Yea this WCQ round will be long and drawn out, but first two matches are later this November. Then AFCON in Jan/Feb, then two matches in Jun’24 so tbh, African nations need to start prepping now. This time next year we’d have played an AFCON and 40% of the 2026 WCQ matches. Not time to sleep.
I think Burkina will surprise Egypt tbh. Mali I think also tops the group, they’ve been getting closer and closer. Would like to see 1-2 debutants from CAF.
Side note: Qualifying as the potential 10th team from CAF is a nightmare. Need to win a two game CAF playoff, then another two game inter-confederation playoff….might actually be a blessing in disguise. Play 14 WCQ games and at least two games against other confederations so the squad is prepped for the WC
Still would rather just top my group and go to 2026
I'd have preferred a 1st round to weed out some of the minnows first because I don't believe teams like Somalia or Eritrea are going thru a 10-game qualification process w/o withdrawing or getting suspended at some point.
But still this is much better than the old format where you could top the group and still go out in the playoffs.