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African debutants grace world stage
The world cup in Germany will welcome four debutants from Africa following a campaign that saw favourites fall by the wayside. Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon all had to settle for second or in some cases, third best. Tunisia was the only seeded nation not to be knocked out as they joined Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola in the qualifying for the world cup. Here’s an overview of each group and how it progressed during the qualification process:
Group 1 – It started predictably with Senegal taking top spot thanks to a 2-0 win over Congo. Togo, the groups eventual victors, began with a defeat to a resilient Zambia. However it was the second round that brought the first major upset in the group as the minnows from Togo overcame Senegal 3-1 at home. The shock defeat dropping Senegal to third in the group. A run of similar results between Senegal and Togo saw them tailgate each other towards the end of the qualifying campaign with Zambia in touching distance as well.
A crunch match in Dakar between Senegal and Togo saw the visitors escape with a 2-2 draw thanks to Emmanuel Adebayor’s 71st minute equaliser. The goal proved valuable as Togo now had a superior head-to-head record against the 2002 finalists. Zambia managed to pull ahead of Senegal, putting more pressure on them. A 1-0 win over Zambia kept Senegal within 2 points leading into the final round of matches. Togo was to face Congo away while Senegal had to beat lowly Mali at home to have a chance.
Senegal trounced Mali 3-0 thanks to a brace from Henri Camara and a goal from Hadji El Diouf. The hard part was done, now they had to hope for a minor miracle from Congo. And it could have happened. They only needed a point but had gone 1-2 down to Congo by the 56th minute. Enter Abdel Coubadja who secured qualification with a brace, scoring on the hour and on 70 minutes.
Standings: Togo 23 points, Senegal 21, Zambia 19, Congo 10, Mali 8, Liberia 4
Group 2 – Group 2 saw South Africa have a shaky start, middle and end as Ghana took advantage of every opportunity that came their way. However it was a shaky start. Like Togo, Ghana lost their first match while South Africa won, although not convincingly. The second round however saw all the losing teams pick up their first win, locking the entire group up with three points a piece. The most notable score line was Ghana’s demolition of South Africa 3-0. Results continued to be unpredictable in this group and eventually when South Africa thought they had everything set, Ghana beats them on home soil 2-0 to throw their campaign in the air.
Come the final round Ghana lead by 3 points over Congo DR and South Africa who were tied on 15 points. Realistically Ghana couldn’t be beaten as a single point against second last Cape Verde would seal qualification. However South Africa, known well in this campaign for shooting themselves in the foot, could only themselves manage a draw with Congo DR. The draw condemned both teams to failure and Ghana assured passage despite their 4-0 flogging of Cape Verde.
Standings: Ghana 21, Congo DR 16 (+4 goal difference), South Africa 16 (-2), Burkina Faso 13, Cape Verde Islands 10, Uganda 8
Group 3 – One of the tightest groups came literally right down to the wire as a missed penalty sealed the fate of two teams. Cameroon was expected to breeze through this group but found a fight was put up by Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). And while they weren’t involved in the final outcome, Egypt proved the ultimate difference makers in their results against Cameroon. It started as expected with wins to the top three. A stumble in Liberia by Cameroon saw them take only a point. While the result allowed Ivory Coast the lead Cameroon were always in touch and by the end of the next round, Cameroon’s defeat of the Ivory Coast saw them head the group again.
However it was a stunning 2-3 defeat away to Egypt that ultimately made the difference as it would be the only loss in their campaign. This continued with a 1-1 draw with Sudan. Meanwhile Ivory Coast had taken six points from their two matches in the same rounds, including a 5-0 thumping of Sudan.
Most believed the fate of the group would come down to a show down between Ivory Coast and Cameroon in Abidjan. The score line was 2-2 after 47 minutes and most thought the Ivory Coast would retain top spot. However Achille Webo finished his hat-trick for Cameroon in the 85th minute to give them a 3-2 victory. Needing only to beat Egypt at home to progress, their bogey team proved resilient in holding Cameroon to 1-1. The Ivory Coast meanwhile managed a 3-1 win over Sudan. Into injury time Cameroon were given a penalty and if successful would have sent the Indomitable Lions. However Pierre Wome shot wide, striking the upright and sending the ball out for a goal kick, effectively ending their campaign and sending the Ivory Coast to their first world cup finals.
Standings: Cote d’Ivoire 22, Cameroon 21, Egypt 17, Libya 12, Sudan 6, Benin 5.
Group 4 – It was a result no one, least of all Angola and Nigeria expected, but it was one that sent the Angolans through on head-to-head. A 1-0 win at home over Nigeria in just the second round sent shockwaves through the Green and White. An 84th minute strike from Akwa made all the difference as the two teams fought tooth and nail for top spot.
Nigeria thrashed teams while Angola narrowly beat their opponents. However in the Nigerian leg against Angola, they still managed to pull out a 1-1 draw to keep the Nigerians at an arms length. On the final day Nigeria laid down the gauntlet, thrashing Zimbabwe 5-1 and forcing Angola to beat Rwanda in order to get to the world cup. Luckily it was that man Akwa that scored in the 79th minute to allow them to tie Nigeria at the top of the group and go through on a superior head-to-head record.
Standings: Angola 21 (+6, 2-1 Vs. Nigeria), Nigeria (+14, 1-2 Vs. Angola), Zimbabwe 15, Gabon 10, Algeria 8, Rwanda 5
Group 5 – Tunisia started strongly with a 4-1 win, Morocco started with a draw and Kenya found themselves suspended from FIFA International football but at the end of the day it was only going to come down to Tunisia and Morocco.
Four rounds into it one of the two decisive matches ended all tied up as Morocco and Tunisia drew 1-1 in Rabat. Fast forward just over a year and Tunisia lead Morocco by a point, leaving the rest of the group in their wake. Tunisia hosted Morocco and requiring only a draw they saw themselves on the back foot early as Marouane Chamarh scored in the 3rd minute for Morocco. Come half-time and Morocco lead 2-1 and were eyeing a finals berth. However on 69 minutes Adel Chadli drew the teams level and placed themselves in the box seat. Morocco went down to 10 men ten minutes later when Aziz Benaskar received his second yellow card of the night, making their job that much harder. Infact it proved too hard and Tunisia went through to the world cup.
Standings: Tunisia 21, Morocco 20, Guinea 17, Kenya 10, Botswana 9, Malawi 6.
18 October, 2005 |
