Qatar 2022 miss: Like Nigeria Like Peru
Nigeria and the Eagles have already moved on after failing to pick a ticket to the forthcoming world cup in Qatar. But the reality watching the world cup from afar only hit Peru on Monday after they were defeated by Australia in a playoff that ended via sudden death Monday.
In Nigeria’s playoff against Black Stars of Ghana at the Abuja Stadium, the resultant effect was massive damage of facilities and even injuries.
The playoff between the Asian and South American qualifiers had been goalless after 120 minutes and was only decided when Peru’s Alex Valera missed his side’s sixth penalty, giving Australia a 5-4 win at the Ahmad bin Ali stadium in Doha.
The winners, 42nd in the world rankings, claimed their sixth ticket to the World Cup finals and a Group D opening match against defending champions France on November 22.
It was the second time in the past two decades that Australia have beaten South American opponents in a World Cup shootout. They overcame Uruguay to reach the 2006 finals.
Peru, 22nd in FIFA’s list and who beat Australia 2-0 at the 2018 World Cup group stage, were roared on by 10,000 fans, most of whom had flown halfway round the globe for the playoff only to see a frustrating encounter between the rivals.
But that did not stop the Socceroos from running away with a victory against an opponent 20 places above them in fIfA ranking. The defeat left behind anguish red eyes and tears as revealed by these post match pictures on twitter, surely missing the world cup can indeed be painful!
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Nations Cup winners Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon , Morocco and Ghana will be flying the continent’s flag in Qatar.