The draw for the final round of the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers Africa section took place with all five ties looking really tough to call with no obvious standout winner.
The draw was handled by African legends El Hadji Diouf of Senegal and Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo who is the draw assistant for the ceremony.
The playoffs will see ten group winners take on each other in a two-legged knockout tie taking place in March, with five winners representing Africa in Qatar later this year.
Liverpool teammates Mo Salah and Sadio Mane will go head-to-head as Egypt face Senegal, while Morocco play DR Congo and Mali face Guinea.
Ghana equalled the best ever performance by an African team when reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 but failed to qualify for the last tournament in Russia and will face a Nigeria side who have played at each of the last three tournaments.
Algeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 but have already been knocked out of the current edition after finishing bottom of their group, surrendering a 35-match unbeaten run in the process.
Morocco were unfortunate to be drawn in a group with both Spain and Portugal in Russia, having reached the tournament for the first time since 1998, but will be favourites to qualify in their meeting with DR Congo, whose lone World Cup appearance came back in 1974.
Meanwhile, one of Guinea and Mali will qualify for the tournament for the first time in their country’s history.
