Algeria vs Cameroon

In Algeria, a berth in Qatar changed hands in an instant. In Senegal, a shootout settled another long night. And in Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo set up one ...

It needed only to hold out for a couple of minutes to make it to Qatar. Egypt had won the first leg, narrowly, but saw its lead wiped out within a few minutes of the start of the second. Everything they had worked for, everything they thought they had achieved, had disappeared in a flash. In Senegal, the pressure seemed to be at its most suffocating. Cameroon had canceled out Algeria’s lead from the first leg, forcing the game to extra time, withstanding anything and everything its host could muster. Tunisia held on for a goal-less draw against Mali, its slender victory in the first leg last week enough to end Mali’s dream of qualifying for its first World Cup. A couple nations, in the end, made it through relatively comfortably. For the rest, though, there was nothing but tension and anxiety and dread. The Qatar World Cup has been 12 years, dozens of arrests and one F.B.I. investigation in the making. Tuesday, though, was the day when much of what was left took shape. This was the moment of no return. Nowhere was that encapsulated better than in Blida, a city a little south of Algiers, where Algeria and Cameroon took turns breaking each other’s hearts.

Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi speaks after losing to Cameroon in the 2022 World Cup play-off.

“We lacked precision in the last gesture, the last pass, the penultimate pass... On the team’s missed opportunities, Belmadi said, "We were in a tactical balance. We had the possibility of scoring goals several times". It's not a matter of the system. We had a lot of situations that did not materialize. For some, it was surely the last chance to go to the World Cup. I don't know if we failed mentally.

Algeria take on Cameroon tonight in the second leg of a World Cup qualifier - here's everything you need to know about the fixture.

All signs point to a draw and Algeria advancing. The reverse fixture puts Algeria clearly in the driver’s seat, so we expect them to try to nick a goal early and control the game. Some positive news in their camp however is Vincent Aboubakar’s knock in the reverse fixture wasn’t as bad as expected – so he’s set to return tonight.