In Casablanca, the Pharaohs of Egypt defeated Djibouti 3-0 to guarantee their place in the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool led the line for Egypt with two of the three goals, demonstrating how impressive the North Africans were in the match. Egypt’s victory handed them an unbeatable five-point lead in Group A with one match left, and the 33-year-old has scored nine goals in a lengthy qualifying campaign that started two years ago.
After eight minutes, Ibrahim Adel gave Egypt the lead. Salah then added another goal six minutes later and on minute 84 to round out the score.
Egypt, who have won the Africa Cup of Nations a record seven times, will be confident going into the tournament. Their World Cup qualifying performance has been poorer; in 15 attempts, they have only made it to the tournament four times.
How many World Cups has Egypt attended?
(1) Italy, 1934
The first African country to participate in a World Cup was Egypt. After losing 4–2 against Hungary in a single-elimination format, they were eliminated in the Round of 16.
(2) Italy in 1990
After 56 years away, Egypt made a comeback to the World Cup. After losing one game and drawing two, they were grouped alongside the Netherlands, England, and Ireland. Egypt did not make it to the knockout stage after finishing last in their group.
(3) Russia, 2018
Egypt advanced to their third World Cup under Mohamed Salah’s leadership. They finished last in Group A, losing all three of their group games against Saudi Arabia (1–2), Uruguay (0–1), and Russia (1–3) due to injuries to key players and poor play.
