The draw for the final round of qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place on Saturday in Douala, Cameroon with the event throwing up exciting but tough fixtures.
It was conducted by the Competitions Director of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Samson Adamu, with African football legends El Hadji Diouf and Emmanuel Adebayor assisting him.
The 10 qualified teams were divided into two levels based on the November 2021 FIFA rankings, with the five highest-ranked teams being drawn against the five least-ranked teams.
Level One had Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Nigeria, while Level Two had Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and DR Congo
In the encounters set for next March, with the first leg scheduled for the first-picked team’s home, Egypt are up against Senegal, while Cameroon will take on Algeria.
Ghana will also face Nigeria, while DR Congo will battle against Morocco and Mali have to contend with Tunisia.
Egypt will now host Senegal in the first leg game of the pairing.
Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah will have to contend with each other in this one.
The Egyptians are the first African country to reach the FIFA World Cup finals, in Italy 1934, and they have appeared at three finals —- in 1934, 1990 and 2018.
They have played seven World Cup matches, winning none, drawing two and losing five, while they have scored five goals and conceded 12 in the process.
Senegal are one of the three African teams to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, at Japan/South Korea in 2002, and they played in the World Cup finals in 2002 and 2018.
In total, Senegal have played eight World Cup matches, winning three, drawing three and losing two, while scoring 11 goals and conceding 10 in the process.
Cameroon, who host Algeria in the first leg, are the first African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, at Italy 1990, and they have appeared in seven editions to establish an African record.
They qualified in 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014, playing a total of 23 matches, winning four, drawing seven and losing 12 while scoring 18 goals and conceding 43 along the line.
Algeria on their part have played in the FIFA World Cup finals four times (1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014, and their best appearance was in the Round of 16 at Brazil in 2014.
In total, Algeria have played 13 matches, from which they won three, drew three and lost seven while they scored 13 goals and conceded 19 in the process.
Ghana, who are presently in troubled times in the wake of their early exit from the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon, will have their hands full with Nigeria.
They are one of three African teams to play a World Cup quarter-final, at South Africa 2010 and they have appeared in the World Cup three times —- 2006, 2010, 2014.
In total, Ghana, who now have no coach, have played 12 World Cup matches, winning four, drawing three and losing five, they have scored 13 goals and conceded 16 in the process.
Nigeria reached the Round of 16 three times — in the United States (U.S.) in 1994, France in 1998 and Brazil in 2014.
They have appeared at six World Cup editions — 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018 —- playing 21 matches, from which they won six, drew three and lost 12 while scoring 23 goals and conceding 30.
DR Congo’s only World Cup appearance was in the then West Germany in 1974, when they were known as Zaire, and they played three matches, losing them all while scoring no goal and conceding 14.
They now have a tough opponent in Morocco in the search for another World Cup berth.
The North Africans are the first African team to go past the group stage at the World Cup, when they reached the Round of 16 in 1986.
But they have appeared in World Cup five times — 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998 and 2018 — and have played 16 matches in total, winning two, drawing five and losing nine in the process of scoring 14 goals and conceding 22.
Mali are the only team in the playoffs which have never played at the World Cup finals before, and have to contend with Tunisia.
The Carthage Eagles have appeared in the World Cup five times — 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018 — played 15 matches, where they won two, drew four and lost nine.
They scored 13 goals and conceded 25 during their five appearances.
The playoffs will hold in March, with the five winners over two legs advancing to Qatar 2022 which is billed for November 21 to December 18.
