Millions of Egyptian people are waiting for the most expensive gift from the country’s national football team — to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in Tuesday’s highly anticipated and difficult confrontation against their Senegalese counterpart in the second leg of the African World Cup playoffs, which will be held at the new Olympic stadium in Dakar.
The first leg, which was held at Cairo Stadium last Friday ended with a 1-0 victory for the Pharaohs. Egypt need to win or draw against Senegal in the second leg to ensure their qualification.
The ambitions of the Pharaohs to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row collide with the strength and ambition of the Lions of Teranga. The match represents a special importance for the current generation of players led by Mohamed Salah to qualify for the World Cup.
The team concluded its training session on Monday, and it was clear through the exercises that the team will play a balanced plan that does not prioritise offense or defence, which is not different from Queiroz’s strategy during the first leg in Cairo. However, some amendments will be made on the defensive side due to the absence of central defence duo Al-Wensh and Mohamed Abdel Moneim.
The match is attracting much global interest, as it will pit Mohamed Salah against his Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane.
Coach Queiroz may be forced to supplement his weakened defence with Yasser Ibrahim and Mahmoud Alaa. He will also have Rami Rabia and Ali Gabr on the bench to call upon in an emergency.
In the right-back position, he may include Omar Gaber in the starting line-up and then sub him out with Omar Kamal Abdel Wahed, who excelled in this position during the African Cup of Nations.
In terms of offense, Mostafa Mohamed has not been able to prove himself as of yet, which may force Queiroz to push Omar Marmoush to the tip of the spear instead.
Algerian referee Mostafa Ghorbal to officiate Egypt vs. Senegal
The International Football Association (FIFA) — in agreement with the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) Referees Committee — appointed Algerian referee Mostafa Ghorbal to officiate the second leg match between Egypt and Senegal on Tuesday.
The Pharaohs were so close to the World Cup seat after defeating Senegal in the first leg 1-0. They only need to tie this upcoming game to book themselves a ticket to the 2022 World Cup that will be held in Doha, Qatar.
Congolese referee John Jacques Ndala officiated the first leg in Cairo. He was assisted by his compatriot Oliver Savary, Comorian Suleiman Amal Al-Din, and Malian Babu Traore.
For the next match, Ghorbal will be aided by Makran Al-Ghourari, Abdelhak Achiali, and Lahlou Ben Brahem.
Ghorbal is no stranger to Egyptian football. He officiated four matches for Al Ahly SC last season: Egypt Super Cup, two CAF Champions League matches, and CAF Super Cup.
Throughout these matches, he showed 12 yellow cards and a red card to Al Ahly players, with Al Ahly winning three games and losing one.
Ghorbal also officiated one of the most famous Egyptian football matches, which brought together Al Ahly and Zamalek in the final of the CAF Champions League in the previous edition, when Al Ahly were crowned champions after a 2-1 victory.
Ghorbal is a strong candidate to referee in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Black market provokes crisis before match
Senegalese website Senenews have reported that despite Sengalese coach Aliou Cisse’s calls for Senegalese citizens to support the Lions of Teranga against Egypt at the stadium, it was difficult for the Senegalese people to obtain tickets, as the black market has been selling tickets with inflated prices.
This is in addition to a lack of established points of sale by the Dutali company responsible for ticket vending services for the second-leg match, which announced that tickets ran out a few days ago.
The site indicated that the black market is the “plan B” that a majority of Senegalese fans are resorting to in order to attend the match on Tuesday.
$12m prize for Egyptian national team if they qualify for World Cup
Egypt’s national team is set to receive a financial prize amounting to $2m if it qualifies for the 2022 World Cup that will be held in Doha Qatar by claiming victory over Senegal in Tuesday’s second-leg qualifier.
The Pharaohs will also receive $10m in return for participating in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This is in addition to the team being expected to advance three positions in the FIFA’s monthly classification of the world’s teams, making it among the 32 best teams in the world.
Egypt’s national team, led by Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, will meet Senegal on Tuesday evening in the second leg of the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Pharaohs defeated Senegal 1-0 in the first leg that was held in Cairo Stadium on Friday.
The goal came from a shot by Mohamed Salah that ricocheted off of Senegal’s crossbar onto Senegalese defender Salio Cisse, resulting in an own goal in the fourth minute of the match.
Is Egypt’s World Cup fate linked with Italy’s?!
Strangely, the Pharaohs’ advancement to the World Cup may hinge on the fate of the Azzurri national team. A strange coincidence brings good news to Egyptian football fans. Egypt qualified to the World Cup in three editions. When the Egyptian team qualified for the World Cup of 1934 and 1990, the organising country was Italy. But the third time that Egypt qualified was in 2018, in which the Italian team was absent.
In addition, Italy won the last edition of the UEFA European Football Championship, and Senegal also won the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. However, it has been officially confirmed that the Italian national team will be absent from the upcoming World Cup after it was defeated by Macedonia. Would Senegal face the same fate?!
For first time, 7 Arab teams compete for World Cup seats
Arab teams are about to write history with a unique achievement, which may be achieved for the first time with the presence of seven Arab teams in the World Cup.
Four Arab teams advanced to the previous edition of the World Cup; the largest number ever achieved in the prestigious tournament.
Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria are already one step away from the World Cup after all of them won the first leg of their playoffs.
Morocco, however, drew 1-1 against the Democratic Republic of Congo after missing a penalty kick that could have tipped the scales.
Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco have a great advantage, as their second leg matches will be held home, while the Egyptian team will play in Senegal.
Qatar (hosts) and Saudi Arabia have already qualified to the global tournament. Either the UAE or Iraq may qualify from their Asian group, bringing the potential total up to seven.
