2026 World Cup - African qualifiers

[Jackson Harrison]

Comoros beat Ghana and are dreaming of the World Cup!

Cameroon and Senegal dropped points away to Libya and Togo.

Mauritius got a point from Angola, while Somalia and Sao Tome are not punching bags.

The only real punching bad of CAF is Seychelles.

You think can make it?

[matt]

If you are a football fan and you are looking for goals hold on and resist: club football is coming back in three days

Today's CAF matches are once again full of the typical African football scores, full of 0's. Only one match out of 13 did both teams scored (Libya 1-1 Cameroon), with 4 goalless draws.

Yes, i wrote my previous post one minute after watching a page with the scores of the day in Africa
It's a format that penalize draws, there's is a big incentive against the 0-0s, but still

[Firnen]

Comoros beat Ghana and are dreaming of the World Cup!

Cameroon and Senegal dropped points away to Libya and Togo.

Mauritius got a point from Angola, while Somalia and Sao Tome are not punching bags.

The only real punching bad of CAF is Seychelles.

You think can make it?

Yes, Mali is easily the weakest Pot 1 team and Ghana doesn't scare anyone.

[Jackson Harrison]

Comoros beat Ghana and are dreaming of the World Cup!

Cameroon and Senegal dropped points away to Libya and Togo.

Mauritius got a point from Angola, while Somalia and Sao Tome are not punching bags.

The only real punching bad of CAF is Seychelles.

You think can make it?

Yes, Mali is easily the weakest Pot 1 team and Ghana doesn't scare anyone.

Agree. threatened nobody at WC.

[amenina]

Comoros beat Ghana and are dreaming of the World Cup!

Cameroon and Senegal dropped points away to Libya and Togo.

Mauritius got a point from Angola, while Somalia and Sao Tome are not punching bags.

The only real punching bad of CAF is Seychelles.

Cameroon and Senegal still being tied on top of their group since none of the other teams won 2 out of 2.

In qualifying for 2023 AFCON, all 46 teams which played in the group stage (Kenya and Zimbabwe were disqualified after being suspended by FIFA) got at least 1 point out of the 6 matches (4 for 3-team groups). There are very few bad teams in Africa, and most of the 2nd and 3rd tier teams are quite inconsistent in their performances, so even the supposed minnows can get a point here or there.

Only one group left, Group E, with Morocco finally starting their "defense of best World Cup African team" with a tricky away match against Tanzania, and closest challenger Zambia "away" to Niger (match played in Morocco).

Morocco won 2-0, while Zambia lost 1-2.

Morocco should cruise in this group.

[amenina]

Group stage matchday 2 results, 21 November 2023

Report: https://www.cafonline.com/news/heavywei ... a-stumble/





Standings after matchday 2







Matchdays 3 and 4 will be played in June 2024.
Matchday 3: 4 vs 6, 3 vs 5, 1 vs 2
Matchday 4: 2 vs 4, 3 vs 1, 6 vs 5

[Ed]

Morocco 3 points from 2 matches. Jesus CAF, if you are that ignorant then don't publish anything, please.

[amenina]

Morocco 3 points from 2 matches. Jesus CAF, if you are that ignorant then don't publish anything, please.

CAF is the Harry Maguire of publishing scores/standings/news/reports. Can never go a full round without making a bone-headed mistake.

[amenina]

If you are a football fan and you are looking for goals hold on and resist: club football is coming back in three days

Today's CAF matches are once again full of the typical African football scores, full of 0's. Only one match out of 13 did both teams scored (Libya 1-1 Cameroon), with 4 goalless draws.

Yes, i wrote my previous post one minute after watching a page with the scores of the day in Africa
It's a format that penalize draws, there's is a big incentive against the 0-0s, but still

A draw is still a useful result because you do not concede a 3-point advantage to the team you are playing. And if you know the other match results are also quite likely to end in draws, you are not that disadvantaged compared with other teams in your group.

There has been suggestions that the two teams in a 0-0 draw should both get ZERO points instead of one. Ignoring collusion (you score a goal, then we score a goal to start the match), even in this case a 0-0 draw can be useful if you are playing a direct competitor (two teams fighting for the title or survival near the end of season) because it also denies them points.

[Sagy]

Today's CAF matches are once again full of the typical African football scores, full of 0's. Only one match out of 13 did both teams scored (Libya 1-1 Cameroon), with 4 goalless draws.

Yes, i wrote my previous post one minute after watching a page with the scores of the day in Africa
It's a format that penalize draws, there's is a big incentive against the 0-0s, but still

A draw is still a useful result because you do not concede a 3-point advantage to the team you are playing. And if you know the other match results are also quite likely to end in draws, you are not that disadvantaged compared with other teams in your group.

There has been suggestions that the two teams in a 0-0 draw should both get ZERO points instead of one. Ignoring collusion (you score a goal, then we score a goal to start the match), even in this case a 0-0 draw can be useful if you are playing a direct competitor (two teams fighting for the title or survival near the end of season) because it also denies them points.

I really like the old MLS point system: 6 points for a win, 3 for a tie, 1 for each goal scored up to 3 per game. I played in a league that used this system and also gave a bonus point for a shutout win (3:0 win is worth 10 points).

[matt]

Today's CAF matches are once again full of the typical African football scores, full of 0's. Only one match out of 13 did both teams scored (Libya 1-1 Cameroon), with 4 goalless draws.

Yes, i wrote my previous post one minute after watching a page with the scores of the day in Africa
It's a format that penalize draws, there's is a big incentive against the 0-0s, but still

A draw is still a useful result because you do not concede a 3-point advantage to the team you are playing. And if you know the other match results are also quite likely to end in draws, you are not that disadvantaged compared with other teams in your group.

There has been suggestions that the two teams in a 0-0 draw should both get ZERO points instead of one. Ignoring collusion (you score a goal, then we score a goal to start the match), even in this case a 0-0 draw can be useful if you are playing a direct competitor

Yesterday 0-0s: Lesotho - Benin, South Sudan - Mauritania, Mauritius - Angola, Togo - Senegal.
The home teams have close to zero chances to qualify and may be satisfied with a prestigious result, while for away teams it was a very disappointing result: two points lost more than one gained for sure.
Senegal are still likely to advance, but for Benin, Angola and Mauritania this draws represent a clear setback in groups where they could play the role of dangerous outsiders as long as they picked up 100% of the points against the pot 5 and pot 6 teams.

[dopeisland]

[amenina]

Eritrea: What next for football after World Cup qualifying withdrawal?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/67474407

[amenina]

Hossam Hassan takes charge as Egypt's new head coach

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/517272.aspx

[amenina]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/68437224

Jose Peseiro: Nigeria head coach departs as contract ends

Algeria have appointed former Switzerland boss Vladimir Petkovic

Earlier in the week, Rigobert Song became the latest post-Afcon managerial casualty after the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) decided not to renew his contract, ending a two-year spell in charge.