Road to Russia: 2018 CAF WCQ Thread

Discussion in 'Africa' started by Yacine9, Jul 25, 2015.

  1. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    Since the draw was just mde, might as well start the thread for the WCQ.

    The fixtures are:

    Round 1/2:

    Cameroon vs Niger/Somalia
    Tunisia vs Mauritania/South Sudan
    Guinea vs Namibia/Gambia
    Rep of Congo vs Ethiopia/Sao Tome e Principe
    Egypt vs Sierra Leone/Chad
    Ghana vs Lesotho/Comoros
    Nigeria vs Swaziland/Djibouti
    Mali vs Botswana/Eritrea
    DR Congo vs Burundi/Seychelles
    Cote d'Ivoire vs Guinea-Bissau/Liberia
    Sénégal vs Madagascar/Central African Republic
    Cap Verde vs Kenya/Mauritius
    Algeria vs Malawi/Tanzania

    Round 2:
    Sudan/Zambia
    Libya/Rwanda
    Morocco/Equatorial Guinea
    Mozambique/Gabon
    Benin/Burkina Faso
    Togo/Uganda
    Angola/South Africa

    We get maybe the trickiest round 2 games out of the 13 seeded teams. Congo needs to not underestimate Ethiopia as well. Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, DRC & Cameroon all get piece of cakes draws. Morocco gets a nice draw as well.
     
  2. Blastow

    Blastow Member

    Mar 19, 2010
    Kyiv, Ukraine
    Club:
    FC Dynamo Kyiv
    Nat'l Team:
    Ukraine
    Angola - South Africa. very interesting :)
     
  3. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    It does look like one of the most balanced/interesting fixtures of the preliminary rounds. I expect SA to take it, but Angola seems to be in good form lately.
     
  4. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Come on Egypt, can you please finally make the World Cup? And with the way Cameroon performed the past 2 World Cups I hope they don't make it.
     
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  5. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    It'll be tough for Egypt. I'm not really confident for them tbh, but they have a favorable draw and should move on to group stages. They're barely a top 10 CAF side at this point, if they even are. They get results vs weaker sides, but they've been handled the last few years by the top CAF sides they met (Ghana, Senegal & Tunisia). As it stands now, they're closer to pot 3 than they are to pot 2. And if they get a tough group, then I won't favor them to qualify at all.

    I'd like Cameroon to not make it as well, if they'd continue the same embarassing performances of the last 2 WCs.
     
  6. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd

    Agreed.
    I think CAF would send their best set of teams if Ghana (high level of football, constantly producing youth), Nigeria (on the cusp of a great squad loaded with talent, Kelechi Iheanacho looks set to break the Man City first team), Algeria (slight dip in form, but they still have the quality), Senegal (man, Senegal is loaded with quality at the moment) and Cote d'Ivoire (is there a future post-Yaya Toure?) qualify. With the youth Mali is producing they might be a worthy debutant in 2018.
     
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  7. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Senegal's a team I'm really hoping to see in Russia.
     
  8. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    I don't rate Mali that high, for now. They'd be a contender if their youth produce at the senior stage, but it's no guarantee. As it stands now, there's several teams ahead of them. Too early to tell tho and football can go fast.

    Nigeria would need to find itself in pot 1 imo to avoid the likes of Ghana/Ivory Coast and us (even if they're one of the teams we always struggle against). They might need to face Tunisia or Senegal (great talent, needs work as a team). The latter 2 have relatively easy groups for the AFCON & easy draws for the WC playoffs,so I don't see them letting off.
     
  9. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    That's what I'm afraid of. Senegal and Tunisia have a sizeable point lead over Nigeria. Nigeria even sits precariously at 10th in Africa. They have no hope of jumping 5 slots by December. If anything Cameroon and Congo are more likely to sneak into the top 5 in Africa.

    Algeria, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire have no risk of dropping out of the top 5. Meanwhile Mali look set to be in pot 3. The draws will be killer and one can only hope Nigeria draw Tunisia.

    Man so mad that qualifiers aren't done the Asian way...
     
  10. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Honestly, why aren't they? They can have two groups of five teams (or six, as Asia is doing now) and have the top two in each group automatically qualify, and the two third-placed teams face off to determine the fifth qualifer.
     
  11. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    Do we even know when the draw for the last round will be made? I mean the groups will only start late 2016 (around October) so it seems far-fetched to make the draw in December?

    Nigeria seems closer to pot 3 tbh, especially if they fail to get results againts Egypt
     
  12. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Because Africa has qualifiers for two continental tournaments per four years, they don't play as many WCQs per cycle as Asia. Africa used to have a group stage with groups of 6 requiring 10 games and then reduced it to groups of 4. Having only 12 teams in the final round would require either two group stages or one group stage with good countries not playing in it. Would you like Africa to combine the continental and World Cup qualifiers like they did for Wordl Cup 2010 in South Africa?
     
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  13. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Yes, anything to avoid the current stupidity in qualifying... Make the AFCON 2017 qualifying tournament a way to reduce the number of teams to lets say 10 teams. Then they have the entire 2017 to play 8 final qualifying games + a playoff for the fifth spot. By my count: 2 games March, 2 games June, 2 games September, 2 games October and the playoff in November. I'm sure it can be done.
     
  14. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Groups of five require 8 games but 10 matchdays because each team would have 2 matchdays off.
     
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  15. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006
    Good question. I think we are assuming the earliest possible draw, which would give us 2 WCQ games and 1 ANCQ plus whatever friendlies to rise up the rankings. Not likely, however if the draw is done later, we have 2 matches vs Egypt in march 2016 which could potentially help our rankings if we win both games, and considering Egypt is a team we need to leapfrog.

    Hoping Congo, Cape Verde, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon all do poorly from now on.
     
  16. Bengoechea

    Bengoechea Member

    Jul 28, 2005
    São Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    The draw will be in December.

    I think the top seeds are pretty much locked with Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and two among Tunisia, Senegal and Cape Verde, which imo are the best seeds for Egypt, Nigeria, Mali, Morocco, Cameroon to try to qualify directly. Perhaps Ivory Coast too, but the way Yaya Touré is playing, helped by Bony, Gervinho and Internazionale's Gnoukori is making them in another level again.
     
  17. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    I couldn't find any confirmation on the time of the draw, but if it's in December, it'll give teams like 5 games to improve their rankings.

    Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire & Ghana are pretty much locked in to finish as top seeds. After that, it could be a fight between Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, both Congo, Egypt, Nigeria & Cape Verde for the last 2 spots.
     
  18. Bengoechea

    Bengoechea Member

    Jul 28, 2005
    São Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    It is decemeber ranking, right after the qualifying in november.

    According to football-rankings, Congo, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon has slim to none chance to be in top seed by the time of the draw.

    The first three are locked, the other two will mostly depend on the 2 African qualifying for 2018 and 1 for 2017 AFCON than friendlies itself.

    Being said that. Tunisia is almost a lock, by seeing their games remaigning; the other is a battle between Senegal and Cape Verde, but this last one has a tough game in Lybia away, and two games against Kenya. The Kenya game is the key, which can boos their ranking and surpass Senegal, however, as tricky as to play in Nairobi , Cape Verde can be out in this round too, leaving room for Senegal to grab the last spot.
     
  19. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In my dream Ghana beat Poland in the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup. If that actually happens, Ghana would be the first African semifinalist.
     
  20. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Just wanted to say that footballwise it is looking good for Algeria...

    Algeria have two arguably world class wingers in Mahrez (we'll see if he keep up the form) and Brahimi (world class, no doubt). Add class players like Feghouli and Ghoulam and thats quite a backbone.
     
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  21. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    Yeah, those are good players but the team has yet to fully achieve its potential. Brahimi & Mahrez are great players technically but have been average at times for the NT (epsecially Brahimi when he decides to hold on the ball for too much). Feghouli is the motor of the team and thakfully he's back with the team (hasn't played with us since March). If these 3 manage to play all together, consistently, it'd be formidable.

    But, IDK, the defense and keeping has been issue. Our CB depth is exceptionally bad for a team of our "standing and could be an issue. Lots of aging and out of form players in that position.
     
  22. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here is the schedule for Round 1. All games 7 October to 10 October are Leg 1 and all games 11 October or later are Leg 2. All times are USA Eastern:

    Wednesday 7 October:
    Seychelles-Burundi at 8:30 A.M.
    Tanzania-Malawi at 9:00 A.M.
    South Sudan-Mauritania at 9:30 A.M.
    Mauritius-Kenya at 10:30 A.M.

    Thursday 8 October:
    Central African Republic-Madagascar- see bottom of this post
    Comoros-Lesotho at 8:00 A.M.
    Sao Tome and Principe-Ethiopia at 11:00 A.M.
    Liberia vs. Guinea-Bissau at 12:00 P.M.

    Friday 9 October:
    Somalia-Niger at 8:30 A.M.
    Djibouti-Swaziland at 9:00 A.M.
    Gambia-Namibia at 1:00 P.M.

    Saturday 10 October:
    Eritrea-Botswana at 9:00 A.M.
    Chad-Sierra Leone at 10:30 A.M.

    Sunday 11 October:
    Malawi-Tanzania at 8:00 A.M.
    Ethiopia-Sao Tome and Principe at 9:00 A.M.
    Kenya-Mauritius at 9:00 A.M.

    Tuesday 13 October:
    Madagascar-Central African Republic at 7:30 A.M.
    Burundi-Seychelles at 9:00 A.M.
    Sierra Leone-Chad at 10:00 A.M.
    Niger-Somalia at 11:00 A.M.
    Namibia-Gambia at 11:00 A.M.
    Lesotho-Comoros at 12:00 P.M.
    Guinea-Bissau vs. Liberia at 12:00 P.M.
    Mauritania-South Sudan at 1:00 P.M.
    Swaziland-Djibouti at 1:00 P.M.
    Botswana-Eritrea at 1:00 P.M.

    Edit: FIFA says Central African Republic-Madagascar had the first leg postponed to 10 October.
     
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  23. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    I'll (obviously) follow Malawi/Tanzania matchup. Despite the seeding, I think the latter should be favored to win. Neither should be an issue tbh but you never know
     
  24. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. Yacine9

    Yacine9 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Algiers
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Algeria
    Comoros - Lesotho shaping up to be a 0-0
    Burundi leading 1-0 in Seychelles after an hour of play
    Tanzania 2 -0 Malawi at HT
    South Sudan & Mauritania level at 1-1 after 22 mins of play

    Couldn't find any link for any game
     

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