If Egypt can hold on to its 1-0 lead for the next 16 minutes plus stoppage time, it will qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. Watching my live score feed with baited breath...
Well... at least until further notice... 1:1 Three minutes before stoppage time. This means the race isn't over. And Ghana will very well take on FIFA as to the result of the other game.
Extra time - 5 minutes. Congo doing great, despite iffy refereeing, aggressive crowd shining lights into their eyes and playing for nothing.
Yeah. Just saw that as well. So like Egypt to keep trying hard to bottle it even in a situation like this...
Wow... Egypt get a gift penalty at the death... This whole group is becoming a farse. Ghana denied an obvious win. Egypt gifted a phantom penalty with the Egytians falling over in the box and the ref more than happy to oblige. Honestly... this is why I just can't back most North African teams. They always seem to have favorable refereeing in clinch games.
A ball was played over the top into the area. A congolese defender cleared the ball while an Egyptian player fell onto him to prevent this from happening. It was farsical, especially given the Egyptians fell twice before in the box in the previous minute (the smallest touch and they were on the ground).
After seeing a good replay the call wasn't as bas as I initially thought. The defender missed the ball, but he also didn't touch the Egyptian until the Egyptian was already toppling to the ground. Still a clear dive to me, but less damning than if the Congolese player had actually cleared the ball.
Just watched highlights of the Egyptian penalty myself. It does appear the Congolese player caught the Egyptian player in his leg, most probably in his thigh. It's hard to tell from the replays whether he got the ball or the player's leg first, but, as far as I can tell, the Egyptian player only started falling after the Congolese player made contact with him. Whether one thinks the level of contact was enough to justify the extent of the fall or that the Egyptian player embellished it is another matter. But, as far as I can tell, this is what happened: Ball in air. Congolese and Egyptian players vie for the ball. Congolese player catches Egyptian player's thigh, then ball (if he gets the ball at all). Egyptian player falls (and maybe exaggerates his fall). Still not a 100% penalty, of course, but more 60-40 than 40-60 or 30-70. As for Uganda v Ghana, it does appear the Ghanaian player who scored their last-minute goal was clearly at least level with the last Ugandan defender, so it probably should have stood. Ghana also appears to have had another goal dubiously disallowed in the first half for offside when the scorer again appeared to be at least level with the last Ugandan defender. In any case, it wouldn't have mattered given today's result.
Egypt and (almost) Morocco qualifying, Tunisia close to doing so as well. When was the last time THREE North African teams made it to the World Cup?
It's actually never happened. These are all the World Cup appearances of North African teams: 1934: Egypt 1970: Morocco 1978: Tunisia 1982: Algeria 1986: Algeria and Morocco 1990: Egypt 1994: Morocco 1998: Morocco and Tunisia 2002 and 2006: Tunisia 2010 and 2014: Algeria So, the most North African teams that have ever been in the World Cup at the same time is 2 (1986, 1998). It is also interesting to note that every World Cup since 1978 has had at least one North African team.
Tunisia almost qualified. Morocco is still very much up in the air and ELO ratings have this as a coin toss.
Egypt has always been one of the top African teams. They have Salah, are superbly organised and are the archetypical tournament team. Something like Africa's Italy. They did pretty well back in 1990, albeit lacked attacking quality. I'm pretty certain Egypt will present themselves very well in 2018. Tunisia I have no expectations whatsoever. Helped by being seeded in the crappiest qualifying group possible. They always suck at the World Cup (save for 1978) and I don't expect 2018 to be any different, Still hoping they somehow mess up the home game vs Libya and DRCongo takes their slot. Morocco is far from qualified. Its between them and Cote d'Ivoire. Morocco though plays some great attacking football and they could be a surprise team. If you look at the squad they have Benatia, Hakim Ziyech (Ajax Amsterdam's best player) and a bunch of good, but not great layers like Amrabat, Dirar, Belhanda, Tannane, Boufal. They also have Real Madrid's youth sensation Hakimi. They have any quality striker though...
I do remember Tunisia being crap in the last WC's. Too bad they'll make it. At least it seems Senegal will return. That seems like a fun team.
Wow, Egypt's first GK is 44 years old. He will set the record for the oldest player to play in the WC finals.
Senegal probably have the best set of players of any African team: Sadio Mane (world class), Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye, Kara Mbodj, Cheikhou Kouyate, Keita Balde, Mbaye Niang, Pape Souare are all top class players, but so far they seem to struggle when playing as a team. If you check out Transfermarkt you'll see they are by far the most expensive African team: Senegal 208,5 mln Cote d'Ivoire 138 mln Nigeria 112 mln Morocco 79 mln Egypt 76 mln Tunisia 29 mln Senegal's worth makes them the most expensive non-UEFA / CONMEBOL team. But Transfermarkt value doesn't play...
He made one excellent save today. But wasn't there some South American goalkeeper that is even older and may also play at the World Cup?
Not necessarily. He's a very good goalkeeper. Excellent control of the area, a true legend. Still active. And he pulled off one spectacular save today. Still a great goalkeepers even if he is a bit slower than he once was.
Ultra quick thoughts of the qualified teams so far. 1. Russia: Host. Kinda lacks talent. Everyone will want to latch on their group. Meh. 2. Brazil: Seem much better than 4 years ago. Neymar has better attacking partners than Fred. Could win it all. 3. Iran: Decent defensive team. Have some interesting talent. Will more likely not make it of the group stage, but won't embarrass themselves. 4. Japan: Has a lot of interesting attacking options, shaky in the back, might pull off an upset in the group stage. Their games will be fun. 5. Mexico: My team. They have a lot of interesting talent all over, but their coach is a complete dumbass that loves playing people out of position, playing without natural defensive midfielders and mercilessly rotate players at the worst situations, essentially, sabotaging the teams with his tactics. If they get a tough group, they won't make it past the group stage and will be a huge disappointment. If they get a cupcake group, they'll barely scrap by and will get mercilessly destroyed in the round of 16. 6. Belgium: Ubber talented everywhere, fun to watch, I could see them in the final four if they get the right breaks. 7. South Korea: Have some interesting European talent in the midfield, but seem questionable in the back and on the striker position. Will bow down in the group stage, but could be a trap team. 8. Saudi Arabia: Cannon fodder. 9. Germany: They have arguably the most talent in the world, the most depth, tons of quality youth and the best coach in the world. I think they'll repeat. 10. England: They have talent, but seem to play down to their opposition, even if they do manage to gut out wins. I see them making it to the round of 16. 11. Spain: They have top 8 talent, could go further. Seem better than 4 years ago. 12. Nigeria: They have some interesting young talent, but from what I know, they've been inconsistent for some time. Might surprise someone and sneak to the round of 16. 13. Costa Rica: I think they've regressed from four years ago. Still have some talent, particularly in the midfield and when Keylor Navas is on, he's on, however I don't see them going beyond the group stage this time. 14. Poland: I love their overall talent. Lewandowski is a scoring machine. Dark horse material. 15. Egypt: From what I've heard, they do have some talent (particularly from the midfield onwards) and I do know Salah is awesome. Maybe this WC's Algeria?
The issue for African teams isn't their talent level....it's their consistency. Look at Nigeria, for example.....made the knockout rounds of WC 2014 and dominated a tough qualifying group for WC 2018, but in between failed to even qualify for either the 2015 or 2017 Cup of Nations. And the generally poor administration and management doesn't help either....many of the federations are run as personal toys of whomever happens to be in power at the moment.