Freetown | 20 January 2022 | Vertex Media

Sierra Leone will wait for the outcome of tomorrow’s tough decider (match) against Equatorial Guinea in Group E and probably results between Algeria and Ivory Coast, to know their fate for the Round of 16 (knockout stages).

There are 24 participating nations (teams), divided into 6 groups of 4 teams. 16 teams will go to the ‘Round of 16’. The 1st and 2nd placed teams in each group will have an automatic qualification, then, four additional teams from the best ‘third-placed’ teams will qualify to make it 16 teams in the knockout stage (Round of 16).

Teams in 4 Groups (Groups A, B, C & D) have played all their three marches. Teams in Groups E and F are yet to play their final group matches.

Here are the qualified teams as of Wednesday 19 January 2022:

Group A – Cameroon and Burkina Faso on 7 and 4 points respectively, have automatic qualification, plus Cape Verde as best third placed team with 4 points 0 goal.

Group B – Senegal and Guinea on 5 and 4 points respectively, have automatic qualification, plus Malawi as best third placed team with 4 points and 0 goal.

Group C – Morocco and Gabon on 7 and 5 points respectively, have automatic qualification. Comoros 3 points and -2 goals, will wait for the outcome of Groups E and F matches to know whether they will go to round of 16.

Group D – Nigeria and Egypt on 9 and 6 points respectively, have automatic qualification. Third placed Sudan on 1 point and -3 goals, have NO chance of progressing to Round of 16.

After 2 matches in Group E, Ivory Coast are on 4 points and 1 goal (already qualified), Equatorial Guinea are on 3 points and 0 goal, Sierra Leone are on 2 points and 0 goal, and Algeria are on 1 point and -1 goal.

After 2 matches in Group F, The Gambia are on 4 points and +1 goal (already qualified), Mali are on 4 points and +1 goal (already qualified), Tunisia are on 3 points and +3 goals, and Mauritania are on 0 point and -5 goals.

At this point, there are 3 qualified teams in Group A, 3 in Group B, 2 in Group C, 2 in Group D, 1 in Group E and 2 in Group F – making it a total of 13 teams. Only 3 spots are available until the final matches in Groups E and F played on Thursday.

Now, for Sierra Leone to qualify and advance to the Round of 16 knockout stages, a win and ‘a conditional’ draw against Equatorial Guinea on Thursday May take them through.

A WIN FOR LEONE STARS

If Leone Stars win against Equatorial Guinea will give Sierra Leone 5 points and automatically qualify, with chances of leading Group E, provided Ivory Coast are defeated by Algeria. If Ivory Coast defeat Algeria, then they will lead Group E with 7 points, while Sierra Leone will be 2nd with 5 points.

A DRAW FOR LEONE STARS

If Leone Stars draw against Equatorial Guinea on Thursday, they must pray Algeria do not win against Ivory Coast. If Algeria fail to beat Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone draw against Equatorial Guinea, then Group E will return 3 qualified teams as follows: Ivory Coast will be 1st on 4 or 5 points, Equatorial Guinea will be 2nd with 4 points, Sierra Leone will be 3rd with 3 points and Algeria will be 4th with 1 or 2 points. Sierra Leone in this scenario will qualify with 3 points and 0 goal over Comoros in Group C, who are on 3 points and -2 goals.

But, if Sierra Leone draw against Equatorial Guinea and Algeria defeat Ivory Coast, then Equatorial Guinea, Algeria and Ivory will all qualify on 4 points each, and Sierra Leone on 3 points will be 4th on the Group table and be eliminated.

Therefore, Sierra Leone must win or have a conditional draw in order to advance to the knockout stages. A defeat for Sierra Leone will also definitely eliminate them.

By Ibrahim Sorious Samura

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