In the early morning of April 2, the Qatar World Cup group draw was announced, and African champions Senegal and the Orange Dutch team had good luck, both landing in Group A, with their hosts Qatar and Ecuador from South America. The biggest attraction of this group is obviously the World Cup opener between the Netherlands and Senegal, which will be a showdown between Mane and Van Dijk, both from the Premier League giants Liverpool and are the absolute main force of the team, from fighting side by side to head-on, such a plot will obviously make Liverpool fans emotionally complicated but very much looking forward to it.
Mane is no stranger to this kind of roommate of club teammates, and before that, he and his strike partner Salah met in the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Preliminary Tournament. In the final of the Africa Cup of Nations on February 7 this year, Senegal led by Mane and Egypt led by Salah met in a narrow way, and in the 7th minute of the match, Mane missed a penalty, and the two sides exchanged 0-0 in 120 minutes and had to enter a brutal penalty shootout. Senegal's performance was solid, with the exception of Sarr's careless throw. Egypt, on the other hand, conceded penalties twice, and before Salah could stand on the penalty spot, he watched as Mane scored the winning penalty and took the championship trophy.
In the just-concluded World Cup Africa Stage 3 match, the two teams once again played a World Cup qualification match, the first leg Salah made a oolong to help Egypt win 1-0, the second leg Egypt swung oolong 0-1 defeat, penalty shootout Salah first appearance a kick fly, Mane in the 5th round of steady hits, once again let Salah's old vendetta and add new hatred.
To be honest, whether it's the Africa Cup of Nations final or the World Cup, this kind of game where either you die or I live is still very cruel. After all, both Mane and Salah are famous stars in Europe's top leagues, and it is a great pity who misses the World Cup. However, in the World Cup, Mane's head-to-head showdown with Van Dijk may not be so cruel. Liverpool fans can fully appreciate the contradictions between the two on the pitch with a relaxed mood.
I say this because this group is strong and weak. The host Qatar has never participated in the World Cup before, and although this time it was placed in the first gear, it was also stained with the light of the host, and in terms of strength, they were purely sending points. Previously participated in the European preliminaries as a guest, although Qatar also won, but the opponents are Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and other European fish belly, in the face of Portugal, Serbia and Ireland and other strong teams, the Asian champions can only be slaughtered. So, against Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal and the Orange Dutch, Qatar's odds are almost zero.
Another group stage team, Ecuador from South America, is also quite average, their world ranking is 46 points, although the South American qualifier qualified in 4th place, but the record is far from the top two in Brazil and Argentina, 18 games they won 7, drew 5 and lost 6 to get 26 points, 13 points less than the second-placed Argentina, and there is a huge gap of 19 points with Brazil at the top of the list. And most of the players in the squad play in the Americas, only a very small number have landed in Europe, and the most well-known is the defender Inkapiye who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. From the perspective of hard power, they also bully the host.
Therefore, the final result of this group should be that Senegal and the Netherlands team joined hands to qualify, Mane and Van Dijk will not go to the step of life and death, and Liverpool fans can easily watch the play.