SINAN RAJUB SENOGA
The FIFA World Cup African qualifiers officially climaxed on Tuesday night with the final group stages games played across the continent.
The 10 teams that will battle for the ultimate five World Cup places have now been confirmed.
Nigeria, Cameroon, Tunisia and African champions Algeria are the four teams that clinched the final qualification round places on the final day of the group stages.
The four joined the already qualified Senegal, Morocco, Mali, Egypt, Ghana and DR. Congo.
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Cameroon defeated rivals Ivory Coast 1-0 in the Group D decider in Douala thanks to Karl Toko Ekambi’s first half goal.
The Indomitable Lions topped the Group D table with 15 points, two better than Ivory Coast.
Algeria, who only needed a point to qualify, drew 2-2 with Burkina Faso at home in Blida to emerge as Group A winners with 14 points.
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The draw subsequently stretched Algeria’s unbeaten record to 33 games, four short of the world record set by Italy between 2018-21.
Nigeria drew 1-1 with their closest competitors Cape Verde in a Group C decider played in Abuja and finished the campaign with 13 points.
Tunisia beat Zambia 3-1 to seal emerge as Group B winners with 14 points, two better than second placed Equatorial Guinea who drew 1-1 in Mauritania.
The 10 teams will now await for a draw that will be held on December 18th. The final qualification round games will thereafter be played in March next year.
The top seeded teams will be facing the other five unseeded teams depending on the current FIFA rankings.
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In a particular order, the seeded teams are; Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Nigeria.
The unseeded teams are; Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali and DR Congo.
In another development, FIFA has dismissed Benin’s appeal on DR Congo’s qualification after the Congolese used four substitutes in four different periods in their final group game.
FIFA has however confirmed an investigation on the match between Ghana and South Africa which was decided by a contentious penalty when Daniel Amartey fell in the box following a mild touch from South Africa’s Rushine De Reuck.
