World Soccer - UK (2020-11)

bottom 28 countries on the FIFA
rankings playing off over two legs to
produce14 winners to go into the group
phase where they have been joined by
the top 26 ranked national teams.
Somalia were minutes away from
a shock win over Zimbabwe who
scrambled in two late goals to rescue
themselves, but for the rest there were
no upsets. 2006 World Cup qualifiers
Angola and Togo both slipped
significantly down the rankings that
they had to go through the ignominy
of competing in the preliminary round
last year, but both progressed with an
element of comfort.
It meant all13 African countries who
have previously been to a World Cup
are involved in the group phase of the
2022 qualifiers, although after difficult
draws for both of them, neither Angola
nor Togo look in any way capable of
recreating their giant-killing acts of
the 2006 qualifiers.
The last World Cup in Russia proved
a disaster for the image of the African
game, with no teams advancing past the

first stage in the worst return for Africa

since the1982 finals in Spain.

Just how the continent’s

representatives will fare in 2022 is

anyone’s guess at this stage, but it is the

same contenders who look well set for

places in Qatar.

Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal

and Tunisia have all been handed draws

they were well pleased with and can be

expected to advance to the play-off

round.

Algeria, who reached the second

round in Brazil but did not qualify for

Russia, have since won the Nations Cup

and have been tasked with what seems

a routine assignment in Group A, which

includes tiny Djibouti, playing at a level

they have no prior experience of.

But Cameroon and the Ivory Coast

have been drawn together in Group D

in a combustible mix, while Ghana and

South Africa will go straight from

competing against each other in the

same Nations Cup qualifying group

to battling again to determine who

emerges top of Group G.

In GroupJ, the Democratic Republic of

Congo (who were then Zaire when they

competed at the1974 finals in the then

West Germany) are the only past finalists

in a group where their three challengers

• Benin, Madagascar and Tanzania – all
  have every right to believe they could
  advance to the last round of qualifiers.

Group E, with Kenya, Mali, Rwanda

and Uganda, is the only one of the ten

groups without a past World Cup finalist,

offering its winner a chance to move

close to reaching the previously

unattainable. Mali will be fancied over

their east African rivals even if the

country is wracked by political and

security instability.

Africa’s second round

of World Cup qualifying

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

Ivory Coast

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

THE DRAW

WORLD SERVICE

African champions...

Algeria’s Ismael

Bennacer with the

Nations Cup trophy

The impact of the COVID-19

pandemic has been harshly felt across

Africa, with borders firmly closed

from the lockdown in March right

through towards the end of the year

Knocked out...All five

African teams failed

to get out of their

groups at the last

World Cup

U p d a t e