It's nervy endings and two protests as CAF FIFA 2022 World Cup qualification series enter the playoff with no upsets as all the ten countries that qualify lived up to pre-competition ratings.
Nigeria, Senegal, Morrocco, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo Dr, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, and Tunisia left in the race, which started in August 2021 with all the 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF.
There is no notable absentee from the list of qualified teams as Nine out of the remaining ten teams are in the top 10 brackets of Africa football based on the FIFA ranking for November.
Probably the only missing name in the top 10 rankings is Ivory Coast but they find themselves in the same group with Cameroon, of which Cameroon eliminated the Ivorians on the final day in Yaounde as the group winner needed just a victory to make it to the playoffs.
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon needed Karl Toko Ekambi 21st minute goal to wade off all pressures mounted by Sebastian Haller, Nicholas Pepe, Aboubacar Sangare, etc to ensure a place in the playoffs.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria also survived a scare from the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, as the Super Eagles played 90 minutes of lustreless football to hold on to a 1-1 draw which guarantee the needed one point which is enough to keep their track in the race to Qatar.
The current African Champions Algeria were pushed to the limit by Burkina Faso as the Burkinababe came back twice and very close to causing one of the biggest upsets of the last day in the 2022 World Cup qualifier.
But nearly wasn't enough as the Algerians held their nerve and ended the game on 2-2 which is enough for passage to the playoff and keep their unbeaten record of 33 games on the bounce since 2019.
Tunisia was levelled on points with Equatorial Guinea going into the final day and needed victory to qualify.
The Carthage Eagles made no mistake in Rades as they scored three first-half goals against Zambia to erase doubts as they ended the group on top after ninety minutes with the game ended 3-1.
Equatorial Guinea ended their wild chase of a place in the place off by playing a 1-1 against Mauritania, in Antananarivo.
The Benin Republic also went into their final game against Congo Dr, needing only a point to progress but they left Kinshaha with nothing after losing the match by two goals to nil which is enough for the Congolese to secure their place in the playoffs.
Ghana also edged South Africa through a disputed penalty in the 35th minute after Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey was adjudged to have been fouled in the box.
The resultant penalty kick results in 1-0 for the Black Stars which is enough to topple the Bafana Bafana on the head to head and book their place in the final round.
Mali, Egypt, Morrocco and Senegal, all get the job done before the final day and save themselves from the drama of the final day.
Morocco completed a flawless process in the qualifiers keeping their 100% record of winning all their games by taking Guinea to the cleaners with a 3-0 victory on the final day.
Egypt also made it a good home ending as they defeated Gabon by 2-1 despite resting the majority of their first-team players having qualified on matchday five with the pulsating 2-2 draw against Angola in Luanda.
Mali also defeated Uganda by 2-0 while Senegal bests Congo by 1-0 to end the series without losing any of their games.
Protests
The Federation of International Football Association has confirmed the protest of South Africa and the Benin republic.
The South African Football Association, SAFA are praying that their match against Ghana is replayed.
According to the SAFA, the penalty that decided their game was manipulated by the centre referee Maguette Ndiaye to favour the Black Stars.
FIFA has once ordered a replay between Bafana Bafana and Senegal in the 2018 World Cup qualifier after the referee was found guilty of match manipulation.
Also, the Beninoise Football Federation (FBF) is asking for the ejection of Congo Dr for violations of the rules of the game on substitution per match.
The appeal is about the fact that DR Congo made four substitutions on four separate occasions during Sunday's qualifier.
Under current Fifa regulations for international games, teams are allowed to make up to five substitutes but only during three substitution windows in the game.
Whatever decision the world football governing body, FIFA takes won't affect the draws for the playoff which will be held on December 18 2021 with the top 5 ranked teams in the FIFA ranking will be in a pot as the seeded teams and the second pot will have the remaining fine teams.
The seeded teams are Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.
The unseeded teams are Cameroon, Ghana, Egypt, Mali and Dr Congo.
