Khaberni - By the end of this week, there will be an opportunity for a historic football achievement with the qualification of four Arab African national teams for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
After the national teams of Morocco and Tunisia secured their places in the World Cup, it seems very likely next Wednesday and Thursday that the national teams of Egypt and Algeria will join them.
"A Matter of Time"
Sport analyst Issa Al-Mismar said on BBC that the qualification of Egypt and Algeria is "a matter of time", and he affirmed the "deservedness" of the Arab national teams in qualifying for the World Cup.
Al-Mismar mentioned that these Arab national teams have the experience and expertise required for such events.
After the increase in the number of teams participating in the World Cup from 32 to 48 starting from the next tournament, nine national teams from the African continent will qualify directly for the World Cup finals, while one African team will go through the play-offs.
Al-Mismar supports the view that the increase in the number of participating teams in the upcoming World Cup has significantly contributed to the increase in the number of Arab teams advancing to the World Cup.
At present, the chances are still there for the national teams of Sudan and Libya to compete for a play-off spot.
However, Al-Mismar does not favor their chances for the play-offs, mentioning the difficulty due to Cameroon's competition with Libya for the second place, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo's challenge to the Sudanese team.
Al-Mismar believes that these two national teams have high capabilities which complicate the task for Libya and Sudan.
Salah leads "The Pharaohs"
Liverpool's English star Mohamed Salah heads the list of "The Pharaohs" which aims to officially qualify for the World Cup for the fourth time in the history of Egyptian football.
Egypt qualified for the World Cup in the 1934 edition in Italy, 1990 in Italy as well, and 2018 in Russia.
Egypt will face Djibouti in Morocco on the 8th of this month before hosting Guinea-Bissau in Cairo four days later.
The Egyptians need only two points from the two matches to ensure their official qualification.
"The Pharaohs" lead Group One with 20 points and a five-point lead over Burkina Faso, the closest pursuers, with two rounds left in the qualifiers.
The list announced by coach Hossam Hassan saw the absence of Manchester City English star Omar Marmoush due to injury.
Mahrez with an Eye on World Cup Qualification
Riyad Mahrez, former Manchester City star and currently with Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia, will lead the list of his homeland Algeria announced by Bosnian coach Vladimir Petković.
The list saw the call-up of goalkeeper Luca Zidane (Granada Club of Spain) - son of French national team legend Zinedine Zidane - for the first time after his decision to change his sporting nationality.
Petković will not benefit from the services of Manchester City's player Ryan Aït Nouri, Yusuf Atal of Al Sadd in Qatar, and midfielder Houssem Aouar, star of Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia.
"Desert Warriors", occupy the first place in Group Seven with 19 points, holding a four-point advantage over Uganda and Mozambique.
Algeria qualified for the World Cup four times, in 1982 in Spain, 1986 in Mexico, 2010 in South Africa, and 2014 in Brazil.
What are the chances of Egypt and Algeria qualifying this week?
Egypt can qualify on Wednesday if they win in Casablanca against Djibouti, who are at the bottom of the group with only one point, or if Burkina Faso fails to win against Sierra Leone.
Algeria will qualify on Thursday if they win in Oran against Somalia, who are at the bottom of their group, or if they draw with Somalia and Uganda and Mozambique fail to win, or if Uganda and Mozambique lose.
