I am thinking about Qatar 2022

Ambitious. World Cup qualification is a target well within our ambitions. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • New target. After the last two straight qualifications for Afcon, and the likely event that we shall make it three in 2021, it’s about time we raised the bar and started to look at World Cup qualification as a target well within our ambitions.

The caf draws for Qatar 2022 were concluded in Cairo last Monday and the qualifiers will be played over three rounds. Our ranking on the continent means we avoid the preliminary round which is reserved for the 28 bottom teams. We will be going straight into round two consisting 10 groups of four nations each. The winner of each of these groups will then go into a third and final qualification round from which the winners will take up Africa’s five World Cup slots.

Our round two matches kick off in March 2020, and with a little over half a year to go, we must contend with how to top our group and play in a two-legged one-off game. It would not be easy and the game in Africa hardly produces surprises, but we have been inching closer to the top in recent times.

It is achievable. And I will soothe the disappointment of those expecting a scientific explanation by suggesting a straight-forward guestimate using the often times subjective Fifa rankings for Africa – we are ranked 16th.

If we strictly went by these rankings, we would at best be expected to deliver a second-place finish, in our round two qualifying group. Not good enough. But I have looked at the five nations that stand between us and the top 10 and this is what I think. These nations are Cape Verde, Guinea, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Mali.

If we gave Algeria due respect as African champions, and Ivory Coast the benefit of pedigree then we would have to find another two nations higher up the ranking table to replace them with. After careful consideration I have decided that it is Burkina Faso (9th) and DR Congo (5th) that we should drop into our quarrel. Suddenly, we actually find ourselves with a group of nations we absolutely match for clout.

I guess all am trying to say is that after the last two straight qualifications for Afcon, and the likely event that we shall make it three in 2021, it’s about time we raised the bar and started to look at World Cup qualification as a target well within our ambitions.
Fufa has come out to say that the realistic option is gunning for Canada-Mexico-USA in 2026 and I see where that comes from. Many things in our game could improve.

Denis Onyango probably won’t be in goal then so where is the next crop? A strike over pay unhinged us at Afcon 2019 and that should never be the case. We actually don’t have a full-time manager yet, which is hardly the best way to launch an ambitious campaign. So, I get it. All these things take time.

But I don’t see that all this should dampen our ambition. What if we were to aim for the stars who knows how high we shall land? With that kind of attitude, I don’t see a final-10 target as an unrealistic dream. After that, in a one-off home and away fixture? Who knows?

New target. After the last two straight qualifications for Afcon, and the likely event that we shall make it three in 2021, it’s about time we raised the bar and started to look at World Cup qualification as a target well within our ambitions.

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@MBanturaki