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Four Arab teams are in the third decisive round of the African qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Tunisia’s Ferjani Sassi and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi meet on Friday with strong confrontations once morest Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, and Congo. democracy.
The decisive third round of the African qualifiers stands between four Arab teams and their reaching the finals FIFA World Cup 2022 in footballHowever, strong confrontations await Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Tunisia’s Ferjani Sassi and Morocco’s Ashraf Hakimi.
After topping their groups in the second round, ten teams qualified for the third round of bilateral confrontations from home and away, following which the five winners qualify for the Qatar World Cup at the end of the year, knowing that the five African representatives were invited to the group stage in the last Russia 2018 edition. Five matches will be held on Friday, while the African qualifiers will conclude next Tuesday in the return match.
Algeria .. Returning following the African disappointment?
After the disappointment of the continental championship, where it was eliminated from the group stage when it was defending its title, Algeria is looking for compensation when it defeats Cameroon in Douala before hosting it in Blida. Qatari Al-Sadd club striker Baghdad Bounedjah was excluded from coach Jamal Belmadi’s list, and he was replaced by veteran Qatari Al-Wakrah club striker Mohammed bin Yatto. Belmadi also excluded West Ham striker Said Benrahma and Al Rayyan midfielder Yassin Brahimi.
Belmadi, 45, who assumed his technical duties in August 2018, said that “the goal is to qualify for the World Cup in order to forget some of the problems that occurred to us in the African Cup.” Belmadi, who is counting on Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez, Italian Milan midfielder Ismail bin Nasser and French Brest striker Youssef Blaili, summoned the 36-year-old veteran Adlan Guedioura, the average of the third-class English field, Porton Albion, along with Hertha Berlin striker Isaac Belfodil (30 years). Absent from the national team since 2018.
And the Algerian authorities decided to transport regarding 1,700 Algerian supporters to support their team in Cameroon, in an air bridge of 11 planes that make a round trip on the same day. Algeria participated four times in the World Cup in 1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014 when it reached the round of 16 and lost following the extension to Germany, which later won the title, knowing that it achieved a resounding surprise in the 1982 edition when it defeated West Germany, which was full of stars and was runner-up. On the other hand, Cameroon, the five-time African champion, has reached the World Cup finals seven times, most notably in 1990 when it reached the quarter-finals with its legend Roger Milla.
Egypt and hope for Salah’s recovery
After the final scene of the African Nations Cup, when Senegal won the first title in its history last month at the expense of Egypt on penalties, the scene is repeated between the two colleagues in Liverpool, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, back at Cairo Stadium, before the return in Dakar.
While Salah failed once more to win the continental title, Mane gave a distinguished performance and led the Teranga Lions smoothly to the title. Egypt, the seven-time African champion (a record) and three times in its history in the World Cup (1934, 1990 and 2018), hopes for the recovery of its star Salah, who was not fully ready in the last matches of Liverpool.
And to Salah, the expert Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz is counting on the likes of the Turkish Besiktas midfielder Mohamed Elneny and the Turkish Galatasaray striker Mustafa Mohamed, and he also summoned Al-Ahly midfielder Mohamed Magdy “Qafsha” following he was excluded from the African Nations, but he excluded his colleague, the league’s top scorer last season, Mohamed Sharif. . Senegal participated twice in the World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals in 2002 and exiting the group stage in 2018.
Coach Aliou Cisse, who is also counting on Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Napoli Italian defender Kalidou Coulibaly and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Guy, said that the African title has become a thing of the past, “winning the African Cup is not a final goal, because we now share the goal of qualifying for the World Cup.” “.
Tunisia in the absence of Khazri
After being slapped by the absence of striker Wahbi Khazri and defender Dillon Bronn due to injury and doubts regarding the readiness of midfielder Elias Sakhiri, in addition to a knee injury to Issam Jebali, Tunisia will meet in Bamako Mali, the only one among the ten qualified to the third round that did not participate in its history in the World Cup. The Tunisia squad wanted the return of Al Duhail midfielder Ferjani Sassi and Kuwait striker Taha Yassin Al Khenissi.
The two players were absent from the ranks of the “Carthage Eagles” in the last edition of the African Nations Cup finals in Cameroon, which they called from the quarter-final once morest Burkina Faso (0-1) and led to the dismissal of coach Munther Al-Kabeer and the appointment of his assistant Jalal Al-Qadri as his successor with the help of former internationals Ali Boumnigel and Salim Ben Ashour.
Tunisia participated five times in the World Cup, the last of which was in 2018, but it did not go beyond the group stage. In the last match, Ghana will play three times, including 2010 when it reached the quarter-finals with Nigeria, who is looking for a seventh and fourth participation, respectively, knowing that they made a disappointing journey in the last continental championship.
Morocco and the Democratic Republic of the Congo exam
After reaching the quarter-finals of the African Nations, where they lost following the extension to Egypt, the Moroccan team is facing the test of overcoming the Democratic Republic of the Congo to reach the World Cup for the sixth time, most notably in 1986 when it qualified for the second round and narrowly lost to West Germany. And his French-Bosnian coach Wahid Halilhodzic chose Barcelona’s promising Spanish striker Abdel Samad Zalzouli, 20, following he sparked controversy at the end of 2021 when he refused his invitation to participate in the African Nations, while previous reports indicated his desire to represent the Spain national team.
In this context, Halilhodzic said, “I spoke to him twice and his speech is different from what others are promoting (…) He has many skills and we do not have a player in the Moroccan team like this who can change the course of things quickly and evasively.” For his part, Zalzouli said before the first leg in Kinshasa, “I am very happy to be with the national team for the first time. We hope to qualify and we ask the fans to support us.”
On the other hand, the squad did not include Chelsea’s English midfielder Hakim Ziyech and Ajax Amsterdam defender Nassir Mazraoui, following they refused to return to the national team because of a dispute with the coach. And prominent in the “Atlas Lions” squad is Seville’s Spanish goalkeeper Yassin Bono, fellow striker Youssef Al-Nusairi and French Paris Saint-Germain back Ashraf Hakimi.
Wolverhampton defender Roman Ghanem Sais said: “Morocco’s qualification for the World Cup must become regular, and we should not wait every time for twenty years to qualify once more.” The Democratic Republic of the Congo participated once in the World Cup 1974 under the name Zaire.
FRANCE 24/AFP
