Morocco and Tunisia joy, Egypt pain: 5 things learned from drama of African World Cup qualifiers

There was drama, controversy, excitement and plenty more besides in the second leg of Africa’s World Cup playoffs on what was a mixed night for Arab teams. Here are five things we learned.

1. Another painful night for Egypt against Senegal

For the second time in less than two months, Egypt lost a massive game to Senegal on penalties. Had things gone just a little differently, the Pharaohs would now be African champions and going to the World Cup but now they are neither.

A first leg 1-0 lead was wiped out after just three minutes in Dakar and then we had 117 minutes of tight and tense football with Senegal making most of the running.

It was already tense. Egypt claimed their team bus had been pelted with bottles, there were banners in the stadium insulting Mohamed Salah and then, of course, were the lasers. The image of Salah taking his penalty kick looking like The Hulk due to all the green lights that were shining in his face, will be the defining image of the match, and it is understandable that Egypt are unhappy with everything that happened. There has been an official complaint launched.

In the end, three Egyptian players missed from the spot and Senegal are going to the World Cup.

2. Morocco make light of absences and book Qatar spot

At the moment, all is well in Moroccan football after the Atlas Lions defeated DR Congo 4-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate. For once, the fallout between European stars Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui and the coach Vahid Halilhodzic is not the main topic of conversation.

Two enforced first-half substitutions, including the withdrawal of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, raised the tension level but once Taris Tissoudali, who scored the away goal in the 1-1 draw in Kinshasa,