Twenty of the 48 places at the tournament have now been filled, including co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the USA
Four of the nine automatic places have been filled, with the four best runners-up competing in November’s pan-African playoffs for one place in the intercontinental playoffs. Senegal’s 5-0 victory over South Sudan at the Juba Stadium on Friday kept the Lions of Teranga on top of Group B and they will book their spot in if beat Mauritania on Tuesday. Gabon’s 4-3 win over the Gambia means Ivory Coast have to defeat Kenya at home on Tuesday despite thrashing Seychelles 7-0.
Egypt
Mohamed Salah scored twice as Hossam Hassan’s side beat Djibouti 3-0 on Wednesday in Casablanca and made up for missing out on Qatar 2022 by reaching the finals with a game in hand. This will be Egypt’s fourth finals, even though they have yet to win a game. Bizarrely, the Pharaohs did qualify for the first World Cup, in 1930, but missed their boat from Marseille to South America after a storm delayed them.
