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Senegal's rollercoaster ride
Senegal's qualification was the most thrilling of rollercoaster rides that went right to the wire. When the draw was made for the second round of the African qualifying series the West Africans found themselves up against not just the fancied Moroccans, but also Egypt and Algeria. Senegal had just scraped past the Republic of Benin 2-1 on aggregate in the first round while the Moroccans were bidding for their third consecutive World Cup. The series began well with three consecutive draws, although two of these were away fixtures against Algeria and Morocco. As the group unfolded the Moroccans looked on course for top spot right until the very end, especially when they pipped Egypt 1-0 in Casablanca to go six points clear of Egypt and Senegal. Senegal and Egypt both had two games to go while Morocco's last match was in Dakar. A point in Dakar would have been enough to see Morocco through, but the irrepressible El Hadji Diouf's goal was enough for Senegal to close the gap on Morocco and Egypt had kept up the pressure by hammering the hapless Namibians by 8-2. It all came down to the last game against the group whipping boys of Namibia. Egypt had the best goal difference but faced a tricky tie away to Algeria. Although Morocco were still three points clear they had really ground out the results and had failed to find the international marksman they needed. Senegal had Diouf. Algeria and Egypt played out a 1-1 draw while it was Pape Thiaw and not Diouf who was the hero with a hat-trick as Senegal ran out five goal winners to qualify for their first World Cup. |
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Soldier
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next Haile Profiles African
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