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Salah vows revenge as Egypt, Senegal fight for World Cup place

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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.

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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.

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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

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Man Utd plan for exit of ten senior stars

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Ruben Amorim

Manchester United could ruthlessly let TEN players leave Old Trafford this summer as Ruben Amorim targets sweeping changes among his squad. The Red Devils have endured an awful campaign under the former Sporting Lisbon coach.

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They only have one route remaining into the Champions League by winning the Europa League, while a bottom-half Premier League finish looks highly likely. And with Amorim targeting huge improvement next season, the United boss is eyeing a mass overhaul of his squad.

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The Portuguese coach has already pointed to the fact that the club needs to sell before they can make any signings. That could potentially involve up to ten current stars being shown the exit door.

According to the Manchester Evening News, club chiefs are aiming for double figures in departures during the summer transfer window. Jonny Evans and Tom Heaton are expected to retire at the end of the current campaign, while Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen will leave at the end of their contracts.

Meanwhile, a host of stars have been made available for transfer with loanees Marcus Rashford and Antony among those who could be sold, while Jadon Sancho already has the option of a move to Chelsea, who have an obligation to buy the England winger for £25m despite the presence of a back-out clause.

Midfielder Casemiro has also regularly been linked with a move away from the club amid interest from Saudi Arabia. Despite forcing himself back into contention, he is still expected to be available this summer.

Left-back Tyrell Malacia could also depart, with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven having an option to sign him permanently. Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir may also be among those to leave as he eyes more first team football.

Amorim has yet to speak out on any individuals who could leave, but he has claimed that those shown the exit door will ‘understand’. Speaking earlier this month, he said: “We can talk about that [departures] at the end [of the season]. We have a lot of games to play.

“But that is clear, and I think that is not a difficult situation because everybody understands that in football; sometimes you stay, sometimes you have to move on.

“When you are honest with someone, they can take it. In the beginning, it is hard, but they will understand. So I’m quite honest with my players and they already know that sometimes they have to move on at the end of the season.”

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Football: Edo Queens arrive Umuahia in readiness to tackle Abia Angels

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Edo Queens FC

Defending champions of the NWFL, Edo Queens FC, will on Wednesday
March 26th, 2025 file out against the host Abia Angels FC, in match day 09 of the Nigeria Women Football League NWFL title campaign.

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Edo Queens who currently stand tall in group A with 20 points from 8 matches, will be tempted to eye fifth away win, having kept unbeaten records since the beginning of the new season.

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Despite interest from the homers in Wednesday’s crack , the Ancient City based ladies are not ready to drop any point in this critical stage of the league, hence the girls are in killer mood ready to fly over Abia Ladies. A win in this crucial away game would further guarantee the team a spot in the Super 6 where winners of the league will be determine that will fly the country’s flag at the CAF Women’s Champions League showpiece for 2025 season.

Recall that Edo Queens spanked Abia Angels 5-0 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in match day 01 of the league. Have done wonderfully well, the Benin City Queens will be going into Wednesday’s encounter with full force not minding who is involve. For them, every game is a war, and they will fight until victory comes their way.

The week 9 game according to the NWFL fixtures will take place by 1 pm local time at the popular Umuahia Stadium in Abia State. This particular game is crucial to Edo Queens and remains a core part of Moses Aduku’s game that will separate him from other colleagues if he ends the regular season unbeaten.

Though there’s still two away bridges to cross, but in whatever way you look at it, the girls are ready and will remain focus until it is over.

Meanwhile, coach Moses Aduku has called for maximum concentration from the girls, adding that a win in Wednesday game will brighten their chances of staying on top and also keeping the hope of Super Super alive.

He stated this while addressing the players yesterday in Umuahia.

According to him: “We are here for real business, and so I want us to remain focused. Let them know that you are the defending champions.

You are aware that Edo Queens have not loss any game, so we should try and maintain that record. See every game as war. You humbled them in Benin by 5-0, you can still do same.

Last season they defeated us in Benin, but we came to their home and beat them. I believe we can do it again. I have so much confidence in you girls and by the special grace of God we will go back to Benin with our three points.”

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2026 World Cup Race: Ekong says Eagles feel great to be back in contention

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NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko (right), NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau (left) and Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi (middle) in Kigali on Friday.

Sitting quietly at one corner of the departure hall of the Kigali International Airport on Saturday morning, Super Eagles’ captain William Ekong had a relaxed mien about him, and minced no words in saying that Friday’s victory over Rwanda’s Amavubi was just the statement the Eagles needed to put out as the World Cup race reached halfway mark.

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“It was important to make the statement that we did, and we’re all happy about it, and the way we did it. Of course, we have not qualified and there’s still a lot of work, but we have started the recovery in a good way and we just have to keep working hard.

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“I don’t want to go into the circumstances that made the first four matches go the way they went. The good thing is we can still recover and revive the campaign, and we have done that.”

Ekong’s firm leadership, and Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman and Simon Moses’ zest at the fore, were all too evident and impactful as the Eagles coasted to a 2-0 win over hosts Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium, throwing up nostalgia of the strong squad that wowed all and came within 23 minutes of lifting the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early last year.

As the chartered ValueJet Airline’s CRJ-900 aircraft touched down at the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at exactly 2pm on Saturday, Ekong told thenff.com that he would be rallying the troops ahead of Tuesday’s Day 6 encounter against the Warriors of Zimbabwe.

“We read somewhere that the Zimbabweans are being motivated to come to Uyo and get a result. They should forget it. We are hugely motivated by the ambition to play at the FIFA World Cup. Apart from myself and Alex (Iwobi) and perhaps a couple others, who were part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, this generation is hungry to play at the highest level. We want to make Nigeria proud and at the same time, do ourselves proud.”

PHOTO 3: Ambitious Generation!

Victor Osimhen, whose brace unscrambled the calculations of the Amavubi and made them disappoint the capacity crowd that included President Paul Kagame, said at the Victor Attah Airport. “We are ready. The remaining matches are wars and we must fight them with all that we have to win.”

Victory on Tuesday evening will take Nigeria to nine points, and in firm contention for the ticket, especially if Benin Republic and South Africa cancel themselves out inside Abidjan’s Stade Félix Houphouet-Boigny.

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