Optimism over the technical managers' statements over the Arab teams after the draw for the second round of the African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Most of the teams seemed to believe in their ability to overcome the hurdle of this stage and reach the separating stage.
Forty teams are participating, the 26th highest in the FIFA rankings, who were exempt from the first round of the qualifiers, in addition to 14 teams qualified from the first round in which the 28 teams ranked lowest in the FIFA rankings.
After the lottery that took place yesterday in Egypt, the ten groups were recognized in the second stage of the qualifiers, and each one includes four teams, the leaders of each group will qualify to the final stage of the qualifiers.
The ten teams that qualify for the last round will be divided into two levels according to the FIFA rankings, by five in each level, with each team from the first level playing with one of the second level teams in the first-leg matches, and the winner of the total of the two meetings goes to Qatar in 2022.
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Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi said his Burkina Fame counterpart will be the first competitor for "desert warriors" in Group One, which also includes Niger and Djibouti.
He considered that "every match will be a battle because it is ultimately a matter of qualifying for the World Cup" and called for optimism, stressing that his country (the African champion) will do his best to aspire to finish the group stage in the first place before the decisive round matches.
Tunisia and Mauritania are competing in Group Two - which also includes Zambia and Equatorial Guinea - with mixed fortunes.
The coach said that he does not recognize the existence of easy and difficult teams, and confirmed that he will seek to lead Tunisia to lead the group in order to compete strongly for the qualification card for the World Cup.
Egypt will be facing a difficult test after its fall in the sixth group, which also includes Libya, Gabon and Angola, which have previously competed vigorously during the past qualifiers to reach the World Cup.
"Pharaohs" coach Hossam Al-Badri confirmed that he aspires to qualify for the World Cup Finals for the second time in a row, but he admitted that the task will not be easy after falling into the fourth group alongside Libya, Angola and Gabon.
Al-Badri said that the list of the national team will witness surprises from the league players in preparation for the qualifying rounds that begin next October.
In the ninth group, the Moroccan national team will face its Sudanese counterpart, in addition to Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, on the way to qualifying and maintaining its record number as the most Arab teams participating in the World Cup, with Tunisia, with five entries each.
Backstage World Cup Qualifiers 🤩 A memorable night 🌟 # WorldCup #WCQ @fifacom_en @fifaworldcup_en pic.twitter.com/MNo2zP8Ekg - CAF - AR (@caf_online_AR) January 21, 2020 |
Mustafa Haji, assistant technical director, seemed confident of the group’s lead, and said that qualifying for the decisive stage of the playoffs passes through a strong entry into the group stage and achieving positive results from the start.
For his part, Sudan coach Khaled Bakhit confirmed that his country will compete for the qualifying card for the Group Seven, and talked about setting a preparatory program for these qualifiers.
It is noteworthy that the group stage matches will be held between October 2020 and October 2021, and that the playoff games will be held in November 2021.