Which five teams will represent Africa at the World Cup in Qatar?

The World Cup qualifying playoff draw for African nations was conducted on Saturday, with the 10 teams still standing learning their opponents for the March double-headers.

We know that either Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane will not be present in Qatar after Egypt and Senegal were pitted against one another in the Douala draw.

Heavyweights Ivory Coast and South Africa were already out of the running, while major African stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sebastien Haller, and Naby Keita already know that they’ll miss out on next year’s global showpiece after failing in the group stage.

ESPN predicts which five sides will represent Africa at the World Cup later this year.

Algeria vs Cameroon

Prediction: Algeria

The reigning African champions are coming off the back of a miserable Africa Cup of Nations in which they bombed out in the group stage, but they still look well placed to reach Qatar.

Algeria didn’t have things all their own way during qualifying, dropping points in both fixtures against Burkina Faso, but they were hardly going to be tested by Niger or Djibouti.

They started the campaign with an 8-0 demolition of poor little Djibouti, and would go on to score a further 14 goals in their three other fixtures against the two smaller teams in the group.

Problems have since set in, notably their inability to finish teams off at the AFCON, and Algeria can no longer be considered Africa’s ‘team to beat’.

That’s been done — their undefeated streak was ended by lowly Equatorial Guinea at 35 matches — although a team who didn’t lose for three years can’t just lose their qualities overnight.

Across their first two AFCON matches, Algeria registered more possession, more shots per…