DAKAR – Egypt’s national football team finished preparations in readiness for the second-leg of the decisive round of the African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar against Senegal on Tuesday at 7:00pm Cairo Local Time.
The Pharaohs only need a draw with Senegal in Dakar to book a place in the FIFA World Cup.
Both Senegal and the Pharaohs are eyeing a second successive World Cup appearance.
Egypt defeated Sadio Mane’s Senegal 1-0 in the first-leg in Cairo last Friday.
Mohamed Salah helped force the only goal of the Cairo International Stadium clash four minutes after the kick-off, with his shot rebounding off of Saliou Ciss and past Edouard Mendy in the Senegalese goal.
The away goals rule is still in use in the African qualifiers.
The head-to-head clash between Liverpool team mates Sadio Mane and Salah has captivated the continent in the build-up to the showdown between Senegal and Egypt and they will reprise that rivalry again on Tuesday.
Mane converted the winning penalty as Senegal edged Egypt to take the African Cup of Nations title in Cameroon last month but it was Salah who made the goal that spurred Egypt to a 1-0 win over Senegal in the first-leg of their payoff tie in Cairo last Friday.
Senegal, as was the case in the continental competition final, dominated play and might have won more comfortably had they take their chances but will believe they can overturn the deficit at their stadium in Dakar.
“We can’t be happy with the result but we did enough in the game to give us hope,” said Senegal coach Aliou Cisse.
“Maybe there is a psychological advantage for Egypt but we are lucky to play at home in the return match. It is up to us to do the work to win.”
Elsewhere, Algeria and Tunisia are heavily fancied to qualify on Tuesday for the 2022 World Cup but the outcome of the other three African playoffs for the tournament in Qatar look likely to go down to the wire.
The two North African neighbours both won away in the first-leg of their playoff ties on Friday and are expected to best utilise home advantage in their return legs.
Algeria is 1-0 up over Cameroon while Tunisia profited from a horror own goal in Bamako to win away over Mali.
But the other three contests are delicately balanced and set for nerve-jangling deciders in Abuja, Casablanca, and Dakar.
But the Democratic Republic of Congo, who qualified back in 1974 when they were still known as Zaire, will know the odds are staked against them in Casablanca against Morocco.
The Congolese let slip a lead at the home in Kinshasa to be held 1-1. But while Moroccan fans will be confident, their coach Vahid Halilhodzic remained cautious.
“We haven’t qualified yet. We are playing against a very good team. Everything remains to be done in Casablanca,” he said according to Reuters.
Nigeria held Ghana to a goalless draw in a match riddled with errors and both sides will feel they have a chance to emerge triumphant in the return leg at Abuja.
The derby games between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Ghana’s Black Stars have a distinct shape and character, which regularly thumbs its nose at the formbook.
The teams met in the first leg at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Friday night, playing out a 0-0 draw. Ghana dominated most of the match, though in truth they created few clear chances with which to test Nigerian goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.
In fact, Black Stars striker Jordan Ayew was even jeered when he was substituted late in the game – a harsh reception for a player who had put in a huge shift, but understandable in the frustrating circumstances which saw the hosts unable to make the most of home advantage.
The Super Eagles showed resilience in defence and patience in attack, with a few glimpses of danger from Moses Simon and Victor Osimhen – though the latter was mostly kept under wraps by Daniel Amartey.
Nigeria also felt that they were unjustly denied a penalty.
Referee Redouane Jiyed initially awarded a spot kick in the second half for a hand-ball on the ground from Baba Iddrisu – who had been pressured into a mistake by a high press – but a VAR review showed that the Ghana midfielder had been tripped by Victor Osimhen before handling, thus the spot kick decision was correctly rescinded.
A similar pressure will surely fall on Tunisian official Sadok Selmi for the second leg in Abuja, with tension and rivalry set to come to a boil for these two West African heavyweights as they complete their battle for a spot at Qatar 2022.
“Ghana team is not a team you can brush aside with one arm because they are a very good team. I have followed Ghana nearly all my entire career. The performance they put on [Friday] was expected, [but] I would like to congratulate my boys, they were able to soak up the pressure and took control of the game in the second half,” said Nigeria coach Augustine Eguavoen.
“Again you know Ghana yes they were on top of their game, but they didn’t have any clear cut chances. But we had two clear cut chances. We should have won, but a draw, I think we are okay.”
“First of all, we did well even though we made some mistakes but we started well, there was just a little bit of fatigue and it made Nigeria come into the game more […] We watch a lot of matches, me and my squad… and I think we know what each of them is capable of,” Ghana coach Otto Addo noted.
