This is it for Africa’s best!

The first legs of five matches to decide the five African countries going to the 2022 World Cup finals take place tonight and soccer expert Mark Gleeson reckons TAB punters should opt for draws in most cases

By Mark Gleeson

Five massive games across Africa tonight, all included in TAB soccer pools, are the penultimate steps on the road to Qatar with the headline act again being the clash between Sadio Mane and Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah.

They were the key actors last month, when Senegal edged Egypt on penalties to win the Africa Cup of Nations in Yaoundé. Now they go up against each other again over two legs to decide a place at the Qatar World Cup finals, which kick off in November.

Egypt host the first leg in Cairo tonight and Senegal the return game at their new stadium in Dakar on Tuesday, and it could not be much tighter between the two teams.

In fact, all five African ties have little to choose between the teams and TAB soccer punters might want to choose a fair number of draws among tonight’s games.

World Cup qualification will be almost completed by next week with key ties to come over the weekend in South America and the Concacaf region (Central and North America and the Caribbean).

Top European teams already qualified for the World Cup finals are using the opportunity for friendly matches, many with differing goals.

Belgium, for example, want to give an opportunity to younger players so have left out anyone with more than 50 caps, which comprises a considerable number of their regulars.

The Netherlands, who are home to Denmark tomorrow, are looking to trial a new playing system. The Dutch traditionally play with a 4-3-3 format, but coach Louis van Gaal prefers three defenders and so wants to change things. It is a matter of some consternation in the country, where the Dutch way is sacrosanct and the need for an attacking approach paramount in supporters’ minds.

England take on Switzerland in a good test of their capability for Qatar, although their preparations have been hampered by injuries and withdrawals.

The weekend also marks the start of the qualifiers for the next Cup of Nations, despite it being only six weeks since the last tournament in Cameroon was concluded.

The 2023 finals will be played in the Ivory Coast and there are preliminary knockout ties on Sunday to decide which lowly ranked countries go through to the group phase of the qualifiers starting in June. Among those with home advantage and fancied to progress are neighbours Eswatini and Lesotho.

TAB is adding R250,000 to the second Soccer 10 pool tomorrow (S10 V3). The total pool should be some R2 million and it could pay big.