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Nigeria among 21 nations vie for eight berths in Africa

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Eight tickets to the final round of African qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, alongside Morocco and Senegal, remain. Twenty-one teams, including the Super Eagles are in contention to claim them over six huge days of action. FIFA.com previews the upcoming action.

Match schedule

Matchday 5 Thursday ,11 November

  • Tanzania-Congo DR,
  • Uganda-Kenya,
  • Ethiopia-Ghana,
  • Benin-Madagascar
  • Congo-Namibia
  • Rwanda-Mali
  •  South Africa-Zimbabwe
  •  Togo-Senegal

 Friday, 12 November

  • Djibouti-Algeria
  •  Burkina Faso-Niger
  • Guinea Guinea-Bissau
  •  Gabon-Libya
  •  Sudan-Morocco
  • Angola-Egypt
  •  

Saturday, 13 November

  • Zambia-Mauritania
  • Malawi-Cameroon
  •  Liberia-Nigeria
  •  Equatorial Guinea-Tunisia
  •  Cape Verde-Central African Republic
  •  Côte d’Ivoire-Mozambique

Matchday 6 Sunday, 14 November

  • Madagascar-Tanzania
  • Congo DR-Benin
  •  Zimbabwe-Ethiopia
  •  Mali-Uganda
  •  Ghana-South Africa
  •  Senegal-Congo

 Monday, 15 November

  • Kenya-Rwanda
  •  Namibia-Togo
  •  Guinea-Bissau-Sudan
  •  Niger-Djibouti

Tuesday, 16 November

  • Egypt-Gabon
  •  Mozambique-Malawi
  •  Libya-Angola
  •  Liberia-Central African Republic
  •  Algeria-Burkina Faso
  •  Nigeria-Cape Verde
  •  Morocco-Guinea
  •  Tunisia-Zambia
  •  Cameroon-Côte d’Ivoire
  •  Mauritania-Equatorial Guinea

What you need to know

Algeria are on an impressive run of 31 matches without defeat, but their qualification for the third round is still not assured. While the Desert Foxes are top of Group A, only goal difference separates them and Burkina Faso.

As fate would have it, the two teams will face off on 16 November, eight years after their winner-takes-all duel ahead of Brazil 2014, from which the Algerians emerged victorious. Can Les Étalons gain some long-awaited revenge in Blida on Tuesday?

 Elsewhere, there are a number of crucial clashes on the fixture list, including Cameroon-Côte d’Ivoire. Les Elephants hold a one-point lead over Toni Conceicao’s men in Group D, but Mozambique and Malawi, their respective opponents three days earlier, could throw a spanner in the works for both teams prior to the table-topping encounter.

Two other countries with World Cup experience, Ghana and South Africa, are also vying for pole position in Group G. Their contest in Cape Coast on Sunday could prove decisive.

In Groups B, C and E, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Mali are well placed to qualify for the next round, but they will still have to earn it out on the pitch, especially as they are all due to face the second-placed teams in their pools – Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Uganda – at some point over the next week.

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In Group F, meanwhile, Egypt enjoy a healthy four-point advantage over their nearest pursuers Libya, and it would require an unexpected set of results for the Pharaohs to be deprived of a spot in the third-round draw at this stage.

That is not the case in Group J, however, where the four competing teams – Tanzania, Benin, Congo DR and Madagascar – can all still mathematically qualify.

-Fifa.com

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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