Cape Town, November 10 (BNA): Egypt is likely to be the next African country to win a place in next year’s World Cup qualifiers, as the winners of the ten qualifiers for the continent will be announced next week.
The second stage of the African qualifiers will conclude six days after the qualifiers, with two rounds to be determined between Thursday and next week.
Only the group winners go to the final playoffs in March – for five places in Qatar – and Egypt should easily join Morocco and Senegal before concluding their campaign.
A win away from home in Angola on Friday would secure the top spot. However, even if they don’t win, their four-point advantage in Group F over second-place Libya means that if Libya drops off points in Gabon at the same time, Egypt can guarantee top spot in the group with a draw.
Egypt appointed Carlos Queiroz as their coach in September despite a successful start to the season under his predecessor Hossam El Badary. The success on home and away from Libya last month represented the perfect start to the 68-year-old Portuguese coach’s reign.
“The team played with efficiency and personality. It was good to enjoy a good start, but a good start alone is not enough.” “This is all about a successful completion.”
Tunisia, who was also in the last World Cup finals in Russia, will win their group on Saturday with an away victory over Equatorial Guinea. But other groups may face exciting confrontations in the final round as some of the World Cup players in Africa face the risk of disqualification.
Cameroon, whose last seven trips to the World Cup were the largest of African nations, is expected to win their last qualifying match at home against Ivory Coast in Yaounde on Tuesday to qualify.
It’s a heavyweight match that comes just two months before Cameroon host the Africa Cup of Nations finals. They sit one point behind Côte d’Ivoire in Group D.
Ivory Coast’s hopes were damaged by Wilfried Zaha’s withdrawal. The Crystal Palace striker asked to be seated for both matches because he said he had not recovered from a virus he picked up on his last trip to Africa in October.
Ghana and South Africa are also expected to play a decisive role in Group G in Cape Coast on Sunday, while the meeting of Mali and Uganda in Agadir on the same day may also decide the outcome of Group E.
Nigeria should qualify at the expense of the tiny Cape Verde islands, and as long as there is no repeat of their surprise territorial loss, they struggled last month against the lower-ranked Central African Republic.
The top 10 group winners will join five playoffs in March, with the two group winners going on to represent the continent in Qatar.