Newcastle United midfielder helps send Liberia through in two-legged World Cup play-off
Newcastle United’s Mohammed Sangare has played a key role in sending Liberia through to the group stages of World Cup qualification.
Sangare is a 20 year old midfielder who turns out for Newcastle’s Under 23s and only made his international debut back in March this year.
However, on Thursday he came off the bench and was quickly given the responsibility of a crucial penalty. Liberia at the time drawing 1-1 at home to Sierra Leone in the first leg of a two-legged tie that would see who progressed to the group stage of African World Cup qualification.
He confidently tucked that penalty away to put his country 2-1 up in the 81st minute, Liberia then adding another at the death, the first leg ending 3-1.
The return leg was today and Sierra Leone scored in the 55th minute to make it 1-0 on the night and 2-3 on aggregate.
Mohammed Sangare was immediately brought on from the subs bench.
The young Newcastle player helping his team see out the game with no more goals, Liberia qualify for the group stages now, which kick off in March 2020. It is a long drawn out process in Africa for World Cup qualification, with 40 countries split into 10 groups of four next spring.
On a good night for Newcastle’s internationals, Fabian Schar followed up his goals for Newcastle and Switzerland in the past week with an excellent cross and assist which helped the Swiss beat Gibraltar 4-0 in their European Championships qualifier.
Meanwhile good news for Steve Bruce as Emil Krafth was an unused substitute on Sunday night and no chance of injury, a 1-1 home draw with Norway means that Sweden are clear second in Group F behind Spain, a point ahead of Romania.
Newcastle United players on international duty:
Wednesday 4 September
Liberia 3 Sierra Leone 1 – World Cup Qualifier First round First leg(Mo Sangare was a second half sub and scored the vital second goal, a penalty, to put Liberia 2-1 up in the 81st minute)
Thursday 5 September
Japan 2 Paraguay 0 – Friendly (Miguel Almiron played the full 90 minutes)
Faroes 0 Sweden 4 – Euro Qualifier (Emil Krafth came on at half-time))
Republic of Ireland 1 Switzerland 1 – Euro Qualifier (Fabian Schar scored a class 74th minute goal to put his side in the lead)
Friday 6 September
Slovakia 0 Croatia 4 – Euro Qualifier (Martin Dubravka played the full 90 minutes))
Sunday 8 September
Sweden 1 Norway 1 – Euro Qualifier (Emil Krafth an unused sub as Sweden draw at home)
Switzerland 4 Gibraltar 0 – Euro Qualifier (Fabian Schar plays full 90 minutes and gets an assist after his excellent cross is converted to make it 2-0)
Sierra Leone 1 Liberia 0 – World Cup Qualifier First Round Second leg (Mo Sangare came on at 1-0 down on 57 minutes and Liberia leading 3-2 on aggregate in the two legged play-off, helping his team see out the game with no more goals, Liberia qualify for the group stages now, which kick off in March 2020)
Monday 9 September
Hungary v Slovakia Euro Qualifier (Martin Dubravka)
Tuesday 10 September
Jordan v Paraguay – Friendly (Miguel Almiron)
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