Africa World Cup roundup: Mané sends Senegal through at expense of Salah’s Egypt
Sadio Mané delivered the winning spotkick as Senegal edged out Egypt 3-1 on penalties at the end of a tempestuous World Cup playoff second leg in Dakar to win a place at the finals in Qatar this year.
Boulaye Dia scored in the fourth minute as Senegal won the second leg 1-0 for a 1-1 aggregate draw after extra time at the new Diamniadio Olympic Stadium, which was packed with a capacity 50,000 crowd hours before kickoff.
The nerve-filled shootout started with four misses, including from both captains – Kalidou Koulibaly and then Mohamed Salah – but Mané won the shootout, reprising his heroics from the Africa Cup of Nations final last month.
Egypt had scored a fourth-minute goal last Friday in the first leg in Cairo but that advantage was quickly eroded in the second leg.
Idrissa Gueye’s free-kick was cleared in the wrong direction by Egypt defender Ahmed Fattouh, straight into the path of Dia, who needed two attempts to bundle it over from close range.
Senegal dominated the exchanges although the game was often interrupted by niggly fouls, gamesmanship and occasional pushing and shoving between the anxious players.
It did not help that both coaches – Aliou Cissé for Senegal and Carlos Queiroz for Egypt – spent much of the match barking at the match officials from the touchline.
Senegal could have settled the tie in their favour inside the 90 minutes as Ismaila Sarr spurned a golden chance eight minutes before the end of normal time. He was put free on goal by Mané’s defence-splitting pass but with goalkeeper Mohamed El Shennawy rushing out to close the angle, Sarr contrived to put the ball wide of the target.
Egypt’s best chance of the match fell to substitute Ahmed Zizo, who was served up an opportunity by Salah’s cross but he put his header narrowly wide.
In extra time, Senegal could also have avoided the shootout but Pape Abou Cissé had two efforts well stopped by El Shennawy and Pape Gueye shot wide after 107 minutes.
In the shootout, the first four penalties were wasted before Sarr put Senegal ahead and Bamba Dieng made it 2-1 before Edouard Mendy saved from Mostafa Mohamed.
That gave Mané the opportunity to be a hero all over again with Senegal’s fifth kick, which he blasted straight down the middle to book their World Cup ticket.
Senegal edged out Egypt 4-1 in a shootout last month to win the Cup of Nations final in Cameroon. Mané converted the decisive penalty there too.
Senegal will now compete at a third World Cup after the reaching the quarter-finals in 2002 and competing in Russia four years ago..
In Abuja, Nigeria fans stormed the pitch as the fallout from their surprise failure to reach the World Cup finals started immediately after the final whistle of their 1-1 home playoff draw with Ghana that sealed the home team’s fate.
Fans at the stadium reacted to the result, which saw Nigeria miss out on a trip to Qatar on the away goals rule, by throwing objects at both the small group of visiting fans in the Moshood Abiola National Stadium and the Ghana players.
Local security was slow to react to the violence, which included a pitch invasion on the final whistle, and the Ghana players were left to battle their own way towards the tunnel in scenes that will no doubt draw the ire of the Confederation of African Football and Fifa.
When police finally did get involved they started to beat the rioters with their batons, while it took teargas on the pitch to disperse the unruly fans, who also smashed the dugouts.
Nigeria, who had appeared in six of the previous seven World Cups, had been expected by most of the 60,000 crowd in Abuja to book a place again after the first leg of their playoff finished 0-0 in Ghana on Friday.
But a goalkeeper error from Francis Uzoho allowed Thomas Partey to open the scoring for Ghana early in the return game.
William Troost-Ekong equalised from the penalty spot, but the home side limped out of contention with a tepid second-half display in which they rarely threatened the visitors’ goal.
For Ghana, and their newly appointed technical adviser Chris Hughton, it is a major triumph in a qualification campaign in which they never really impressed and had looked a shadow of the side that reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2010.
Karl Toko Ekambi scored the winner four minutes into stoppage time at the end of extra time as Cameroon sensationally booked their place in Qatar with a 2-1 victory over hosts Algeria in their playoff at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker on Tuesday.
Algeria looked to have won when Ahmed Touba netted with three minutes remaining at the end of extra time, but Cameroon pushed everyone forward for the final play of the game and Toko Ekambi latched on to a loose ball to net a most unlikely winner.
The victory on the away goals rule seals an eighth World Cup finals appearance for the Indomitable Lions. Algeria had won the first leg 1-0 on Friday that left them heavy favourites to advance.
It seals a disastrous two months for the north African side who were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations finals, ironically played in Cameroon, in the group stage in January as they gave up the title they won in 2019.
In Tunis, Tunisia qualified for a sixth World Cup finals appearance after a 0-0 draw at home against Mali ensured their place in Qatar with a 1-0 aggregate triumph.
Mali, who have never qualified, were much more enterprising but failed to break down a typically tight Tunisia defence, as the hosts held on to their advantage from last Friday’s first leg in
Bamako.
The north Africans benefited from a horrendous own goal in Mali where the defender Moussa Sissako contrived to turn the ball into his own net in the first half of the first leg and then get himself sent off only four minutes later.
With a 1-0 lead, Tunisia played it safe and the return match had little of the drama of the first clash, although there was some needle between the two teams given what was at stake.
In Casablanca, Morocco qualified for Qatar after Azzedine Ounahi scored a double as they overcame first-half injuries to beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in the second leg of their playoff.
They advanced 5-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Kinshasa in Friday’s first leg and will compete at the finals for a sixth time. Tarik Tissuoadali and Achraf Hakimi scored the other goals for Morocco, who were 2-0 up at halftime despite losing defender Jawad El Yamiq after six minutes to a muscle injury and having to take off goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, suffering from concussion after twice being hit on the head in aerial duels, in the 43rd.
Substitute Ben Malongo netted a consolation for the Congolese with a shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty box that was the pick of the night’s efforts.