Black Stars of Ghana, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, the Teranga Lions of Senegal, the Atlas Lions of Morocco and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, are the five teams that will represent Africa at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This is as three times African champions, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Mali and DR Congo failed to make the tournament after losing out in the playoffs.
Cameroon, Nigeria’s neighbours, had to overcome a 1 – 0 home loss at home to beat Algeria 2 – 1 away on Tuesday night. Although the encounter ended 2 – 2 on aggregate, the Central Africans bettered their North African rivals on superior away goal record.
Sadio Mane netted the winning penalty as Senegal ended Mohamed Salah’s Egypt dream of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Senegal won the second leg of the African play-off 1-0 in Diamniadio thanks to a fourth-minute goal from Boulaye Dia and the teams finished level at 1-1 on aggregate after extra time.
As was the case in the Africa Cup of Nations final last month, Mane was entrusted with taking the crucial fifth Senegal kick and once again he made no mistake to give his side a 3-1 shoot-out victory.
Right at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, the Black Stars of Ghana booked their ticket to Qatar after holding off the Eagles for a 1 – 1 draw to qualify on away goal rule.
Arsenal midfielder, Thomas Partey struck after 10 minutes, and although another Premier League star, William Troost-Ekong, levelled from a 22nd-minute penalty, Nigeria failed to score again. The first leg ended goalless.
The defeat was a massive blow for favourites Nigeria, who were chasing a seventh appearance in eight attempts since debuting at the 1994 World Cup.
In the other fixture, Azzedine Ounahi scored twice as Morocco trounced the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in Casablanca to reach the finals for a sixth time.
Tarik Tissoudali and Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi also netted for the Atlas Lions, who qualified 5-2 on aggregate after the first leg finished 1-1 in Kinshasa..
Tunisia secured their place in Qatar despite being held 0-0 at home by Mali in the second leg of a play-off.
Having built a 1-0 lead in Mali through a Moussa Sissako own-goal, Tunisia were unable to build on their aggregate advantage and only scraped through.