Egyptian king Mo Salah scored twice in a 3-0 defeat of Djibouti on Wednesday, a result which booked the Pharaohs a place at World Cup 2026 in the Canada, Mexico and the USA.
With Morocco and Tunisia already through the African group is starting to take shape as Egypt qualified for the fourth time, and in impressive form, with four wins and draw without conceding a single goal. African football is often low scoring but when there are players like Liverpool legend Salah around, goals will never be too far away.
Ibrahim Adel opened the scoring against Djibouti before Salah scored from close range to beat the keeper at his near post. His second goal was a classic, as he lobbed the onrushing stopper to make it three and become the Pharaoh’s leading scorer of all time in World Cup qualifiers beating, among others, Didier Drogba who was on 18. The 33-year-old achieved this feat in 37 matches, and he has now racked up 63 goals in 108 games for Egypt.
This was a nice distraction for Salah, who has been in a Liverpool team struggling for form over the past couple of weeks, and he’ll be one of the headline acts at the World Cup next season.
Mahrez sees Algeria through
With qualifiers in Europe and among the CONCACAF nations also on this week there has been plenty of action for SBOTOP football fans to take in; and on Thursday night another big name fired his nation through to the finals. Ex Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez was on target as Algeria beat Somalia 3-0 to confirm their attendance at World Cup 2026.
The Greens became the fourth African team to book their place as Mohamed Amoura scored a brace and Mahrez added the third, to take Algeria up to 22 points at the top of Group G. It is the fifth time Algeria have qualified but the first since 2024 and Mahrez said, after the match, that he would not be at the 2030 World Cup… so this will be his last.
With 33 goals and 44 assists from 105 internationals Mahrez has made his name immortal in Algerian football, and he’ll be a joy to watch in North America next year.
Cameroon take it down to the wire
One of Africa’s most successful nations, Cameroon have been at the World Cup finals eight times and, in 1990, they reached the quarter-finals. But the Indomitable Lions are leaving it late this year, trailing Cape Verde by two points with a game to go in Group D. Losing 1-0 to the leaders in September has put Cameroon on the back foot, but they did the business on Wednesday with a 2-0 win away to Mauritius. Manchester United’ summer signing Bryan Mbeumo climbed off the bench to make it 2-0 deep into stoppage time.
Nicolas Ngamaleu’s 56th minute goal put Cameroon on the road but they couldn’t settle the tie and Mbeumo was introduced on 75 minutes. And when he met a cross from Christian Bassogog he banged it home at the second attempt after his volley was parried.
So with one game to go Cameroon are still fighting and I expect the Lions to beat Angola in their final game. And then they need to hope Cape Verde slip up at home to Eswatinio…or it’s the play-offs for Mbeumo and co.
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Ghana almost there
In other World Cup 2026 news the Black Stars of Ghana are within a whisker of booking their ticket to the World Cup finals after pulling off a thumping 5-0 win away to the Central African Republic. Captain Jordan Ayew led by example with a goal and two assists, and he was joined on the score-sheet by Mohammed Salisu, Thomas Partey, Alexander Djiku and Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Spurs winger Mohammed Kudus made an assist and, with Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo also in the group, this is a team which can shake up the opposition at the World Cup finals. A draw against Comoros in their final game will finish the job, but if Ghana does somehow lose then an eight goal swing would leave them at risk to Madagascar, who are assured a play-off place and are away to Mali.
The World Cup 2026 betting odds say that sequence of events is not going to happen and I’m inclined to agree. Ghana will be in the States next year. And they are likely to be joined by Senegal, who beat South Sudan 5-0 on Friday to stay two points clear at the top of Group A, with one game to play.
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