CAIRO: African champions Algeria, led by Riyad Mahrez, will begin their bid for a place at the 2022 World Cup against tiny Djibouti in October after the draw was made for the qualifying group stage in Cairo on Tuesday.

Only the top team in each of the 10 pools advance to the final knockout stages, where they will play home and away for a place in Qatar, and Algeria will be confident of advancing from Group ‘A’ that also contains Burkina Faso and Niger.

Algeria have only qualified for two World Cups since 1986 and their last was in Brazil in 2014.

Other heavyweights such as Senegal, relying on 2020 African Footballer of the Year Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah’s Egypt will take on less-fancied nations.

Senegal, the top-ranked team in Africa, have a favourable draw in Group ‘H’ along with Congo-Brazzaville, Namibia and Togo, the latter a shadow of the side that qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Salah’s Egypt will face Gabon and star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubay­emang, along with Libya and Angola in Group ‘F’.

Egypt and Senegal both qualified for the last World Cup in Russia and will be looking to repeat.

All five African teams failed to reach the knockout stage of the 2018 World Cup, the first time that had happened since 1982.

Nigeria are in Group ‘C’ along with Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic and Liberia, which should cause few alarms.

One of Cameroon and Ivory Coast will be eliminated at this stage after they were drawn together in Group ‘D’ along with Mozambique and Malawi.

Ghana and South Africa headline Group ‘G’, having also been paired together in the qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, so will be regular combatants over the next 18 months. They must also face Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, who are both tricky opponents.

North African powerhouses Tunisia are top-seeded in Group ‘B’ and up against Zambia, Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea.

Morocco are the favourites in Group ‘I’ but will face a challenge from Naby Keita’s Guinea. Guinea-Bissau and Sudan are the other teams in that group.

Madagascar, surprise quarter-finalists in last year’s Africa Cup of Nations, will face the Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin and Tanzania in Group ‘J’ while in Group ‘E’, Kenya were drawn with Mali, Uganda, and Rwanda.

The matches will take place from March 2020 until October 2021. Group winners will advance to the third round which will be played in November 2021.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2020