Sports
Salah vows revenge as Egypt, Senegal fight for World Cup place
Egypt captain Mohamed Salah has vowed to avenge an Africa Cup of Nations final loss last month to Sadio Mane-inspired Senegal when they clash again on Friday in a 2022 World Cup play-off.
Failure in the continental final was particularly bitter for prolific Liverpool scorer Salah as he was also part of the Egyptian team that lost the 2017 Cup of Nations final against Cameroon.
Liverpool teammate Mane played a pivotal role in the first Cup of Nations triumph of Senegal — atoning for a penalty miss in regular time by converting the spot-kick that won the shoot-out.
Egypt host the first leg on Friday and Senegal have home advantage next Tuesday with the aggregate winners filling one of five places reserved for Africa at the 32-nation finals in Qatar.
Here, AFP Sport looks ahead to the five first legs with Cameroon seeking a record-extending eighth appearance by an African nation at the World Cup and Mali hoping to reach the finals for the first time.
Egypt v Senegal
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse says the Cup of Nations triumph is history and all that matters is securing a second straight World Cup appearance.
“Winning the Cup of Nations is not an end in itself because we share a common goal of playing at the World Cup again,” he told reporters.
With a ‘spine’ comprising Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, PSG midfielder Idrissa Gueye and Mane, Senegal are well equipped to succeed.
Egypt welcome back star goalkeeper Mohamed el Shenawy, who missed the Cup of Nations final through injury, but they were the second best side in the African title decider and start as underdogs.
The Egyptian media reported Egypt captain Mohamed Salah telling his teammates after the penalty shoot-out defeat in Cameroon that “we meet them (Senegal) again next month and inshallah (God willing) we will take revenge”.
Ghana v Nigeria
Nigeria are favoured, but tradition suggests a close affair with each nation winning twice in previous World Cup qualifiers and four other meetings drawn.
Both fared poorly at the Cup of Nations with Ghana shock first-round casualties after losing to minnows Comoros and Nigeria making a timid last-16 departure against Tunisia.
Nigeria boast a stronger squad than they had in Cameroon with forwards Emmanuel Dennis, Odion Ighalo, and Victor Osimhen now available, but injured midfielder Wilfred Ndidi misses out.
Ghana fired Serb coach Milovan Rajevac after the Cup of Nations debacle and brought in Otto Addo with former Newcastle and Brighton boss Chris Hughton lending assistance.
Dakar explodes with joy as Senegal crowned African champions
Cameroon v Algeria
Hosts Cameroon fired Portuguese Toni Conceicao after finishing third at the Cup of Nations and hired legend Rigobert Song on the orders of President Paul Biya.
Song has chosen most of the team eliminated by Egypt in the semi-finals and there will be much interest in how he treats Bayern Munich forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Choupo-Moting was furious at not making the starting line-up against the Pharaohs and teaming up with captain and leading Cup of Nations scorer Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi.
Algeria suffered a disastrous Cup of Nations title defence, going out after the first round, and coach Djamel Belmadi has dumped 11 of the squad he took to Cameroon in January.
DR Congo v Morocco
The Democratic Republic of Congo are alone among the 10 contenders in not having the benefit of match practice at the Cup of Nations — they came third in a qualifying group and missed out.
It could be advantageous, though, as Morocco will not have recent footage of the Leopards, whose only previous World Cup appearance was in 1974 when the country was called Zaire.
However, it is no secret that Dieumerci Mbokani is the man Morocco must shackle after the 36-year-old scored four goals in qualifiers having been recalled after several years in the wilderness.
Cup of Nations quarter-finalists Morocco boast a star full-back in Ashraf Hakimi, but Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech will be absent due to a fall-out with coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
Mali v Tunisia
Mali and Tunisia met at the Cup of Nations in Cameroon and a tale of two penalties ended with the Eagles from west Africa winning 1-0 after Ibrahima Kone scored and Wahbi Khazri missed.
More close encounters are likely with Mali hoping to create history, and deny Tunisia a sixth World Cup appearance.
A boost for Mali is the belated decision of France-born Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure to represent the country of his parents.
Tunisia, who fell to Burkina Faso in the Cup of Nations quarter-finals, have recalled forward Taha Yassine Khenissi after he completed a six-month doping ban.
AFP
Mikel Merino scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal beat Chelsea to move 12 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Both of these sides came into the match without their first-choice striker, with Kai Havertz ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury for Arsenal and Nicolas Jackson missing for Chelsea.
Chelsea were also without their most important player in Cole Palmer, who was out of the squad with an injury, and it was the first time the Blues have to had to play without him since they lost 5-0 to Arsenal in April last season.
Arsenal, again naming Merino as a makeshift striker, dominated the game early on and Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice all went close.
Merino’s winner came in the 20th minute when he flicked on a curling corner from Martin Odegaard past a stretching Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea’s best opportunity to take something from the game came when Marc Cucurella’s powerful effort slipped through David Raya’s hands but the ball rolled just past the post.
Robert Sanchez, recently restored as Chelsea’s first-choice keeper, had some shaky moments as the Blues were put under pressure with a number of crosses into the area and he was jeered by the home crowd when he had the ball at his feet.
Sanchez produced an excellent save to deny Merino in the second half, but Chelsea could not find the goal to get something from the game.
Liverpool are not playing in the league this weekend as they are involved in the Carabao Cup final.
Tijjani Reijnders saved AC Milan’s skin in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Serie A upstarts Como, who gave Dele Alli his debut from the bench only for the former England international to be sent off moments later.
Netherlands midfielder Reijnders struck in the 76th minute after a brilliant Tammy Abraham pass as Milan came from behind to placate angry home fans and move up to seventh in Italy’s top flight.
Sergio Conceicao’s side are three points from the European places in large thanks to Reijnders who also slipped in Christian Pulisic to level the scores seven minutes after the break.
The 26-year-old also hit the bar shortly before rolling home his 13th goal of the season in all competitions, and also went close to netting again with five minutes remaining.
His performance saved his teammates from a severe barracking at the end of the match as they were loudly booed and whistled off the pitch at half-time with Milan trailing to Lucas Da Cunha’s 33rd-minute strike.
Regardless supporters continued to demand that owners, US investment firm RedBird, sell the club as they have at all recent matches.
Defeat was harsh on Como who performed well on one of football’s biggest stages and stay safely nestled in 13th place, seven points above the relegation zone.
The evening ended in the worst possible way for the lakeside club when late substitute Dele, who is trying to revive his career after a troubled few years since leaving Tottenham Hotspur, was shown a straight red card in the final minute for a rash challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Coach Cesc Fabregas also saw red for dissent shortly afterwards as Como make the short trip back from Milan with nothing from another creditable display against more illustrious opposition.
Kylian Mbappe’s brace helped Real Madrid climb top of La Liga with a 2-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday.
Los Blancos moved three points clear of rivals Barcelona, having played two extra games, with the Catalans visiting third place Atletico Madrid on Sunday in a key clash in the Spanish title race.
Madrid were unhappy the game was taking place fewer than 72 hours after their Champions League win on penalties against Atletico on Wednesday.
However despite their complaints they had enough in the tank to beat their opponents, fifth, at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti began with Vinicius Junior on the bench after the draining victory against Atletico in the last 16.
Villarreal started strongly and Thibaut Courtois got down well to his right to tip Ayoze Perez’s shot around the post.
From the resulting corner Villarreal took the lead, with the ball rebounding to Foyth, who smashed home from close range.
Ancelotti’s side hit back quickly, with Mbappe levelling after 17 minutes.
Brahim Diaz’s attempted lob was saved by Diego Conde, but the French striker dispatched the rebound with minimal fuss.
Soon Mbappe had his second, helping to spread the ball to the right and then finishing with aplomb after Lucas Vazquez found him in the middle of the box.
It was Mbappe’s 20th league goal of the season, putting him one behind the top scorer, Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski.
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