Salah and Mané fight for World Cup ticket in Egypt v Senegal rematch

24-Mar-2022 08:00:53 | Guardian

The two nations go head-to-head in a play-off to reach Qatar, just 47 days after Senegal won a dramatic Afcon final

“Lads, count down, …10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 2022 World Cup Final Ignition,” tweeted Carlos Queiroz on Monday. “It took us a long and hard road to reach this deserved opportunity. We know certainly the challenge we face here. There is no room for sorrys or tomorrows.”

The Egypt coach who twice served as an assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United may not have won many friends with his defensive tactics in the Pharaohs’ run to February’s Africa Cup of Nations final. But 47 days after Egypt’s shootout defeat by Aliou Cissé’s Senegal in Yaoundé, the sides will come face-to-face again in Cairo on Friday for the first leg of a World Cup play-off. For Queiroz it is a revenge mission he has clearly been relishing.