Africa: Senegal, Morocco Win Friendlies

The African sides playing at the 2022 World Cup had mixed fortunes in their warm-up matches during this week’s international break as they geared up for November’s tournament in Qatar.

Senegal, Morocco and Tunisia won their matches while Ghana and Cameroon suffered defeats in the first of two matches to be played by all the sides representing the continent at the global tournament.

Reigning African champions Senegal defeated Bolivia 2-0 at the Stade de la Source in the French town of Orleans on Saturday night.

Boulaye Dia and Sadio Mane scored in the first half to secure the Teranga Lions victory at the Stade de la Source to maintain their impressive recent form.

Despite dominating the second-half, the West Africans could not convert the decent scoring opportunities to extend their lead.

However, the match served its purpose for Senegal who will face hosts Qatar, Ecuador and the Netherlands in Group A of the World Cup.

Morocco also won their World Cup warm-up match a day earlier as they defeated Chile 2-0 at the RCDE stadium in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

Soufiane Boufal opened the scoring after converting a 66th minute penalty before Abdelhamid Sabiri sealed the victory with 12 minutes remaining to give coach Walid Regragui a winning start in his tenure as the Atlas Lions coach.

The game also marked the return of striker Hakim Ziyech following a nine-month absence to boost the squad who will play Croatia, Belgium and Canada in Group F at the World Cup.

Kuwait-based forward Taha Yassine Khenissi scored the only goal for Tunisia who beat Comoros 1-0 in Paris on Thursday night.

The Carthage Eagles toiled before breaking down the defence of their opponents who excelled at their maiden appearance at the recent TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.

“We played against an opponent who proved again to be a top side as shown during the last Nations Cup, an opponent with quality, good potential and squad,” Tunisia coach Jalel Kadri said after the match.

“After a difficult first half, we found our rhythm. The quality of the pitch prevented both teams from playing free-flowing football, but we are satisfied with the team’s continuous growth by keeping a winning trend going.

“We also achieved our objective to see a lot of players involved in order to give them game time on the pitch before the World Cup.”

Tunisia will turn their attention to their high-profile friendly against Brazil on Tuesday as they prepare to play France, Australia and Denmark in Group D of the World Cup.

The five-time world champions proved their worth on Friday night as they defeated Ghana 3-0 in a friendly as both sides prepared for the 2022 World Cup.

Three first-half goals by the Selecao in the French city of Le Havre helped them to continue their dominance over the Black Stars.

Marquinhos scored first before Richarlison’s brace helped the South Americans to the victory over the four-time African champions who play Nicaragua on Tuesday.

Ghana will take on Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay in Group H at the World Cup.

Meanwhile five-time African champions Cameroon also suffered a defeat as they were beaten 2-0 by Uzbekistan with former France youth international Bryan Mbeumo making his debut for the Indomitable Lions.

Russia-based duo Hojimat Erkinov and Oston Urunov scored to help the Asians overcome the Africans at Goyang Stadium in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

The game marked the return of influential defender Nicolas Nkoulou to the national team after a five-year absence following the reversal of his international retirement decision.

Cameroon, the first African side to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, will play Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland in Group G of the global tournament.