African qualification for the 2022 World Cup kicked off this week. Qualifying format is changed once again, back to 2014 format, with first round followed by group stage of 10 groups with four teams each with group winners qualifying for playoff round of five ties where winners qualify to the Finals. First round looks like this after first legs: Ethiopia - Lesotho 0-0 VIDEO Somalia - Zimbabwe 1-0 VIDEO Eritrea - Namibia 1-2 VIDEO Burundi - Tanzania 1-1 VIDEO Djibouti - Eswatini 2-1 VIDEO Botswana - Malawi 0-0 Gambia - Angola 0-1 VIDEO Liberia - Sierra Leone 3-1 VIDEO Mauritius - Mozambique 0-1 VIDEO Sao Tome e Principe - Guinea Bissau 0-1 VIDEO South Sudan - Equatorial Guinea 1-1 VIDEO Comoros - Togo 1-1 VIDEO Chad - Sudan 1-3 VIDEO Seychelles - Rwanda 0-3 VIDEO Huge upset in Djibouti where Somalia (can't play their home games at home) recorded their first ever World Cup win, over best seeded team of this round, Zimbabwe. Return legs and end of road for 14 teams is coming in next few days. FIFA.com has all of the games on their youtube channel.
Group stage draw was held this week. Group A Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti Group B Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea Group C Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Liberia Group D Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi Group E Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda Group F Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola Group G Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia Group H Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo Group I Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan Group J DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania First matches will be played in October window (moved from March window due to change of Cup of Nations schedule). Group winners will progress into final round (5 matches with winners qualifying to Qatar 2022).
Who wins each group My predictions A- Algeria B- Toss up between Tunisia and Zambia but give me Zambia in an upset C- Nigeria D- Toss up between Cameroon and Ivory Coast; but I will go with Ivory Coast E- Toss up between Mali and Uganda but I will go with Mali F- Egypt G- Ghana H- Senegal I- Morocco J- DR Congo
Wikipedia (FWIW) has the matchday date ranges. But nothing more specific. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CAF_Second_Round
And now the 2nd round has been postponed again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CAF_Second_Round Matchday Dates Matches Matchday 1 1–4 September 2021[a] 1 v 4, 3 v 2 Matchday 2 5–8 September 2021 2 v 1, 4 v 3 Matchday 3 6–9 October 2021[c] 1 v 3, 4 v 2 Matchday 4 10–12 October 2021[d] 3 v 1, 2 v 4 Matchday 5 11–13 November 2021[e] 4 v 1, 2 v 3 Matchday 6 14–16 November 2021[f] 1 v 2, 3 v 4
Hi! I found the valuable football match video. Uzbekistan against Nigeria 1995. FK kicked by Qosimov is amazing! Nigeria is very strong. Ikpeba and Kanu get goal. West,Oliseh,Amokachi play. I wish Nigeria to be the first Champion of FIFA WC in Africa.
For us Africans, qualifying on the African continent doesn't start until September 2021 and wraps up in November 2021 well this is for like 2nd round of qualifying. Then the round after that is home and away playoffs. Group winners go on to the 3rd round and are drawn together in home and away playoffs. Winners of that qualify for Qatar. Either way I just can't wait until African qualifying starts up.
For what's it worth here are my predictions: 1) Algeria 2) Burkina Faso 3) Niger 4) Djibouti 1) Tunisia 2) Zambia 3) Mauretania 4) Equatorialguinea 1) Nigeria 2) Cape Verdy 3) Liberia 4) Central African Republic 1) Côte d'Ivoire 2) Cameroon 3) Malawi 4) Mozambique 1) Mali 2) Uganda 3) Kenya 4) Rwanda 1) Egypt 2) Gabon 3) Angola 4) Libya 1) Ghana 2) South Africa 3) Zimbabwe 4) Ethiopia 1) Senegal 2) Namibia 3) Congo 4) Togo 1) Morocco 2) Sudan 3) Guinea 4) Guinea-Bissau 1) DR Congo 2) Madagascar 3) Benin 4) Tanzania I think the top seeds will dominate. I have only Ivory Coast from pot two going through. I thought long time about adding Zambia but I think Tunisia will barely scrape through. I think unless they get drawn with each other Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Nigeria have as of now bright prospects to qualify eventually. However playoffs are always tricky and a lot will depend on match form and also luck.
Ghana beat Ethiopia 1-0. It was an ugly win. Very lucky goal fumbling a shot. So bad Ethiopia changed goalies at the half.
Indeed was not a good game to watch. The next game will get interesting as it's away in South Africa and all English Premier League based players will be missing.
https://sportnewsafrica.com/en/breve/world-cup-2022-guinea-vs-morocco-rescheduled-in-agadir/ Guinea and Morocco has been scheduled for October 12 at the Adrar Stadium in Agadir, Morocco.
Ghana looked much better against Zimbabwe in Rajevac's first game and with their players back. Could this be the turning point in Ghana's campaign?
I hope so. The other coach was still tryna play a 442 and was tryna make players from his former domestic club internationals. Btw, why are there so many journeymen coaches from the former Yugoslavia
Ghana can still reach the playoffs. Barring a hammering from South Africa against Zimbabwe a win against South Africa on the last matchday would see Ghana through. Ghana's campaign have been impacted by side issues and injuries. If they get their best eleven on the pitch for South Africa I expect them still to top the group.
Looks like it all comes down to the home game against South Africa. Assuming South Africa defeat Zimbabwe, Ghana's got to win convincingly
If South Africa wins by multiple goals against Zimbabwe today, Ghana will need to win by multiple goals on the final day.
Nope Ghana only needed the generous Ref to win 1-0 and winby Goals scored tiebreaker. Game was ugly though. So now to the finally home and away challenge.
I wrote that post during the SA-Zimbabwe game. I was saying SA should score another goal to give them more leeway on the final day against Ghana. In the end they only won 1-0 so that's why Ghana's 1-0 win was enough.