It is a night of fireworks today, Friday, March 25, 2022, with eight African soccer giants in action in search of Qatar 2022 World Cup tickets. Here are the pairings: Ghana v Nigeria, Egypt v Senegal, Cameroon v Algeria, Mali v Tunisia, Congo DR v Morocco. We present below, courtesy of SuperSport, what the stats say ahead of these first-leg battles.

GHANA V NIGERIA

This will be the seventh meeting between Ghana (1 win) and Nigeria (2 wins) in African World Cup qualifying (D3), and first since July 2001 (3-0 Nigeria win).

Nigeria have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three World Cup qualifiers against Ghana (W1 D2), although they have failed to score in three of the previous four such meetings themselves.

Ghana remain unbeaten in their last five games against Nigeria in all competitions (W3 D2), while there has been just a single goal scored across the last three meetings (Asamoah Gyan’s winner for Ghana at the 2010 AFCON), with the last two encounters ending goalless (a friendly in 2010 and most recently at the African Nations Championship in 2014).

Ghana and Nigeria shared exactly the same records in the second round of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, both winning four drawing one and losing one of their six matches.

Nigeria have lost just one of their last 42 World Cup qualifiers (W28 D13), a 1-0 loss to Central African Republic in October of last year.

Ghana’s last defeat in a home World Cup qualifier came back in January 2001 against Liberia (1-3), going unbeaten in 21 such matches since then (W17 D4).

André Ayew finished as top scorer in Group G of second round qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, netting 43% of Ghana’s goals (3/7).

Victor Osimhen (who finished as top scorer in Group C of second round qualifying for the 2022 World Cup), scored four of Nigeria’s nine goals in second round qualifying, netting in each of their last three games (vs Central African Republic, Liberia & Cabo Verde).

Since his league debut for Arsenal in October 2020, Thomas Partey has had the most shots from outside the box in the Premier League without scoring any of them (54 attempts from distance, 0 goals from outside the box). He did however score two goals for Ghana in second round qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, with one of those strikes coming from outside the box (a direct free-kick vs Zimbabwe).

Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho has provided nine assists for Leicester in all competitions this season, with no Foxes player registering more.

EGYPT V SENEGAL

Egypt and Senegal last met in World Cup qualifiers in Group C for qualifying for the 2002 World Cup; they shared a goalless draw in Dakar before Egypt won 1-0 in Cairo with Mido scoring the winner.

The most recent meeting between Egypt and Senegal was in the African Cup of Nations final last month, when after a 0-0 draw Senegal won 4-2 on penalties.

Egypt are winless in three matches against Senegal (D1 L2) since a 2-1 win in the 2006 African Cup of Nations semi-final with goals from Ahmed Hassan and Amr Zaky.

Egypt are unbeaten in nine World Cup qualifiers (W6 D3), their best run since a 10-game unbeaten run between April 1997 and May 2001 – the 10th game in that run was a 1-0 victory over Senegal.

Senegal have lost two of their last 36 World Cup qualifiers (W20 D14) - a 3-2 defeat to Algeria in September 2008 and a 3-1 loss to Cote d’Ivoire in October 2013 - and are unbeaten in 15 qualifiers (W10 D5) since that Cote d’Ivoire defeat.

In their last three World Cup qualifying campaigns, Egypt have only failed to score in two of their 22 matches, 0-1 defeats to Chad (November 2015) and Uganda (August 2017), finding the net in each of their last nine (14 goals in total).

During the 2022 African Cup of Nations, no player created more chances than Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (16) and Senegal’s Sadio Mané (16). Since they first played alongside one another in the Premier League in August 2017 for Liverpool, only Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane (33) have combined for more Premier League goals than Salah and Mané (20).

At the 2022 African Cup of Nations, only Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar (8 goals, 1 assist) was involved in more goals than Senegal’s Sadio Mané (3 goals, 2 assists). Mané led the way for chances created (16), shots (13), shots on target (8), goals (3), assists (2), touches in the opposition box (47) and completed dribbles (20) for Senegal at the tournament.

Although he’s the Premier League’s top scorer with 20 goals for Liverpool this season, Mohamed Salah hasn’t scored in five appearances for Egypt in 2022 World Cup qualifying. His last goal in World Cup qualifying was a 90th minute penalty in a 2-1 win over Congo in October 2017, finishing joint top-scorer with five goals in 2018 African World Cup qualifying along with Préjuce Nakoulma of Burkina Faso.

Senegal forward Famara Diédhiou has scored four goals in 2022 World Cup qualifying, the most of any Senegal player; three of those came in one game against Namibia in October.

CAMEROON V ALGERIA

This will be the third time Cameroon and Algeria will face each other in a World Cup qualifier, last doing so in October 2017 – 2-0 to the Indomitable Lions (D1).

Cameroon are unbeaten in their seven previous competitive matches against Algeria (W4 D3 – two World Cup qualifiers and five AFCON).

Cameroon have won their last four World Cup qualifying matches and could win five in a row for the first time since June 2012.

Algeria were unbeaten in their six group stage games in the second round of World Cup 2022 qualifiers (W4 D2), netting more goals than another team (25).

Cameroon are unbeaten in their last 11 matches in all competitions (W8 D3) since a 2-1 defeat to Côte d’Ivoire in September 2021 in the World Cup qualifying group stage.

Algeria have won three of their last four African World Cup qualifiers (W3 D1), netting at least two goals (16 in total) in four consecutive such games for the first time.

Algeria’s Islam Slimani is the current top goal-scorer in African World Cup 2022 qualifying with seven goals in his six games.

Either Vincent Aboubakar (9) or Karl Toko Ekambi (6) have scored 15 of Cameroon’s last 19 goals (79%) in all competitions, with the pair finishing as the top two goal-scorers at the recent Africa Cup of Nations (Aboubakar – 8 and Toko Ekambi – 5).

Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez is having his best-ever scoring season in club football for Manchester City this season, netting 22 goals in 36 appearances, also providing seven assists. Meanwhile he has only scored once in his last five matches for Algeria, failing to register a goal or an assist in his three group stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations this year.

Cameroon’s Karl Toko Ekambi has scored six goals in his last eight appearances for his country, just one fewer than he’s netted for Lyon in Ligue 1 this season (7 goals in 23 apps).

MALI V TUNISIA

This will be the first-ever meeting between these two sides in World Cup qualifiers.

Mali have lost just one of their last four meetings with Tunisia in all competitions (W2 D1), winning 1-0 last time out in the AFCON 2022 group stages.

Mali are unbeaten in their last nine World Cup qualifying games (W5 D4), winning the last four in a row, with their last such defeat coming against Morocco in September 2017 via a 6-0 thrashing.

Tunisia have lost just one of their last 14 World Cup qualifying games (W10 D3), with that defeat coming back in November against Equatorial Guinea (0-1).

Mali were the only African side in second round qualifying for the 2022 World Cup not to concede a single goal, while only Morocco (18) won more points in the group stages than Mali (16, level with Senegal).

Tunisia have conceded just two goals in total in their last seven World Cup qualifiers, with those two goals coming via a 0-1 defeat to Equatorial Guinea and a 3-1 win over Zambia in their last two games.

Mali will be looking to keep their 10th successive clean sheet in World Cup qualifiers, last conceding a goal in such matches in September 2017 against Morocco. It’s the longest current run of shut-outs by a side in the competition.

When the two sides met at AFCON 2022, Wahbi Khazri mustered a game-high four shots, half of Tunisia’s total in the game. However, Ibrahima Koné’s penalty was the only goal of the game for Mali (one of two shots he had in the clash).

Lorient striker Ibrahima Koné has netted five of Mali’s 11 goals in the current World Cup qualifying campaign, with only Algeria’s Islam Slimani managing more so far (7).

Wahbi Khazri comes into this game on the back of a successful Ligue 1 season to date, with the St. Etienne attacker netting nine goals in the French top-flight in 2021-22, four more than any team-mate while he also finished AFCON 2022 as Tunisia’s top-scorer, courtesy of his two goals.

CONGO DR V MOROCCO

Congo DR have faced Morocco four times previously in African World Cup qualifiers, avoiding defeat in all four games (two wins in 1973 and two draws in 1989), with all games coming when they were formerly known as Zaire.

The last meeting between Congo DR and Morocco was in October 2020 in a friendly at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, a 1-1 draw.

Morocco are winless in their last two matches against Congo DR (D1 L1) since a 3-0 friendly win back in January 2006 with goals from Marouane Chamakh, Hicham Aboucherouane and Mohamed Armoumen.

Congo DR have won their last two World Cup qualifiers, winning 3-0 against Tanzania and Benin – they last won three in a row back in June 2008 (one win vs Malawi, two wins vs Djibouti).

Morocco have won their last eight World Cup qualifiers, scoring 25 goals and conceding just once in this run. It’s their best ever run of consecutive victories in World Cup qualifying.

Congo DR are looking to keep three consecutive clean sheets in World Cup qualifying for the first time since a run of four between June 2012 and June 2013.

Only Mali (0) have conceded fewer goals during African World Cup qualifying for the 2022 World Cup than Morocco (1), while only Algeria (25) have scored more goals than the Moroccans (20).

Morocco have netted at least three goals in seven of their last 10 World Cup qualifiers, including each of the last five. However, opponents Congo DR haven’t conceded three times in a World Cup qualifier since July 2001 against Tunisia in a 3-0 defeat, with this their 40th qualifier since then.

Dieumerci Mbokani has scored four of Congo DR’s nine World Cup 2022 qualifying goals, the most of any player from the nation. It is two more than any other Congo DR player has managed (Ben Malango, 2).

Ayoub El Kaabi has scored five goals during African World Cup 2022 qualifying for Morocco, with only Algeria’s Islam Slimani (7) scoring more. El Kaabi has netted 15 Turkish Super Lig goals in 2021-22 for his side Hatayspor, the most of any player in the division.

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