The 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which included eight new teams, surprised a lot of surprises.
It was a successful tournament for African countries, with subjugated players in Morocco and South Africa and Nigeria, 72nd, 54th and 40th in the world.
Morocco’s advance was at the expense of the German champions, who left the group stage a year after they reached the Euro 2022 Euro 2022 final.
Zambia, eighth in 81st, was the lowest of the first division.
While they lost 5-0 to Japan and Spain, they lost 3-1 to Costa Rica, who ranked third, ranked 44th.
Nigeria lost to 40th in the last 16 years with a penalty in England.
Of the 32 teams, only three clubs couldn’t score one point – Costa Rica, Haiti and Vietnam – and only Vietnam could not score.
But there were some unilateral goals, including the Netherlands, with seven goals from Vietnam and Norway 6-0