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Super Eagles’ flight to Qatar 2022 pass through Ghana!

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA

It is confirmed, an Anglophone African country will be at the Qatar 2022 as Ghana and Nigeria are pitched together in the play-off for the World Cup.

The first leg will hold in Ghana while Nigeria host the all-important second leg.

It is the fifth time both teams will cross path in the quest for qualification for the World Cup.

The first was the maiden entry by both teams for the Chile 1962, the second was for the Mexico 1970, the third was for West Germany 1974 and the fourth was for the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002.

In a 20-minute ceremony conducted by CAF Director of Competition, Samson Adamu and assisted by Nigerian-born Togolese legend, Emmanuel Adebayor and Senegal’s El-Hadji Diouf, the final road for African teams to the World Cup was laid.

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Diouf was got the process rolling when he picked Egypt out of bowl 2. Adebayor picked Senegal and thus, both Senegal and Egypt will contest for a place. The former will host the last leg.

Diof then picked then picked Cameroon from the Pot 2 and was followed up with Adebayor picking Algeria to set up a mouth-watering confrontation of African giants.

It was at the fifth pick, done by Diorf  that Ghana was drawn out. Adebayor’s pick was Nigeria and that set up a clash of the most formidable rivalry in the continent.

DR Congo who as former Zaire played only once at the World Cup in 1974 were drawn against Morocco, the first African team draw a match at the World Cup when they held Bulgaria to 1-1 draw and later in 1986 became the first African team to cross the group stage.

Mali, the only one among the 10 not to have been to the World Cup before are drawn against Tunisia, the first African team to win a match at the World Cup when they came from behind to beat Mexico 3-1 at the Argentina 78 World Cup.

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The fixtures in full

  • Egypt vs Senegal
  • Cameroon vs Algeria
  • Ghana vs Nigeria
  • DR Congo vs Morocco
  • Mali vs Tunisia

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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