International Football
Five African countries await their fate at Friday’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 draw
The five African countries that have qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will know their fate on Friday night, 01 April 2022 at the Final Draw in Doha, Qatar.
African champions Senegal are among the five teams from the continent that booked their places following Tuesday night’s second-leg of the FIFA World Cup playoffs.
The four other countries that joined the Teranga Lions are the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Ghana’s Black Stars, Atlas Lions of Morocco and Tunisia’s Eagles of Carthage.
All the 32 sides that will be involved in the tournament will be drawn into eight groups of four for the tournament that will be played in November and December 2022.
Host nation Qatar, as it is the norm, will be placed in position one of Group A of the draw.
Road to Qualification:
CAMEROON: Eighth appearance
Group stage:
The indomitable Lions topped Group D with 15 points, off five wins and a single loss. Their only defeat was against Ivory Coast away from home. They completed home and away doubles over Mozambique and Malawi.
They sealed qualification to the play-off round on the final day, with a 1-0 win over Côte d’Ivoire in Douala.
In the group phase, the Cameroonians scored 12 goals and conceded only three. Vincent Aboubakar, Christian Bassogog, Eric Choupo-Moting, Karl Toko Ekambi and defender Michael Ngadeu scored two goals each.
Play-off-
In the play-off round, Cameroon lost 1-0 at home to Algeria, but a never-say-die attitude in Blida saw them win 2-1 with a last minute goal and progress to Qatar on the away goal rule.
GHANA: Fourth appearance
Group Stage:
The Black Stars sealed a ticket to the play-off round on the final day, with a win over South Africa at home as the two sides finished with 13 points each. With similar goal difference, Ghana edged out Bafana Bafana on account of scoring more goals.
Ghana won four matches, drew one and lost one, against the South Africans in Johannesburg. They scored seven goals in six matches and conceded three, skipper Andre Ayew being their top scorer with three.
Play-off:
In the play-off round, Otto Addo’s boys progressed on the away goal rule after drawing 1-1 with Nigeria in the return leg in Abuja. They had drawn 0-0 at home in Kumasi but Thomas Partey’s goal at the Moshood Abiola Stadium proved vital.
SENEGAL: Third appearance
Group Stage:
The African champions had an unbeaten record in Group H, winning five of their six matches. Their only blemish was a 1-1 draw away to Togo on the penultimate round of matches with Habib Diallo scoring a last gasp equalizer.
They scored 15 goals and conceded only four. Famara Diedhiou was their top scorer with four goals while Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr scored three each.
Play-off:
The Lions of Teranga prevailed 3-1 over Egypt on penalties after winning the return leg 1-0 in Dakar. The result pushed the aggregate score to 1-1, having lost by a solitary goal in the first leg in Cairo.
Keeper Edouard Mendy saved one penalty with Sadio Mane striking home the winner to send them to Qatar.
MOROCCO: Sixth appearance
Group Stage:
The Atlas Lions were the only side to progress through the group phase with a 100pc record. They completed home and away victories over Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sudan to attain a maximum 18 points.
They scored 20 goals and conceded only once, away to Guinea in a match they won 4-1. Ayoub El Kaabi was their top scorer with five goals while Ryan Mmae had four.
Play-off:
The Moroccans were in free-flowing form in the play-off round. Despite a 1-1 draw with DR Congo in the first leg in Kinshasa, they ran riot at home in Casablanca, winning 4-1 to easily make the plane to Qatar.
TUNISIA: Sixth appearance
Group Stage:
Tunisia topped Group B with 13 points off four wins, a draw and a loss. They dropped points in the 0-0 draw away to Mauritania, and their only defeat also came on the road, a 1-0 loss against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo.
The Carthage Eagles scored 11 times with veteran Wahbi Khazri contributing to three goals as their top scorer. They conceded only two goals.
Play-off:
The Tunisians were forced to sweat by Mali, though they eventually edged them out 1-0 on aggregate. An own goal in Bamako gave them a slight 1-0 edge and they were held to a 0-0 draw at home in the return tie.
But, the return on the road proved to be vital as it hoisted them into Qatar.
-Cafonline
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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