Naomi Osaka’s impressive return to form continued on Thursday after she took just an hour to dispatch 13th-seeded German Angelique Kerber in straight sets and head into the third round of the Miami Open.

The Japanese star, who left Indian Wells in tears earlier this month after being heckled by a fan, looks in great shape as Kerber was beaten 6-2 6-3 at Hard Rock Stadium.

“She’s the highest-seeded player I have beaten this season and I am really happy, ” a delighted Osaka said afterward.

“I came into the match wanting to dictate and hopefully as I keep playing I will keep getting better.”

Osaka, 24, now faces Karolina Muchova for a place in round four.

Muchova advanced on Thursday with a straight-set defeat of 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.

The unseeded Muchova eliminated the Canadian 18th seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

Alize Cornet was another seeded player to exit early, the French 31st seed bowing out to Alison Riske of the United States 6-2, 6-2.

But there were no such problems for ninth-seeded American Danielle Collins, who battled past Hungary’s Anna Bondar 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

The final round of Africa’s qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar got underway this week with 10 thrilling clashes.

The final playoff games will see 10 countries vying for the continent’s five slots at the World Cup to be played in Qatar later this year.

The continent’s heavyweights come up against each other in two-legged matches to decide which sides qualify for the global competition.

The highlight of the matches will be between Africa Cup of Nations finalists Senegal and Egypt as well as the clash between long-standing arch-rivals Ghana and Nigeria.

Nigeria take on Ghana in the 20,000 –capacity Cape Coast Sports Stadium from 7.30pm on Friday, March 25, with the reverse leg set for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday, March 29, from 6pm.

The winner over two legs will earn one of Africa’s five tickets to the 22nd FIFA World Cup finals, scheduled for  November  14 to December  18 this year in Qatar.

Cameroon will take on Algeria in another fiery encounter, Mali play Tunisia in a tricky tie while DR Congo clash with Morocco.

The matches are expected to be fiery thanks to the presence of some of the world’s best footballers in all the sides that will play in the final round of qualifiers.

Here are 10 players expected to shine on the path to Qatar 2022, according to cafonline. com.

Algeria – Riyad Mahrez

The Desert Foxes will be relying on the Manchester City winger Mahrez to weave the magic against their tough opponents Cameroon to qualify for Qatar. Algeria, who were winners of the 2019 TotalEnergies, were unimpressive when defending their title last month and were eliminated at the group stage. They are hoping to appease their fans and with Mahrez in the squad the Foxes are confident he would replicate the form that has seen him score 22 goals in all competitions for the English giants so far this season. The winger, who can also play in attack, was instrumental when Leicester City won the English Premier League title for the first time in the 2018/2019 season. He has since moved to Manchester City where has also bagged several titles.

Cameroon – Vincent Aboubakar

The Indomitable Lions will be counting on the ingenuity of the Saudi Arabia-based striker who has led the side with aplomb in recent games. The attacker, who has so far scored eight times for Al Nassr in 22 outings, was instrumental in when Cameroon finished third at the country’s recent hosting of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations. With eight goals in seven matches, Aboubakar was the top scorer of the AFCON and made the Team of the Tournament. He must be at his best for Cameroon to be able to defeat the wounded Algerians in their two-legged matches.

DR Congo – Theo Bongonda

DR Congo are chasing their first World Cup appearance in 48 years with their first and only showing being in the 1974 competition when they were known as Zaire.

The Belgium-born player is widely seen as the man to steer the side to the World Cup against Morocco who have been impressive in their qualifiers.

Despite the presence of top players like Chancel Mbemba, Bongonda is the new favourite of the side having switched nationality from Belgium to play for the country of his father.

The speedy player, who has scored ten goals for Genk in the Belgian top-flight this season, will add to the already strong attacking force of the Congolese.

Bongonda, a former youth international for Belgium, applied to switch allegiance and his talent will come in handy to help the Central African nation to outwit the Atlas Lions.

Egypt – Mohamed Salah

The eagerly-awaited rematch between AFCON finalists Senegal and Egypt requires big name players and Salah is certainly among the best in the world.

The Liverpool superstar is seeking to appease the teeming fans of the Pharaohs who are still reeling from the pain of losing the final to this week’s opponent just last month.

Salah has been one of the best players for his country over the past few years and his 28 goals in 36 appearances for Liverpool this season has made him a feared striker.

With ten assists at club level this term, Egypt are confident he will come up when most needed to help them edge Senegal and qualify.

Ghana – Thomas Partey

In the absence of suspended captain Andre Ayew, Partey replaced the Al Sadd playmaker as the most influential Black Stars players.

The Arsenal star has seen some revival in his fortunes with the English side who named their Player of the Month for February.

The former Atletico Madrid has scored ten goals in 27 appearances for the Black Stars demonstrating his importance for the four-time African champions.

Against their arch rivals Nigeria, the midfielder will have the freedom to join the attack which should be a headache for the Super Eagles.

Mali – Yves Bissouma

The return of Yves Bissouma to the Mali national team has injected some confidence among the players that they can defeat Tunisia to make their first appearance at the World Cup.

The England-based midfielder returned to the Eagles squad after a three-year absence to help steer them to the knock-out stages of the recent Africa Cup of Nations.

His presence in the defensive midfield of Mali completely transformed the squad, helping them to reach the knock-out stages for the first time in nine years.

The Brighton player’s ability to effortlessly spot his attackers while effectively disrupting the attack of the opponent will be a headache for Tunisia.

With many young g talented players in the squad, Bissouma and his team-mates provide a real threat to Tunisia’s quest to return to the global tournament.

Morocco – Achraf Hakimi

The Paris St Germain defender has not only been one of the outstanding players for the French sides, he has also been phenomenal for Morocco in their recent successes.

The right-back was the key player for the Atlas Lions in their recent international assignment when they reached the quarter-finals of last month’s AFCON in Cameroon.

Indeed, Hakimi has been influential for Morocco since 2016 when he started playing in the national team, culminating in 36 caps and seven goals.

Having played for some of the biggest clubs in the world including Real Madrid, where he trained as a child, Dortmund and Inter Milan before switching to PSG, Hakimi is certainly one of the key players DR Congo must stop.

Nigeria – Victor Osimhen

Moses Simon was the toast of the Super Eagles fans during the recent AFCON, but that place in the hearts of the fans will be taken by returning striker Osimhen.

The Italy-based attacker was absent when they reached the knock-out stage during the recent tournament in Cameroon, which gave the chance for Simon to demonstrate his capabilities to the admiration of the fans.

With the fit-again attacker part of the Super Eagles team to face Ghana, Osimhen will pose more problems for the Black Stars than the winger.

His 10 goals and six assists in his 19 matches show that the striker is the man to watch in the two-legged game against their arch-rivals.

Fifteen goals in all competitions for Napoli so far this season shows that his combination with Kelechi Iheanacho and Odion Ighlo in the Nigeria attack will be deadly.

Senegal – Sadio Mane

Liverpool star Mane is living one of the best moments of his football career having played a key role for his country to win their first AFCON title just last month.

He is desperate to add another chapter to his international football record by steering the Teranga Lions to defeat Egypt – the team they defeated in the final in Cameroon.

The diminutive striker scored three goals, made two assists in the seven matches Senegal played in Africa’s flagship competition.

His winning penalty helped them to defeat Egypt to seal the title and was named Player of the Tournament.

This shows he will be influential in their rematch with the Pharaohs despite the presence of other top players like Kalidou Koulibaly and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the Senegal squad.

Tunisia – Youssef Msakni

Even though a lot of focus has been on striker Wahbi Khazri, the main man of Tunisia has been long-standing striker Msakni who plays for Qatari top-flight Al Arabi.

He scored the only goal that eliminated highly-fancied Nigeria at the Round of 16 at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon demonstrating his importance to the team

His overall contribution makes him the feared player of the Carthage Eagles as his seven goals in 14 matches in Qatar show that he can also contribute goals to his midfield duties.

The 31-year-old, who is a left winger, is already the 19th highest scorer in the history of the AFCON and also on course to equal the record number of tournament appearances.

The record is held by Rigobert Song and Ahmed Hassan of Cameroon and Egypt respectively, after eight appearances from 1996 to 2010.

With seven appearances and at 31, he is likely to catch the record but first he will be keen on helping his country to defeat Mali and qualify for the World Cup.

Italy will miss their second World Cup in a row after slumping to a shock 1-0 play-off semi-final defeat to North Macedonia on Thursday.

Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low drive in the second minute of stoppage time stunned the European champions in Palermo and set-up a qualifying final with Portugal in Porto on Tuesday for a chance to be in Qatar in November.

Roberto Mancini’s side were loudly booed off after a defeat which means Italy will have to wait until at least 2026 to see its national team at a World Cup.

By then it will have been 12 years since the Azzurri’s last participation in the world’s biggest football tournament after they failed to qualify for the 2018 edition, also crashing out in the play-offs on that occasion.

“It’s hard to explain, it’s such a huge disappointment,” Giorgio Chiellini said to RAI.

“We played well but we just failed to score the goal. We’ve made mistakes since September and we’ve paid for them. We’re distraught.”

Italy, as predicted, dominated the play but as has been the case in recent matches struggled to break down a resolute away side and when presented with chances were not clinical enough to take them.

The hosts should have been ahead on the half-hour mark when Domenico Berardi was gifted the ball on the edge of the area by goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.

The Sassuolo winger, who has been in red-hot form this season for his club, took too long to shoot and hit his effort into Dimitrievski’s welcoming arms.

It was wave after wave of Italy attack but an initially vibrant crowd began to grow frustrated at their inability to carve out a clear opportunity to score, and it showed in a team that began to look desperate to make the breakthrough.

Those fans were on their feet hailing an Italy hero seven minutes before the break, but it was for Alessandro Florenzi stopping Darko Churlinov from giving North Macedonia a shock lead after bursting through into a great scoring position.

Berardi looked Italy’s biggest threat and went close three times in the space of five second-half minutes, first hitting a weak shot at Dimitrievski before curling another one just wide seconds later.

And the 27-year-old had his head in his hands in the 58th minute when after beautifully spinning into a shooting opportunity he smashed over with his weaker right foot.

He was frustrated again just after the hour, this time Ezgjan Alioski throwing himself into a fantastic block after Marco Verratti had clipped Berardi through with a typically classy ball.

Giacomo Raspadori then smashed a first-time shot over the bar from the edge of the box and Gianluca Mancini headed a corner over the bar as Italy continued to push without ever managing to break their opponents down.

And just as the match looked to be heading into a tense extra-time Trajkovski, a former Palermo player, popped up to hit a perfect low strike past Gianluigi Donnarumma and cause another earthquake for Italian football.

Portugal are through to a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off final next week after beating Turkey 3-1 in Porto on Thursday, but only after Burak Yilmaz missed a crucial late penalty for the visitors.

The home side were cruising at the Estadio do Dragao thanks to first-half goals by Brazilian-born midfielder Otavio and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota.

But Turkey’s veteran skipper Yilmaz pulled a goal back in the 65th minute, setting up a tense finish.

Turkey were then awarded a late penalty when a foul on Enes Unal was detected by the German referee following a VAR review, but Yilmaz put the spot-kick over the bar and Matheus Nunes secured Portugal’s victory in stoppage time.

The 36-year-old Yilmaz may now never get the chance to play at a World Cup as Turkey’s wait to return to the finals goes on.

They have not appeared at the World Cup since coming third in Japan and South Korea in 2002.

Portugal have not missed out on the tournament since 1998 and they will now expect to secure a spot in Qatar when they host North Macedonia in a play-off decider next Tuesday.

At 37, Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of World Cup glory remains alive and few sides in international football can match the attacking threat of Fernando Santos’s team.

Here Santos left Joao Felix on the bench and handed a surprise start to Otavio, the Brazilian-born Porto winger.

The 2016 European champions started strongly and went ahead on the quarter-hour mark as a Bernardo Silva shot hit the post and Otavio, winning just his third cap, netted the follow-up.

The second goal arrived three minutes before the interval at the end of a flowing move, as Otavio clipped a cross from the edge of the box for Jota to head in at the back post.

Portugal were cruising but then Turkey pulled one back in the 65th minute as Cengiz Under slipped a pass in for Lille forward Yilmaz to score.

The home side, missing their first-choice centre-back pairing of Pepe and Ruben Dias due to Covid-19 and injury respectively, began to look shaky and Turkey took advantage.

Jose Fonte’s contact with Unal in the box was initially missed by referee Daniel Siebert but he was awarded a penalty after reviewing the images, despite the Turkey player clearly exaggerating the impact of the challenge.

Yilmaz could have forced extra time but his 85th-minute kick grazed the bar and flew over, to the relief of the home crowd.

Substitute Nunes, also born in Brazil, made it 3-1 in the fourth minute of stoppage time, in which all-time top international goal-scorer Ronaldo also hit the bar as Portugal progress.

Nigeria’s contingent to Friday’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying showdown with the Black Stars of Ghana landed at the Kumasi International Airport on Thursday morning, with a confident and ambitious squad of players who look forward to appearing at football’s biggest showpiece in Qatar later this year.

The contingent was led by President of the Nigeria Football Federation and Member of the FIFA Council, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick, with some Members of NFF Executive Committee, the NFF General Secretary, some members of Management and Staff, a couple of parliamentarians, some stakeholders and a few media representatives. Technical adviser Augustine Eguavoen led the coaching and administrative staff of the team while Skipper Ahmed Musa was at the head of a 25-man playing body.

The Air Peace’s 124-seater Embraer E195 aircraft took off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and landed in Kumasi after 80 minutes, with the delegation received at the airport by Nigeria’s Deputy High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Gambo Yusuf Hamza. He stood in for the High Commissioner, Ambassador Eket Ibok.

Also in the reception party were staff of the High Commission, officials of the Ghana Football Association and former Ghana defender and captain Sammy Kuffour.

At the arrival hall, Pinnick asseverated that the delegation has come to a battleground for a war that it cannot afford to lose.

“We are here for a battle and we must retain that focus and that mentality. The World Cup ticket is a big prize.”

Technical adviser Eguavoen said his troops are set and would only aim at victory when the match commences at 7.30 Ghana time (8.30pm Nigeria time) on Friday.

Victory over the Black Stars on Friday would vitiate the potential for an explosive encounter at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria have participated at six of the past seven FIFA World Cup finals, missing only the finals in Germany in 2006, while Ghana have only played at football’s major spectacle only three times – 2006, 2010 and 2014. The Eagles are staying at the Golden Tulip Hotel.

President of the Nigerian community in the Asante Region of Ghana (which includes Kumasi), Okafor Martins Chukwudi, said that the community is ready to swarm into Ghana’s second city on Friday to cheer the Super Eagles to victory at the Baba Yara Stadium.

“We are fully mobilized. We have been working in tandem with the Nigeria High Commission and we will storm the stadium in great numbers.”

Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets expect to pick their ticket to the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica when they host their counterparts from Senegal in Benin City on Saturday.

Forward Flouriish Sebastine hit a hat-trick in the first leg before the home team earned and put away a penalty in the final seconds, for a 3-1 victory for Nigeria. The Falconets have finished as runners-up at two editions of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, in 2010 and 2014, and reached the semi finals in 2012.

The Senegalese delegation arrived in Nigeria on Thursday morning, and would be flown to Benin City on Friday. Saturday’s match at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium will kick off at 4pm.

To reach this final stage, the Falconets turned back their counterparts from Central African Republic 11-0 on aggregate, before beating Republic of Congo 4-0 in Brazzaville in a third round, first leg match. The result discouraged the Congolese from flying to Nigeria for the second leg.

In the fourth round, the Falconets unplugged Cameroon’s Young Lionesses 3-0 on aggregate.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football has appointed officials from Eswatini to take charge of Saturday’s encounter. Letticia Antonella Viana will be referee, with compatriots Cosma Nxumalo (assistant referee 1), Patricia Mkhaliph (assistant referee 2) and Rebeccah Tencwala Soko (fourth official) also involved. The match commissioner will be Aisha Nalule from Uganda.

This year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup will hold in Costa Rica in the month of August.