In the first round of the African zone play-offs for the World Cup qualifiers in the early hours of Saturday morning (26th), the two finalists of this year's African Cup of Nations (AFCON) met. Egypt, the runners-up with the help of Mohamed Shana, defeated Senegal, the champions of the World Cup, with Shadio Vinny at home, 1-0, to avenge their defeat, and also gained the upper hand in their bid to qualify for the World Cup.
The two sides just faced each other in the final of the African Cup of Nations in early February, and after a 0-0 draw, Senegal won the Cup with an exchange of 12-yard shots, with Sardinho Vinny consoling a tearful man at the time.
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Teammate Mohammed Shana.
However, this time around, Sanaa will not be able to do anything about it. In the first four minutes of the match, he entered the penalty area and hit the ball, which rebounded into the net of the Senegalese defender, Shah Rios, to give Egypt an early lead.
In fact, Senegal had many chances to equalize this match, but Shadiovanni's several attempts to get his foot on the ball were to no avail. The two sides will meet again in the second round in the early hours of next Wednesday (30th), and the winners of the two rounds combined will qualify for the final week of the World Cup.
The other four first-round battles featured
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Algeria, who are supported by midfielder Alexis Males, beat Cameroon 1-0 on the road thanks to an arrow from Schlievenny.
As for Tunisia, they also beat Mali 1-0, while Morocco held the Democratic Republic of Congo to a 1-1 draw, and Ghana played Nigeria to a 0-0 draw.
