. Zaire followed suit in 1974 before Tunisia restored the continent’s image in 1978 world cup when they reached the round of 16.
1982 in Spain, FIFA granted Africa two slots for the first time but Algeria and Cameroon, despite giving their best failed to qualify for round of 16.
Making a return in 1986 world cup, Algeria failed to make it once again but Morocco qualified for the knockout phase. Cameroon created history when they reached the quarterfinals in 1990 in Italy with Egypt falling at the preliminaries.
Making their maiden participation in 1994 in the United States in 1994 Nigeria reached the round of 16 before repeating the feat in 1998 in France.
Senegal improved Nigeria's performance in their first attempt in 2002 in Japan and South Korea when they reached the quarterfinals.
Ghana qualified for the round of 16 in 2006 in Germany before bettering it four years later in South Africa when they reached the quarterfinals.
The 2014 world cup in Brazil saw Algeria and Nigeria book second round slots.
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