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Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Portugal, Sweden seal Wolrd Cup spots

SEVERAL countries joined Ghana in securing their tickets for the Qatar 2022 World Cup on Tuesday night.

The Ghanaians became the first African team to seal their place at the World Cup when they held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in Abuja to qualify on the away goals rule.

African champions Senegal then followed after beating Egypt on penalties in a replay of the Africa Cup of Nations final held in Cameroon in February.

The Teranga Lions won the second leg 1-0 in Dakar courtesy of Boulaye Dia’s third minute strike to level the tie 1-1 on aggregate.

The African champions won the ensuing penalty shootout 3-1 after the first four kicks were all missed, including the one taken by Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.

In Morocco, the hosts saw off the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 to qualify 5-2 on aggregate.

Azzedine Ounahi struck twice, while Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi also scored for the dominant Atlas Lions.

In Bilda, Cameroon engineered a dramatic turnaround to eliminate their hosts Algeria on the away goals rule.

Having won 1-0 in Douala on Friday, Algeria just needed to avoid defeat in order to advance. But they lost 1-0 in regulation time through Eric Choupo-Moting’s 22nd minute strike.

Algeria thought they had won the tie when Ahmed Touba scored in the 28th minute of extra-time, but Cameroon found the killer blow with the last kick of the match when Karl Toko Ekanbi scored in the fourth minute of extra-time’s injury time.

Tunisia completed Africa’s line-up after a drab 0-0 draw at home to Mali. The North Africans had won the first leg 1-0 in Bamako and they scaled through 1-0 on aggregate.

In the European playoffs, Portugal and Poland eased past North Macedonia and Sweden respectively to book their tickets.

Portugal won the one-off tie 2-0, with Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes netting both goals, while Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski scored Poland’s goals in their own 2-0 win.

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Naija Times