Football: Senegal's Mane sinks Egypt again, Partey sends Ghana to World Cup

DIAMNIADIO, SENEGAL (AFP, REUTERS) - Liverpool star Sadio Mane converted a shoot-out penalty on Tuesday (March 29) to take African champions Senegal to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the expense of Egypt.

Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia also booked their places in the Finals on a frantic night of play-off action.

Senegal won the second leg of the African play-off 1-0 in Diamniadio thanks to a fourth-minute goal from Boulaye Dia and the teams finished level at 1-1 on aggregate after extra time.

As was the case in the Africa Cup of Nations final last month, Mane was entrusted with taking the crucial fifth Senegal kick and once again, he made no mistake to give his side a 3-1 shoot-out victory.

Among the three Egyptians who failed to score in the shoot-out was Sane's Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah, who uncharacteristically blazed his kick over the crossbar.

Only four of the nine penalty takers were successful with captain Kalidou Koulibaly and Saliou Ciss missing for Senegal and Salah, 'Zizo' and Mostafa Mohamed for Egypt.

As Senegal celebrated a second straight qualification for the World Cup, Egypt were left to lament another dramatic loss to Senegal this year.

There were no goals in the Cup of Nations final that went to extra time in Yaounde last month, leading to a shoot-out which Senegal won 4-2 with Mane converting the fifth penalty for his side.

"It was important to get off to a good start, something we had not done in Cairo," said Senegal coach Aliou Cisse. "This team is better equipped (than the one which qualified for the 2018 Finals). We (should have been) able to qualify in regular time given the chances we missed."

Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz said: "There is not much to say - just nice words for the players for the game they played. Congratulations to Senegal."

In Abuja, public servants in the Nigerian capital had been given a half-day and free transport was arranged from the suburbs to ensure a capacity 60,000 crowd cheered on the Super Eagles.

But Nigeria were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Ghana and fans at the stadium reacted to the result, which saw Nigeria miss out on a trip to Qatar on the away-goals rule, by throwing objects at both the small group of visiting fans in the Moshood Abiola National Stadium and the Ghana players.

Local security was slow to react to the violence, which included a pitch invasion on the final whistle, and the Ghana players were left to battle their own way towards the tunnel in scenes that will no doubt draw the ire of the Confederation of African Football and Fifa.

When police finally did get involved, they started to beat the rioters with their batons, while it took teargas on the pitch to disperse the unruly fans, who also smashed the dugouts.

Nigeria, who had appeared in six of the previous seven World Cups, had been expected by most of the 60,000 crowd in Abuja to book a place again after the first leg of their playoff tie finished 0-0 in Ghana on Friday.

But a goalkeeper error from Francis Uzoho allowed Arsenal's Thomas Partey to open the scoring for Ghana early in the return game. William Troost-Ekong equalised from the penalty spot, but the home side limped out of contention with a tepid second-half display in which they rarely threatened the visitors' goal.

Karl Toko Ekambi scored in the fourth minute of added time at the end of extra time to gave Cameroon a dramatic 2-1 win over Algeria in Blida and qualification on away goals.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting put eight-time qualifiers Cameroon ahead in the 22nd minute and they retained the lead until the 118th minute when Ahmed Touba equalised in the second leg of a play-off.

But with Algeria leading 2-1 overall having won the first leg 1-0 last Friday, and seemingly set for Qatar, Toko Ekambi struck.

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice as Morocco trounced the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in Casablanca to reach the World Cup Finals for a sixth time.

Tarik Tissoudali and Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi also netted for the Atlas Lions, who qualified 5-2 on aggregate after the first leg finished 1-1 in Kinshasa.

The outclassed Congolese Leopards trailed by four goals before Ben Malango snatched a consolation goal 13 minutes from time.

Tunisia secured their place in Qatar despite being held 0-0 at home by Mali in the second leg of a play-off.

A pre-match warning by Tunisia coach Jalel Kadri to his team that the return match would be even tougher than the first leg in Bamako last Friday proved spot on.

Having built a 1-0 lead in Mali through a Moussa Sissako own-goal, Tunisia were unable to build on their aggregate advantage and only scraped through.