Egypt go into this group as top seeds and favourites, as they are part of the impressive North American contingent who made last year’s final 16. As Tunisia and Morocco have already qualified, it’s fair to say Egypt are expected to join them. Egypt got this far after beating Angola 7-5 on aggregate, a surprisingly difficult encounter.
This group is no cakewalk, however, as all three rivals are handy outfits. Mali are second seeds, but need to improve from their narrow 4-3 aggregate win over Namibia. Senegal, meanwhile, shone in the last round as they easily beat Madagascar 5-0 on aggregate. Togo had to start in Round 1, where they beat Seychelles 4-1, before coming through Round 2 with a 5-2 aggregate win over Tanzania.
Egypt got off to a good start, leading Togo 2-0 at half time. However, Togo pulled one back immediately after the break, and in the 90th minute stole a point through Harilu Alidu’s belted strike. Elsewhere, Dramane Traore’s pinpoint header proved the only goal of the game as Mali got underway with a 1-0 win away to Senegal.
Mali don’t show any signs of letting up as Traore haunts Senegal again, this time scoring two goals as his side wins 3-1. Meanwhile, Egypt once again started better than they finished against Togo, going ahead in the 2nd minute from the spot, but going on to slump to a 3-1 defeat. Incredibly, this meant that despite there being two rounds of games to go, Mali had already won the group. Technically, both Egypt and Togo can still reach the critical 11 points, but they need two wins and a big goal difference boost to do so.
This meant that, annoyingly, nothing was at stake going into the final round of matches in African qualifying, other than a little skirmish to see who avoids last place. Senegal ensured it wouldn’t be them by beating Togo 1-0, which also secured second place for them. Egypt needed a point against Mali to secure third, and they got three as they won 3-1, two of the goals being set up by new man into the side Obama – how would Egypt have fared had he started the campaign in the XI?
Highest average rating: Souleymane Dembele (MLI) 7.80
African Qualifying Round 3 summary
So Mali will contest their first-ever World Cup in the summer. A great outcome for them, whilst it’s a shock to see Egypt struggle so much. Meanwhile, Ghana become the first side confirmed for the Intercontinental play-off. Next time it’s the final European group! And it’s only the 2017 DWC champions and world number 1 side Germany who kick off their campaign. Can Bulgaria or Sweden stop them?