Football W/Cup: Africa shape up for playoffs

By Agence de Presse Africaine Last updated Nov 18, 2021

APA- Dakar The second stage of the journey to the football World Cup in Qatar ext year was completed on Tuesday with breathtaking matches across Africa. In the end, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Cameroon and Ghana will proceed to the playoffs planned for March 2022. 1: Mali is the only country in the playoff…

APA – Dakar (Senegal) The second stage of the journey to the football World Cup in Qatar ext year was completed on Tuesday with breathtaking matches across Africa.

By Ibrahima Dione

Kicking off in early September, the second round of qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup has provided a picture of who are in the two-legged playoffs.

In the end, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Cameroon and Ghana will proceed to the playoffs planned for March 2022.

In the meantime, here is the lowdown for this last round of qualifiers.

0: Mali has not conceded a single goal in six matches. The Eagles have built an impregnable wall in front of their goal.

0: Zero point! In Group A, Djibouti has lost six times in as many games.

1: Mali is the only country in the playoff group that has never participated in a World Cup.

2: The ten hopefuls for the five qualifying tickets to Qatar 2022 are divided into two groups according to FIFA’s rankings.

For the playoffs, the top five in the rankings play away matches in the first leg before playing at home in the second leg.

6: Morocco have made a perfect record of six out of six matches of the qualifiers.

The Atlas Lions trounced the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau, the Syli Nationale of Guinea and the Crocodiles of Sudan.

7: The number of goals scored by Islam Slimani is more than any other player in the qualifying campaign.

The Algerian center-forward finishes at the top of the rankings of the best scorers.

11: The Democratic Republic of Congo managed to reach the next round with a total of 11 points, the lowest return of all the qualifiers.

25 is the number of goals scored by Algeria. The ratio of the best attack of this phase is 4.16 goals per game.

36: this is the cumulative World Cup qualifications of the ten playoffs.

With seven World Cup finals played, Cameroon is the most seasoned squad in that regard.

288: the number of goals scored in 240 games for the second round of qualifying games, representing an average of 1.2 goals per game.

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