July 12th to 25th, 2021 (World Cup Qualifiers [Africa Groups A-F])

A Chapter by Steve Clark

The following article provides an oversight for matches and tournaments taking place in 2021.

July 12th to 25th, 2021 (World Cup Qualifiers [Africa Groups A-F])

After the Nations League matches, African nations in Groups A to F continued World Cup Qualifiers.

In Group A, no shots were on target in the first half between Tanzania and Guinea. Finally, the match gathered interest, before Naby Keïta scored for the visitors. Morlaye Sylla, as he did against the Sudan in March, scored late with his head to ensure victory, yet again.

Phinda Dlamini shocked Liberia as he scored for eSwatini with a sliding goal in the 28th minute. Liberia held their own in the second half, and needed eSwatini defender Siboniso Mamba’s deflection into the back of the net. From there, eSwatini held strong to, at least, gain a point.

eSwatini and the Sudan played a choice 2-2 match five days later, with plenty of chances for both sides across the two halves. eSwatini had all the chances early, only to come up short. Instead, Sudan’s Mohamed Abdelrahman tapped home the opener after an initial save by the goalkeeper landed in his lap. That seemed to propel the hosts into gear, as three minutes later, Dlamini scored his second goal in two games. After the break, Justice Figuareido’s left boot caught a cross that Sudan’s defence failed to clear. However, Yasir Mozamil came off the bench as he had in their March encounter and was first to the ball when it came loose in the box, hitting the hip of the diving eSwatini goalkeeper and over the line. In drawing the match, eSwatini joined the Sudan and Tanzania in being unable to progress to the Playoffs.

Tanzania had all the momentum of the second half in their match hosting Liberia, with passing on point in their attacking play. The home side should have had a penalty, as the Liberian goalkeeper seemed to take out a player as they passed the ball away instead of shooting. However, it was not to be, and Liberia gained a vital away draw, their third draw of the campaign.

	African WCQ Gr A	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Guinea	5	4	1	0	13	+9
2	Liberia	6	3	3	0	12	+9
3	eSwatini	6	1	2	3	5	-9
4	Tanzania	6	1	1	4	4	-4
5	Sudan	5	1	1	3	4	-5

Group B’s the Gambia hoped to overtake Malawi with a win; however, zero shots on target from five meant the second half needed a drastic shift. That came about with attacks from the left wing, and eventually Musa Barrow caught onto a cross with his head. Lamin Jallow then backed it up eight minutes later, feeding off a poor goalkeeper pass and slotting home Gambia’s second. Malawi did look to score a consolation goal late, but it was not meant to be.

The order of the match was counterattacks from both Chad and South Africa, the latter who was in their third away game in a row. End-to-end football suited South Africa, particularly when Percy Tau’s header hit the post and spun over the line right before the break. Tau then repeated the same in the second half, with his left footer also hitting the post before nestling in the back of the net. Chad’s Casimir Ninga managed to snag one goal back in the 82nd minute, but it was to no avail.

Five days later, Chad flew to the Comoros Islands and befell the same 2-1 result. This time, after a dull match back in March, it was desperate defence that made the match far more intriguing. That desperate defence, though, brought about a penalty for the Comorans in an aerial duel, which Ali M’Madi coolly slotted. Straight after the break, though, Marius Mouandilmadji headed with ease the equaliser. Again, the match came down to the most desperate of defence, and again, Chad gave away a penalty, this time, a handball in the box. M’Madi again snagged the winner from the penalty spot, earning a crucial three points, and knocking Chad out of contention for the Playoffs in the process.

In the reverse leg between Malawi and the Gambia, both sides attacked early before the hosts took control of the match. That led to a goal right before the break by Khuda Muyaba, his second for the Qualifiers. Peter Banda then caught the rebound off an earlier double shot and powered into the back of the net. Muyaba gained his brace two minutes later with the goal of the match, passing the ball out wide then receiving it back in the box, and as the ball bounced up, he laced home Malawi’s third goal.

	African WCQ Gr B	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	South Africa	5	4	0	1	12	+9
2	Malawi	6	3	1	2	10	-2
3	Comoros	5	2	1	2	7	-1
4	Gambia	6	2	1	3	7	-3
5	Chad	6	0	3	3	3	-3

Sierra Leone made changes to their side against Mauritania, including giving John Kamara a chance up front, with Kei Kamara in support behind him. This paid off, as the latter assisted the former to score in the 31st minute. Though it was only a 1-0 victory, Sierra Leone continued to put pressure on the Ghanaians for top spot with the three points.

Angola had no hope when they hosted Algeria, because by the tenth minute, the visitors were ahead 2-0. Riyad Mahrez and Youcef Belaïli both scored, the former with the easiest of goals, and the latter with a turn dribble and shoot. Islam Slimani made it a third goal with a header off a cross from the left wing, rising above his only marking man and keeping a high level of dominance needed in this group.

Five days later, Algeria found Ghana’s pressing play difficult in the early stages. Soon they had their way around it. However, the hosts needed until the 69th minute for Baghdad Bounedjah to score his header, just past the Ghanaian goalkeeper. Ghana had a chance to level the match late with a penalty, only for the Algerian goalkeeper to save Kamaldeen Sulemana’s shot to the left. From there, Algeria held on for the win, and overtook Ghana on the table.

Mauritania gained their first points of the Qualifiers with two goals in the first half against Angola. Adama Ba and Almike N’Diaye were the recipients of great passes that set up their goals. Angola had no match for the hosts and lost their second July match.

	African WCQ Gr E	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Algeria	6	4	0	2	12	+5
2	Sierra Leone	5	3	2	0	11	+3
3	Ghana	5	3	1	1	10	+2
4	Angola	6	1	1	4	4	-5
5	Mauritania	6	1	0	5	3	-5

Tunisia made changes from their March match in Group F to defeat Egypt 1-0. Egypt had won 3-0 in their earlier campaign, so Tunisia needed the win to not only reclaim some pride, but also to chase down Guinea-Bissau sitting five points ahead. It took a 74th-minute through ball to break the deadlock, with Taha Yassine Khenissi running onto the ball and slotting beyond the Egyptian goalkeeper. From there, they were able to hold firm for the win. Meanwhile, Egypt sits perilously far down the bottom end of the group with three losses.

The Congo and Botswana played out a scoreless draw, with only the second half coming alive with meaningful shots. The hosts had most of that play, only to not capitalise on chances.

With Guy Mbenza out, the Congo travelled to Guinea-Bissau in the hope of staying in with a shot of making the Playoffs. Guinea-Bissau, however, wanted to keep their stranglehold on Group F. The hosts nearly had a goal early, with a loose ball bouncing towards the goal ended up hitting the post, then off a Congolese defender, before the goalkeeper reached down to parry the ball. Guinea-Bissau kept up the pressure early, only to have the game settle into a tussle in midfield. After the break, Guinea-Bissau again hit the post, but a defender cleared the ball. In the end, the match ended scoreless.

Botswana had the better of the early stages against Tunisia, having more shots at goal, though they were mostly blocked. Wahbi Khazri turned it around for the Tunisians when he scored in the 44th minute, coolly working around the Botswana defence himself and scoring with his left foot. Khenissi then scored right before the hour mark when the goalkeeper parried the ball in his pathway. Four minutes later, Mbatshi Elias pegged back a goal for the hosts, though he was injured in the collision after his left footer shot. Fakhreddine Ben Youssef kept up the pressure on the Botswanans, heading home Tunisia’s third goal and the sealer of first place in the group, though Guinea-Bissau has a game in hand.

	African WCQ Gr F	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Tunisia	6	3	2	1	11	+6
2	Guinea-Bissau	5	3	2	0	11	+4
3	Congo	6	1	4	1	7	0
4	Egypt	5	1	1	3	4	+1
5	Botswana	6	0	3	3	3	-9

Gabon sought to catch Ethiopia at the summit of Group D with a solid three-nil victory over Zambia. Andre Biyogo Poko scored a brace in the first half, with his first coming after his initial shot hit the post. His second came down to his movement backwards in the box, collecting a low cross without a defender nearby, giving him time to lift the ball into the back of the net out of reach of the Zambian goalkeeper. Aaron Boupendza added a third straight after the break, leaving Gabon poised in good position in the group.

Equatorial Guinea, now with four home games to round out the competition, took on Burkina Faso. It was the visitors, though, that scored first via Lassina Franck Traoré, whose left footer slipped past the Equatorial Guinean goalkeeper after a brilliant cross. Pablo Ganet needed to shoot from long range in the 77th minute to equalise, with his shot outside the box coolly placed in the gap between the Burkina Faso goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and the post. Ganet tried again from long range to win the match, but the score ended one-all.

Ethiopia’s Getaneh Kebede scored in the 52nd minute away to Zambia on their way to another victory on foreign soil. Zambia had little in attack, which played into the Ethiopians’ hands. Kebede chipped the goalkeeper in one-on-one combat, and from there, the visitors played possession football to round out another away victory.

Traoré scored his second goal in two games for Burkina Faso as two goals in four minutes gifted the hosts the advantage over Gabon. Midfielder Adama Guira scored the second goal, shooting from long range beyond the goalkeeper. From there, Burkina Faso had two more key chances go begging to the left of goal. That win brings Burkina Faso to a point behind Gabon, and three points behind leaders (still) Ethiopia.

	African WCQ Gr D	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Ethiopia	5	4	0	1	12	+3
2	Gabon	6	3	1	2	10	+3
3	Burkina Faso	6	2	3	1	9	+2
4	Zambia	6	1	1	4	4	-6
5	Equatorial Guinea	5	0	3	2	3	-2

Group C started in July with only three points separating all five nations. Zimbabwe and Niger fought out for top spot in the group, only to have Zimbabwe take charge of the first half with 59 percent possession. This was backed by a tactic of using striker Evans Rusike as a collector of the ball and sending through his teammates into the box. The execution of the first chance in the fourth minute sent Zimbabwe ahead, with Ovidy Karuru hitting the inside of the post before the ball went into goal. Niger soon worked out the attack and countered it with better defending. Instead, Khama Billiat was switched to a central attacking midfielder role, and that brought an immediate power shot into the roof of the net, giving Zimbabwe the key two-goal lead.

Benin’s right side of the field were ruthless when they hosted Lesotho, giving them a real run for their money as they cut the left side of defence to pieces. Junior Olaïtan made the most in the eighth minute of a defensive error and powered into a partially open goal. He then teamed up with midfielder Mattéo Ahlinvi to make it 2-0. Olaïtan then received the through ball from Ahlinvi and trickled the ball beyond the reach of the Lesotho goalkeeper, with only sixteen minutes on the clock. Benin kept attacking down both wings, creating partial opportunities, before backing off in the second half, content with the three-goal lead.

Five days later, Niger and Libya battled in a crucial game to stay in contention with Zimbabwe and Benin. Libya attacked early, hoping to gain the upper hand in the match. However, when Omar Al-Khouja went down with an injury, the momentum changed. Niger stayed defensively sound on their left side, and soon took the lead through Mohamed Djibo Wonkoye after the break. The lead doubled as Wonkoye cut back into the middle of the field, and shot, hitting the bottom of the post, with the ball spinning over the line. Libya then worked down the left wing, and with a fantastic run and cross, Hamdou Elhouni received the resulting header with no defenders near him and pegged a goal back. It would not the day for the Libyans, as they see their turn at back-to-back World Cups slipping away.

Zimbabwe made one change for their match away to Benin, while Benin remained with the same line up, hoping to overtake Zimbabwe at the top of the group. They did so in style, winning 3-0 in a brilliant second half display. It was started by the right-side duo of Olaïtan and Ahlinvi, with the latter setting up the former for yet another goal. Olaïtan reached the through ball first, and, instead of chipping the goalkeeper with his hands up in the air, trickled the ball under his body, rolling it across the line. Steve Mounié then had a similar through ball as Benin took complete control, even with Zimbabwe subbing on Knowledge Musona, who had scored twice in their last encounter. Mounié’s sheer forceful shot doubled the host’s lead. Jodel Dossou came off the bench and headed home a corner, leaving Zimbabwe wondering what went wrong as they gave the group lead to Benin on a silver platter.