Three years ago, the script of Italy and Portugal will be played out in Africa this time - Cameroon and Nigeria, at least one of them will not be able to go to the 2026 World Cup.

Although it has been three years, I still remember a media headline before the start of the 2022 World Cup European qualifying play-offs - at least one of Italy and Portugal will not be able to go to the World Cup in Qatar.

The cruelty of this sentence needs to be explored deeply. What does "at least one" mean? That is, it is impossible to advance both, and it is possible to advance neither. One step forward is already the best result. Therefore, if Italy and Portugal meet, it will be a life and death battle. Whoever wins will go to Qatar. Of course, we all know what happened next. The expected peak match between Italy and Portugal did not appear. Portugal defeated Turkey and reached the play-off group finals. However, Italy was upset by North Macedonia at home in the first round and was unexpectedly eliminated early. But such an unexpected event does not affect the expression of the title - at least one person cannot score, then Italy is the team. Even if they meet Portugal in the play-off final, only one of the two can advance. The cruel thing about this script is that Italy and Portugal were both strong teams with great strength and popularity at the time. It would be a huge regret for anyone not to go to the World Cup. As for the teams in the other groups, their appeal was obviously not good, so not many people paid attention to them. Okay, let’s go back to the current African World Cup preliminaries. All nine group matches have ended, and the nine direct quotas have been distributed. The biggest suspense now is who can qualify for the intercontinental play-offs. Before that, there was the brutal African World Cup preliminaries play-offs. The format of the African play-offs is the same as that of the European play-offs. Four teams are divided into two halves to play in the semi-finals and finals. In the end, only one team can qualify for the intercontinental play-offs. Among the four teams, two names are particularly eye-catching - Cameroon and Nigeria.

With the expansion of the World Cup, Africa's quota has almost doubled. However, Cameroon and Nigeria, the two traditional African teams, did not get direct rights and had to play in the play-offs. Nigeria even qualified for the play-offs at the last minute. This in itself is no small regret. But the bigger regret is that the script of Italy and Portugal three years ago is about to happen again - yes, at least one team in Cameroon and Nigeria will not be able to enter the World Cup. In extreme cases, not even two can get in. Although the play-offs will definitely determine a winner, the winner will still have to compete in the intercontinental play-offs. How sure are they of passing? Hard to say. Moreover, even the divisions are aligned with the situation of Italy and Portugal back then. Cameroon plays Democratic Congo and Nigeria plays Gabon. Just as everyone expected Italy and Portugal to stage the ultimate life-and-death battle, Cameroon and Nigeria, the African Lion and the African Eagle, will also stage a life-and-death battle. Whoever wins will get a chance to continue to survive. In the field of African football, both Cameroon and Nigeria are considered to be a gathering of superstars. Perhaps neutral fans also hope that neither of them will miss the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. But the truth is so cruel. Who made them play so reluctantly in the group stage? Nigeria, in particular, has been suppressed by South Africa and Benin, and was once unable to even qualify for the play-offs. In the final round, Nigeria defeated Benin 4:0 and qualified for the play-offs with only a goal difference. If we have to find a gimmick, we can only say that Nigeria will be lucky if it survives the disaster. If Nigeria reaches the intercontinental play-offs, they will really have a strength advantage. But in that case, Cameroon will become the background, which is also something the fans don't want to see. Therefore, this script is an enhanced version of the Italian and Portuguese script. Because if they have the opportunity to stage a life-and-death battle, it will only be a duel within Africa, and there will be another level behind it.