Five matches will be held today, Friday. Congo will meet Morocco at 17:00 Beirut time, while Tunisia will face its host Mali at 19:00, and at the same time, a summit will be played between Algeria and Cameroon on the latter’s soil. As for Egypt and Senegal, they will meet at 21:30, at the same time as Ghana and Nigeria.
The African qualifiers conclude next Tuesday in the return matches. 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 teammates 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.
In addition 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. Sherif.
For its part, Senegal participated twice in the World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals in 2002, and bid farewell to the group stage in 2018. Its coach, Aliou Cisse, who is also counting on Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Napoli Italian defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gueye, said that The African title is 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.”
Algeria to return
After the disappointment of the continental championship, where it was eliminated from the group stage while 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. “The goal is to finalize qualification for the World Cup in order to forget some of the problems that happened to us in the African Cup,” said Belmadi, 45, who assumed his technical duties in August 2018. Belmadi, who is counting on Manchester City’s English star Riyad Mahrez, Italian Milan midfielder Ismail Bennacer 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. The Algerian authorities decided to transport regarding 1,700 Algerian supporters to support their team in Cameroon, in an air bridge of 11 planes making a round trip on the same day.
Four teams have great chances of qualifying for the next World Cup
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.
Morocco to bypass Congo
After reaching the quarter-finals of the African Nations, where it lost following the extension to Egypt, the Moroccan team stands before 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. His Bosnian-French coach Wahid Halilhodzic chose Barcelona’s promising 20-year-old striker Abdel-Samad El-Zalzouli, following he sparked controversy at the end of last year when he refused to accept his invitation to participate in the African Nations, while previous reports indicated his desire to represent the Spain national team. “I spoke to him twice and his speech is different from what others are promoting,” Halilhodzic said. He has a lot of skills and we don’t have a player like this in the Moroccan team who can change the course of things quickly and evasively.” In turn, 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. Among the “Atlas Lions” squad is Seville’s Spanish goalkeeper Yassin Bono, fellow striker Youssef Al-Nusayri 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 must not wait every time for twenty years to qualify once more.” The Democratic Republic of the Congo participated once in the World Cup in 1974 under the name Zaire.
Absences in Tunisia
After being slapped by the absence of striker Wahbi Khazri and defender Dillon Brune due to injury and doubts regarding the fitness of midfielder Elias Skhiri, in addition to a knee injury to Issam Jebali, Tunisia will face Mali in Bamako. The Tunisia squad witnessed the return of Al Duhail midfielder Ferjani Sassi and Kuwait striker Taha Yassin Khenissi. The two players were absent from the ranks of the “Carthage Eagles” in the last edition of the African Nations Cup 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 participate three times, including 2010 when they reached the quarter-finals with Nigeria, who are looking for a seventh and fourth participation, respectively, knowing that they had a disappointing journey in the last continental championship.