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48 nations began this tournament in June. Four remain. And for the first time in World Cup history, the last four standing are also the four highest-ranked sides on earth. France, Spain, England and Argentina reached the semi-finals not by fortune but on the cold arithmetic of quality. The romantics have gone home. What is left is pedigree.
For those of us who watched with African hearts, that arithmetic stings. Morocco carried the continent's final hope into the quarter-final and left it in Boston, beaten 2-0 by a France side that did not so much defeat them as calmly shut the door.
Kylian Mbappe scored his eighth goal of the tournament. Ousmane Dembele added a fifth. There was no controversy to protest, no cruel deflection to curse, only the quiet confirmation that the distance between Africa's best and the world's best remains real.
This was not a barren month for the continent. Cape Verde, a nation of barely half a million, charmed the planet before their run ended. Ivory Coast, Senegal and Egypt all had their moments in the sun. But the lesson of 2026 is a hard one.
