African sides have only a September 19-27 window and one week before the World Cup kick-off to prepare.
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse wants the September Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers postponed to allow the five countries representing the continent at the World Cup to play friendly matches.Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia have qualified for the November 21-December 18 Qatar tournament and the
Speaking to the media in Dakar after Senegal snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Rwanda on Tuesday, Cisse called on the Confederation of African Football to delay the next two rounds of qualifying. The challenge for CAF will be to find new dates if they postpone the 44 September fixtures as there is only one other window, next March, before the June-July 2023 finals in the Ivory Coast.
African pundits are extremely pessimistic about the chances of the five, giving only Senegal, who face the Netherlands, Qatar and Ecuador in Group A, a realistic chance of reaching the second round.Tunisia are in Group D with defending champions France, Denmark and Australia or Peru and Morocco in Group F beside Belgium, Canada and Croatia.
A clever free-kick drill late in the first half culminated in centre-back Ramy Bensebaini nodding the Desert Foxes ahead. After drawing with Sierra Leone in the African tournament, they fell to Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast to make a stunning first-round exit having travelled to Cameroon as one of the title favourites.