Senegal captain and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly believes African teams are more than capable of winning the World Cup.
No side from the continent has ever made it past the quarter-finals, with Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and most recently Ghana (2010) knocked out in the last eight – all after extra time or penalties.
Morocco, Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Ghana will represent Africa in the 2022 edition in Qatar.
Speaking ahead of the global showpiece which is set to take place between November 21 and December 18, 2022, Koulibaly charged the qualified teams from the continent to have belief that they can go all the way.
“African nations are lacking self-esteem and self-awareness that they can really win a World Cup,” the 31-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
“We consider that going past the group stage is a good thing, but we should set higher goals for ourselves.
“I don’t think that the French team or the English team are happy with going through the group stages – they want to go further.
“We should have the same mindset. That’s what I am trying to bring to Senegal.
“I think it’s time that an African country delivers and wins the World Cup, because we are a very talented continent. We have great players.”
