Qatar 2022: Tough opponents for African quintet

With the exception of Senegal, the rest of African teams for Qatar 2022 have strong opponents to contend with in their groups


It may not be tea party for Africa’s five representatives at the Qatar 2022 World Cup finals which hold in the Arab nation later this year. At least, four of the five teams to represent the continent at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup were handed tough draws, after being grouped with at least two teams with better form and World Cup pedigree, in the same pool.

Africa’s five World Cup qualifiers learned their group opponents in the glitzy draw in Doha, Qatar, with each of the quintet having some reason for optimism after the four pots were drawn into the eight pools. Whenever any World Cup rolls around, the pressing questions for Africa’s contingent are how many can realistically hope to reach the knockouts, and whether any sides can be expected to equal or surpass the three teams: Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana, that previously reached the quarter finals. A favourable group stage draw can make a major difference in a side’s prospects, even if Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2006 and 2010 overcame stern opening-round tests to make the knockouts.

However, what could have been successful campaign for promising teams such as Ivory Coast in 2006, and even South Africa on home soil, were halted prematurely after they found themselves in a particularly tough group, although Senegal in 2018 demonstrated that being pooled in the so-called ‘Group of Life’ is no guarantee of progress.

This time, with all of the 2022 groups looking fairly balanced, and many of the heavyweights harbouring vulnerabilities, each of the continent’s five qualifiers have reason to be cautiously optimistic, if not hopeful, of their prospects of progression. Five time African champions, and record eighth time finalist at Mundial, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, were drawn in the same group with record world champions, Brazil, and two strong sides from Europe; Serbia and Switzerland. The Indomitable Lions, who at the 1990 finals in Italy became the continent’s first side, to reach the quarter finals, will be looking to sneak into the knockout stages, for the first time, since their heroics of 32 years ago.

Reigning African Champions, Senegal appear to have been handed a “kind draw”, at least on paper. The Lions of Teranga whose only other appearance at the World Cup was when the finals was co-hosted by Korea and Japan in 2002, and they got the quarter finals, are in Group A, along with the Netherlands, Ecuador and the host country, Qatar.

It is Senegal upon whom the hopes of the continent lay primarily. The Teranga Lions, the reigning African champions, dispatched Egypt and Mohamed Salah in qualification stage, and are enjoying a steady trajectory of progress under Aliou Cisse, a veteran of the 2002 side. He has now qualified them for their third World Cup, the first time they’ve reached successive tournaments, and they are the only African team that should fundamentally “expect” to progress to the knockout stages after a lovely group draw.

Qatar may have home advantage, but the tournament debutants were comfortably the weakest of the Pot One teams and recent underwhelming friendly results suggest they have much work to do. The presence of the Netherlands from Pot Two, one of the tougher propositions in that pool, somewhat mitigates the favourable Pot One team although the Dutch aren’t a team that should strike fear into Senegalese hearts.

The Dutch defence may be fearsome, but Senegal also have a rugged backline, they kept five clean sheets at the Africa Cup of Nations and the two teams should be content with a draw when Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk clash in their opening match. A young Ecuador side reputed to be fast and physical, complete the pool, and, again, they were one of the weaker sides in Pot Four. The question largely remains: Can Senegal become the first African side to reach the quarterfinals twice? Certainly, the continent’s champions -- currently ranked No. 20 in the world -- are the best placed of Africa’s five teams to progress. Ghana, on other hand, will also fancy their chances of progressing to the knockouts for the third time in four tournament appearances. Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea represent testing opponents, on paper, but, in truth, the first two sides are undergoing transition and don’t represent the threat they have shown in recent tournaments. Both rely on veteran forwards whose best days are behind them, Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez respectively, and lean heavily on creaking defenders who can struggle when dealing with pace and movement. With a disastrous Nations Cup campaign retreating into the distance after their rousing playoff success against fierce rivals Nigeria, Ghana suddenly has momentum again and there’s an exciting new generation breaking through including the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Felix Afena-Gyan and Abdul Fatawu Issahaku. South Korea, on other hand, with Son Heung-min leading the line, can doubtless hurt Ghana ,but the attention will be on that matchday-three fixture against Uruguay, and a rematch of the 2010 quarterfinal that featured the ‘Hand of Suarez’ and Asamoah Gyan’s missed penalty that cost the Black Stars a history-making place in the semifinals.

Morocco, like Ghana, bounced back from a disappointing AFCON to secure a morale-boosting result in the playoffs, and they will fancy their chances of progressing from a group containing Belgium, Croatia and Canada. As is the case for Ghana, the two heavyweights in the group -- Belgium and Croatia -- appear to be coming to the end of superb cycles, with the former relying on a defensive partnership (Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen) with a combined age of 69, and the latter still heavily dependent on Luka Modric, who will be 37 by the time the tournament rolls around.

Steve Nicol and Frank Leboeuf shed light on whether having a difficult group stage is better or worse for teams in the long run. Morocco has defensive ruggedness -- with a three-man backline protecting the excellent Yassine Bono -- while the likes of Achraf Hakimi, Sofiane Boufal and Youssef En-Nesyri are genuine match-winners.

Tarik Tissoudali and Azz-Edine Ounahi are strong recent additions by embattled head coach Vahid Halilhodzic, and the Atlas Lions can be genuine dark horses, certainly if he can make peace with Hakim Ziyech. Belgium and Croatia each have recent history of going deep in major tournaments -- and this experience can serve them well -- but Morocco have the vibrancy and dynamism that both have struggled to demonstrate recently. Certainly, things look easier than 2018, when they went close to progression despite being drawn against Spain and Portugal, although Canada - ranked 38th in the world and back at the World Cup for the first time since 1986 - carry a threat and cannot be ruled out.

For Cameroon and Tunisia, things look trickier. Qatar’s senior security leader Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari warns that rainbow flags could be taken from fans at the World Cup. The Indomitable Lions are back at the World Cup for a record eighth time after dispatching Algeria -- remarkably, in the playoffs, and they’ll be desperate to improve their underwhelming record of just one victory, against Saudi Arabia, at the tournament since 1990; they have not got out of the group in their past five attempts.

With Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song running the show, they should at least avoid the ignominy of the in-fighting and bonus row that characterised their 2014 campaign, but Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland represent a tricky group. Brazil top the FIFA World Rankings and haven’t fallen at the first hurdle since 1966, while they have defeated Cameroon twice -- in 1994 and 2014 -- at the World Cup already.

Serbia is vulnerable, but they carry an immense goal threat that could trouble a Cameroon backline that conceded three goals in one half against Burkina Faso in the AFCON bronze-medal match, while Switzerland is a solid, if unspectacular, outfit that finished ahead of Italy in their qualifying group.

“Tough Group G, but I believe Cameroon can compete with Switzerland, Serbia and Brazil,” UFC champion Francis Ngannou wrote on Twitter after the draw, and certainly the Lions should give their opponents something to think about given their forward line containing Vincent Aboubakar, Karl Toko Ekambi and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Finally, to Tunisia, chasing a first berth in the knockouts at the sixth attempt. The Carthage Eagles will be expected to struggle against defending World Cup champions France and Denmark, who demonstrated at Euro 2020 what they could do without a returning Christian Eriksen, but they might feel they can get a result against Australia, Peru or United Arab Emirates.

Denmark, surely, will have too much for the Tunisians, and Les Bleus also have a major advantage even though the battle between colonial ‘power’ and former colony, and the fact that several of this Tunisia side were born in the metropole, could give that fixture an extra dimension.

France have faced two of their former African territories -- Senegal, Togo -- with mixed results at the World Cup, and this first meeting in a major tournament between two countries whose histories are inextricably linked will be fascinating. As a result of Qatar’s intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18 and that makes it the first tournament not to be held in May, June, or July. It is also to be played in a reduced time frame of around 28 days, across five cities. It will also be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 edition was held in South Korea and Japan.