World Cup qualifying in Africa always stretches out longer than any other confederation due to the fact that it doesn't have a spot in the intercontinental playoffs. Nigeria and Egypt have already qualified for the World Cup, but there are three more spots that will be filled by African teams over the course of the next several days.
The matches left to be played will all take place on Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11. Live television coverage for all of the big fixtures will be seen on beIN Sports.
Group A is pretty much a done deal at this point. Tunisia has yet to actually qualify for the World Cup, but so long as it avoids a loss at home against Libya on Saturday, it will reach the tournament for the first time since 2006. DR Congo could get to the World Cup for the first time in its history with a win over Guinea and a Tunisia loss, but the likelihood of that happening is slim considering the fact that the Tunisians are going to be massive favorites against a team that has no points in three prior matches against the two top teams in the group.
Group C is probably the most interesting of the groups left. Morocco and Ivory Coast are fighting it out for the one spot in the World Cup of the four teams in Group C.
If you want the definition of a tossup in sports betting, this is it. Morocco is ahead right now with nine points from its five qualifying matches in this group, but it has to play on the road at Ivory Coast for this last match. The Elephants have been good at home historically, but they'll rue a 2-1 loss to Gabon here at home. This match to be played at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan is one of the biggest in the team's history.
The only knock here on Ivory Coast is the fact that Morocco has yet to give up a goal at this level of the qualification. The Moroccans have a stellar defense led by captain Medhi Benatia, a man who plays his club soccer at Juventus. It's going to be hard to put one in the back of the net against this team, but it's a must if the Ivory Coast wants to get into the World Cup. Anything short of a win, and it'll be Morocco booking tickets to Russia in 2018.
Group D was thrown into a huge tussle when FIFA ordered a replay of the match between Senegal and South Africa. South Africa had originally won the match 2-1, though a phantom handball call at the end of the first half allowed the South Africans to score a goal that would go on to help them win the fixture.
The result may be a gift to Senegal. The team leads this group with eight points, and it now has two matches left to be played at the end of the qualifying group against South Africa. The first of these matches will be played at home. Even a draw in that fixture will likely make the final match back in Johannesburg useless. A win would certainly remove all doubt.
The South Africans still have a bit of a lifeline, but they were always going to be in terrible shape. Not only are they going to have to figure out how to win at Senegal to stay alive, but then they'll have to win this last replayed match on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso and the Cape Verde Islands also got lifelines here. The calculations for both teams are still sorrowful with their last match against each other to come at Burkina Faso next Tuesday. A win for either side would put that team on nine points. Should South Africa soundly beat Senegal in one of the two matches and draw the other, the winner of that Burkina Faso/Cape Verde match could theoretically win this group on goal differential. Unfortunately for both, Burkina Faso is trying to come back from four goals back in goal differential, while Cape Verde faces the essentially impossible task of making up eight goals.
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