Algeria and Ghana handed tough World Cup playoff ties
Algeria and Ghana, smarting after humiliating defeats
at the Africa Cup of Nations this week, were on Saturday handed tough draws for
the African World Cup playoffs in March.
Algeria were drawn against Cameroon while Ghana must
take on near-neighbours Nigeria in a mouth-watering west African derby.
Algeria and Ghana went home after finishing last in
their opening round Nations Cup groups after shock setbacks against tiny
Equatorial Guinea and the Comoros Islands respectively and must now bounce back
against difficult opponents to redeem themselves and qualify for the World Cup
in Qatar in November.
Egypt and Senegal, who are still competing at the Cup
of Nations in Cameroon, were drawn together in the World Cup playoffs, pitting
two of the five countries who represented the continent at the last finals in
Russia against each other.
Morocco were drawn against the Democratic Republic of
Congo, who did not qualify for the Nations Cup in Cameroon thereby missing out
on valuable practice ahead of March’s two-legged ties.
Mali have a chance to qualify for the World Cup for
the first time after being paired with Tunisia. Both teams are also through to
the last 16 in Cameroon, although Tunisia lost two of their three opening round
matches, including an embarrassing 1-0 loss to debutants Gambia on Thursday.
However, Mali face staging their home game on neutral
territory after not having any fit stadia to use when they won their World Cup
group last year. They played their home games in Morocco.
The 10 countries in Saturday’s draw were all winners of
their groups in the second round of African World Cup qualifiers played between
September and November.
They now meet over two legs in March to determine a
spot at the finals. The exact dates of the matches will be announced in the
next days, said the Confederation of African Football.
THE DRAW:
Egypt v Senegal
Cameroon v Algeria
Ghana v Nigeria
DR Congo v Morocco
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