The 2022 CAF World Cup Qualifiers came to an end and unfortunately some big African players like Salah will not play in Qatar 2022. But the African qualifiers were interesting, the level of play was high in all three rounds.
Africa is a big continent, much bigger than Europe, therefore the qualifiers in Africa are slightly more complicated than others. The first round of the qualifiers in African are defined in two legs, while some top teams get a direct bye to the second round thanks to their FIFA ranking.
The top ten favorites from Africa to qualify for Qatar 2022 was a strong list of teams that included Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, among others. The qualifiers were defined between them, with a couple of exceptions since they were eliminated in the second round.
African national teams qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup
All five qualified African teams were among the big favorites, but Algeria and Nigeria were left out of Qatar 2022 after they lost in the third round. Another big team like Egypt could not do anything to stop Senegal.
1. Senegal: Sadio Mane led the Lions of Teranga during the qualifiers, their record in the second round was 5-1-0 and 16 points. They won in the third round against Egypt 1-3 on penalty kicks.
2. Cameroon: The game against Algeria was tough for The Indomitable Lions (Cameroon’s nickname), but the victory for the team in the third round was thanks to the aggregate 2-2 as the first leg was a 0-1 loss against Algeria and the second leg ended 2-1 in extra time.
3. Ghana: Ghana’s first leg against Nigeria left the door open for heavier second leg play in the third round, but in the end the second leg also ended in a 1-1 draw and Ghana won their Qatar 2022 ticket. by aggregate score.
4. Morocco: The Atlas Lions were deadly in the second leg game to win their world cup spot against DR Congo who was being managed by well-known Argentine head coach, Hector Cuper, but Marocco won the second leg 4-1 and crushed DR Congo.
5. Tunisia: For the second consecutive time that Tunisia has qualified for a World Cup, a 1-0 win in the first leg against Mali and a 0-0 draw in the second leg was enough for the Eagles of Carthage to qualify for Qatar 2022.
The list of African teams qualified to play in Qatar 2022:
- Senegal
- Cameroon
- Ghana
- Morocco
- Tunisia
