Egypt-Senegal WC qualifiers clash on March 24, 29

DOUALA, Cameroon – Egypt will host Senegal in the first-leg of their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers’ playoff on March 24, with the second-leg clash taking place on March 29, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced.

Egypt was drawn against Senegal in the playoff stage of African qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar in January 2023. The CAF WC 2022 play-off draw was staged in Cameroon’s Douala.

Egypt’s coach Carlos Queiroz insists that his priority is the World Cup, saying “the main goal when I signed was to qualify for the 2022 World Cup”.

Nigeria will face Ghana, Cameroon will meet Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo will play Morocco and Mali will tackle Tunisia in the other ties.

Only Mali among the 10 contenders has never qualified for the world football showpiece while Cameroon holds the record for appearances by an African team with seven between 1982 and 2014.

Nigeria brushed off a troubled build-up to the AFCON, including the sacking of German coach Gernot Rohr, to be the only team among the 24 in Cameroon to win all three group matches.

While the Super Eagles look forward to a last-16 clash with Tunisia, Ghana was shock first-round casualties, finishing bottom of a group after a stunning 3-2 loss to minnows the Comoros.

Serbia-born Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac, who guided the Black Stars to the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, insisted he would not resign after the humiliating loss.

“My primary ambition from the time I took over as coach last October was to qualify Ghana for the World Cup in Qatar,” he said, amid rumours that he faces the sack.

Nigeria is seeking to qualify for the World Cup a seventh time and, since 1994, have missed only one of seven editions. The last of three appearances by Ghana was in 2014.

Algeria, the defending champions and shock early exit from the tournament, will face Cameroon, another in-form team with captain Vincent Aboubakar scoring five times in three group games.

After going 35 matches unbeaten since last 2018, Algeria lost to Equatorial Guinea and was then outplayed by the Ivory Coast to make an embarrassingly early exit.

Mali will fancy their chances of a historic first appearance at the finals after defeating Tunisia in Cameroon last week through an Ibrahima Kone penalty.