Africa's Day not to be
Nigeria and Algeria were the last African teams standing today. Both were knocked out to end another World Cup where the African teams have underachieved. It was somewhat of a topsy turvy tournament for the African nations. On 21st June Nigeria beat Bosnia-Herzegovina and two days later Algeria beat Korea. The bookmakers sat up and paid attention and the odds of an African team to lift the trophy began to take a steep uphill trajectory. However the elimination of Ivory Coast on the 25th was the beginning of the end of the African dream. The chart shows the estimated probability of an African team winning the World Cup. Estimated probabilities are based on the bookmakers odds (eg evens => 50%, 2 to 1 => 33%). So ends another World Cup riddled with disappointment for the African Continent. Egypt was the first African team to take part in the World Cup in 1934 but fell at the first hurdle. There was no Africa...