FIXTURES
Friday, March 25@6pm:
DR Congo v Morocco
Friday, March 25@8pm:
Cameroon v Algeria
Mali v Tunisia
Friday, March 25@10:30pm:
Egypt v Senegal
Ghana v Nigeria
Tuesday, March 29@8pm:
Senegal v Egypt
Nigeria v Ghana
Tuesday, March 29@10:30pm:
Algeria v Cameroon
Tunisia v Mali
Morocco v DR Congo
Will it be Sadio Mane or Mohammad Salah in Qatar? That’s the big question on the lips of many football fans around Africa and Europe as the play-offs to select Africa’s five representatives to the FIFA World Cup Finals in Qatar takes centre stage this weekend.
The final two-legged play-offs kick off Friday (March 25) night with the first-leg games. Ten countries; DR Congo, Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Tunisia are competing for Africa’s five slots at the Finals due in Qatar this December.
The pairing between Egypt and Senegal, which evokes of memories of last month’s AFCON final in Cameroon, has attracted much attention as it pits Liverpool FC’s attacking duo of Mane and Salah, arguably the most dangerous strike partnership in the English Premier League for the last five seasons.
When the two nations met in the AFCON final, Mane lifted the trophy after converting the winning penalty kick for Senegal’s Lions of Teranga. It was too much pain for Salah and his Egypt Pharaohs colleagues.
However, Salah and company have a realistic chance to revenge by taking the World Cup slot if they can beat Senegal over the two legs. Egypt host the first leg on Friday in Cairo and travel to Dakar for the return leg on Tuesday, March 29.
The other heavyweight games include Cameroon versus Algeria, Nigeria against Ghana and DR Congo versus Morocco. All the countries involved in these pairings have represented Africa at the World Cup Finals before.