In the Early Morning of March 30, Beijing time, the World Cup African Qualifiers, Mali did not create a miracle. In the end, the two sides drew 0-0. Tunisia defeated Mali 1-0 on aggregate to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After this campaign, all five teams in the African zone were produced – Senegal, Tunisia, Ghana, Morocco and Cameroon.
Mali is located in the landlocked region of West Africa and is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is also the only landlocked country in this year's Top 10 (Mali vs Tunisia; Senegal vs Egypt; Cameroon vs Algeria; Morocco vs Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ghana vs Nigeria).
Of the rest, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although it appears to be a landlocked country, actually has a coastline of 37 kilometers and is a "quasi-landlocked country." ”
Mali is not only the only landlocked country in this World Preliminary Round of 10 in africa, but also the first landlocked African country to be so close to the World Cup stage.
African countries have a total of 54 FIFA members, and 5 places are determined. Of the 54 members, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central Africa, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Niger, Eswatini, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are landlocked. All 16 landlocked countries have not qualified for the World Cup.
Of these 16 landlocked countries, one is more special – Ethiopia. The country once had more than 1,000 km of coastline. In 1993, Eritrea became a landlocked country after independence. Even when Ethiopia and Eritrea were a country, they did not enter the main stage of the World Cup.