North Africa draws first blood

...teams get better results in opening leg

The playoffs to reach the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar took centre stage on Friday, with Africa’s final 10 teams embroiled in a battle for five spots.

Two legs - home and away - will decide which of the 10 group winners of the Caf qualifiers will make it to the first World Cup to be held during the November-December period.

The first leg of those playoffs took place on Friday, with the second due to be held across the continent today.

After Friday’s action, it is the North African sides of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt who appear to hold all the cards, heading into today’s fixtures.

All of them managed to avoid defeat, while two actually took a massive leap towards reaching Qatar 2022 after winning away from home.

Great results

Algeria, especially, will feel great after managing a 1-0 win over Cameroon at the Stade Omnisport de Douala.

A powerfully headed goal by Islam Slimani in the 40th minute was enough for the ‘Desert Foxes’ to see out a result they will hope to drive home at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker.

Cameroon looked disjointed and with the exception of a sneak shot in the fifth minute, hardly crafted out chances during the game.

The ‘Indomitable Lions’, with the legendary Rigobert Song as coach, will have to deliver a much-improved performance in the second leg.

Tunisia, meanwhile, can count themselves extremely lucky as a youthful Mali side imploded in front of their home crowd at the Stade 26 Mars.

The Malian defence made an elementary mistake in the 36th minute, with Moussa Sissako panicking, following a cross pass from his defensive partner. With a Tunisian attacker chasing the ball down, Sissako opted to play the ball back to the goalkeeper. But his pass was too strong and caught the keeper totally off guard, resulting in the ball hitting the Mali net. More disaster would follow barely four minutes later as Sissako was adjudged to have caused a foul that prevented Tunisia from having a clear goal-scoring opportunity. The inevitable red card left Mali to fight the rest of the match with only 10 men.

The second leg is set to take place at the Stade Olympique de Rades.

Advantage

Egypt also have a great advantage after recording a 1-0 win in Cairo. A Mohamed Salah shot that came off the bar led to a Saliou Ciss own goal in the fourth minute. Senegal carved out the better chances thereafter, with Sadio Mane’s dribble through the Egyptian defence which ended in a shot in the 37th minute, being the best of those attempts.

‘The Pharaohs’, though, will be hoping to continue riding their luck at the Stade Me Abdoulaye Wade tonight.

As for Morocco, the ‘Atlas Lions’ showed great character to level the game after going behind to DR Congo as early as the 12th minute when a Yaone Wissa shot from outside the area gave ‘The Leopards’ the lead. The away team had a penalty awarded in the 55th minute, but Ryan Mmaee skied his shot, leaving the capacity crowd at the Stade des Martyrs dreaming of an unlikely win. As it turned out, Morocco would equalise in the 76th minute thanks to a well-taken half volley goal scored by Tarik Tissoudali. DR Congo ended the match with 10 men as Muzinga Ngonda was given a red card in the 85th minute.

With the score level at 1-1, Morocco hosts DR Congo at the Mohammed V stadium tonight.

Titanic clash

The playoffs’ biggest tie, which pits Ghana’s Black Stars against their eternal rivals Nigeria’s Super Eagles, failed to live up to its billing, with the two sides playing to a 0-0 draw at the Baba Yara Stadium.

Surprisingly, Ghana had the better chances with Nigeria only seriously threatening once after a move saw Joe Aribo sending the ball into the sky when he got a chance to shoot in the penalty area.

Despite displaying a much improved performance in comparison to the awful display at the 2021 Afcon earlier this year, Ghana fans still seem pessimistic about their team’s chance to qualify for Qatar 2022.

The Black Stars were missing Andre Ayew but his sibling, Jordan, was in action and did not escape criticism from the fans.

“The only problem with Jordan Ayew is, he is not a weed smoker. So he doesn’t know how to pass,” said Ndeego McDaniels on Facebook.

The return leg of this tie is set to be held at the Abuja National Stadium.

Qualified

Africa is one of the last confederations to complete their qualifiers, with 19 teams already having secured their place at the Qatar 2022 spectacle.

Defending champions France are among them and so are perennial contenders like Argentina, Brazil and Germany. Italy will be the shock absentee, after failing to negotiate their way past North Macedonia in a playoff match.

The draw for how the 32 teams will play is set to place on Friday, 01 April 2022, at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre. When it begins, 29 teams will have qualified for the tournament.

The 32 nations involved in the 2022 World Cup will be drawn into eight groups of four. Host nation Qatar will be in position one of Group A. The other nations involved in the draw will be split into four pots based on Fifa rankings, with the top-rated teams joining Qatar in pot one.

Teams who are in the same confederation cannot be drawn against each other, except for Uefa. However, those sides based in Europe can see no more than two teams drawn in the same group.