NewStats: 3,263,369 , 8,179,928 topics. Date: Thursday, 05 June 2025 at 05:11 PM 3a1865

Mane vs Salah: REMATCH LOOMS WITH WORLD CUP PLACE AT STAKE

Sadio Mane trumped Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah in the Africa Cup of Nations final, but the Egyptian will soon have a chance to even the score in a World Cup play-off.

Egypt confront Mane-inspired Senegal home and away in March with a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at stake.

Ghana meet Nigeria, Cameroon play Algeria, Mali face Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of Congo tackle Morocco in the other play-offs.

But it is the showdown between the Egyptian Pharaohs and the Senegalese Teranga Lions that will capture the imagination with Premier League sharpshooters Salah and Mane dominating the headlines.

Mane not only helped Senegal conquer Africa for the first time after a penalty shootout triumph in Cameroon on Sunday, he was also voted the player of the tournament.

The 29-year-old scored three of the nine Senegalese goals in seven matches and recovered swiftly from being injured in a last-16 win over Cape Verde to inspire his team.

In the final, he had an early penalty saved by Mohamed Abou Gabal, but atoned by slotting the spot-kick that won the shootout after 120 goalless minutes dominated by the west Africans.

After a slow start to the 29-day flagship African tournament, Salah led his team through a far harder knockout-phase path than Senegal to the title decider.

Effectively facing three finals before the final, Egypt pipped the Ivory Coast on penalties, came from behind to beat Morocco in extra time, then overcame Cameroon in another shootout.

Abou Gabal, who surprisingly lost out to final rival Edouard Mendy for the goalkeeper of the tournament award, kept Senegal at bay in regular and extra time.

But he may not face Mane in the World Cup if first choice keeper Mohamed Elshenawy recovers from an injury sustained against the Ivorians.

– Queiroz conundrum –
It is a conundrum for coach Carlos Queiroz, who must watch the first leg of the play-off from a stand unless an appeal against a red card in the Cup of Nations clash with Cameroon succeeds.

His assistant, South African Roger de Sa, was banned for four matches after an undisclosed incident following the victory over Morocco, ruling him out of both legs.

Seeking a fourth straight World Cup appearance, after guiding Portugal in 2010 and Iran in 2014 and 2018, the former Real Madrid manager and twice Manchester United assistant manager has his work cut out.

But for Abou Gabal, Senegal would have won the final by several goals in 90 minutes, while Egypt created few scoring opportunities.

After suffering a first shootout loss at a Cup of Nations, Egypt have also lost the aura of invincibility when it comes to penalty taking.

Mali, alone among the 10 contenders in not having qualified for a World Cup, defeated Tunisia 1-0 through an Ibrahima Kone penalty in a controversial Cup of Nations group match.

Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe blamed heatstroke and severe dehydration for signalling the end of the match when there was still several minutes to play.

Tunisia later fired coach Mondher Kebaier after a last-eight loss to Burkina Faso, and both Ghana and Nigeria will have new handlers.

Ghana have yet to replace sacked Serbian Milovan Rajevac, who paid the price for a first round exit from the Cup of Nations after a stunning loss to minnows the Comoros.

Nigeria went to Cameroon with technical director Augustine Eguavoen in charge after the dismissal of German Gernot Rohr following an unimpressive World Cup group campaign.

Portuguese Jose Peseiro, whose experience of Africa is limited to a brief spell with Egyptian club giants Al Ahly, now takes over.

https://punchng.com/mane-vs-salah-rematch-looms-with-world-cup-place-at-stake/

This is one thing I like about Nigeria:

We get out of tournament early so we can watch other nations play beautifully

It's most likely going to be the same outcome.

bring it on

mane 247

No be to look handsome go make u win...ugly people too get God

Mane na hustler. E dey everywhere. We all need that kind of determination he brings

I look forward to another tears from Mo Salah....I don't see anything spectacular in that Egyptian team that would pose a threat to Senegal. I can only pick out Salah, the goalkeeper and maybe Trezequet. The others are average players. What kept Egypt going in the tournament was collective effort and their typical North African crafty pattern of football. They wanted the game to go into penalties last night because they trust their goalkeeper but Senegal was destined to win this time around. .....I gave up on Senegal when the match got into penalty kicks but miraculously they survived.

Senegal will get the ticket at the expense of Egypt.

Just imagine thunder striking twice again

Mehn the match go hot its winner takes all I see Egypt scaling this one to the world cup

This set of Egypt players aren't impressive at all

Balon dor don sure for mane

Senegal go still beat �� weda dem like am or not

Na luck carry dem enta penalties

Mane is the King of Liverpool, he is better than Mo Sallah.

AFCON has also testified it

Ok

Senegal are a far better team than Egypt, much more stacked with quality players all over the pitch and I see them winning the tie comfortably over 2 legs. Senegal would also be a better ambassador of the African continent! I really believe they can give any team a good game

Egypt genuinely plays drab, boring football. Shitthouse the entire game, constantly moan to the ref, and even before a match, to try and influence decisions. Then drag their opponents to penalty kicks where they hope to luck out a win (they have good goalkeepers, tbf). On the basis of sheer quality of players, they rank much lower even on the continent than their second place afcon finish indicates.

This one go tough

Egypt will really need to go back to the drawing board to stand a chance...


Based on what we saw yesterday..and both teams general performance at the AFCON...Senegal remains the clear favourite to go through.

This is actually not fair

So we won't see one of the AFCON finalist in Qatar?

Kingcalls:
Balon dor don sure for mane

E no sure any shiit, Salah has more chances than him still

Na wa, so one of dem no go go world cup?

Too bad for Egypt. Senegal will qualify because of their superior squad.
Thank God 1st leg is in Egypt else those North Africans could have done all manner of wayo in 2nd leg to qualify. The only unfortunate thing is there may not be VAR.

Simeony007:


E no sure any shiit, Salah has more chances than him still

He won the AFCON and he is also doing brilliantly with Liverpool