World Cup African qualifying roundup
Some surprising results in this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers in Africa. Games were played on March 28-29, 2009.
Group 1:-
Morocco 1-2 Gabon (Mounir El Hamdaoui / Pierre Aubameyang, Roguy Meye)
Togo 1-0 Cameroon ( Emmanuel Adebayor)
Two shocks in there, especially the latter. You don’t see the Indomitable Lions lose often in Africa. Togo and Gabon must be sailing on cloud nine.
Group 2:-
Kenya 1-2 Tunisia (Dennis Oliech / Ammar El Jamal ,Issam Jemaa )
Mozambique 0-0 Nigeria
Tunisia lead Group 2 after their win over Kenya in Nairobi, while little Mozambique held giants Nigeria to a draw in Maputo.
Group 3:-
Rwanda 0-0 Algeria
Egypt 1-1 Zambia ( Zaki/Kasonde)
The only Group where both matches ended in draws.
Group 4:-
Ghana 1-0 Benin ( Nagoe)
Sudan 1-1 Mali ( El Tahir/ Frederic Kanoute)
An early goal from Prince Nagoe was enough for Ghana to beat Benin in Kumasi. Mali and Sudan played out a 1-1 draw in Omdurman.
Group 5:-
Ivory Coast 5-0 Malawi ( Romaric, Drogba*2, Kone, Kalou)
Burkina Faso 4-2 Guinea ( Kere, A.Traore, Dagano*2/ Feindouno, Zayatte)
Ivory Coast showed their strength as they thrashed Malawi 5-0 in Abidjan, with skipper Didier Drogba scoring a brace. The win was marred by a wall collapse in the stadium that left nineteen men dead and many more injured.
Burkina Faso were not expected to win against Guinea- a great result for them in there.
World Cup South American qualifying roundup
A round of the games that were played on March 28 and March 29 in South American qualification.
Diego Maradona’s Argentina crushed Venezuela 4-0, with Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Maxi Rodriguez and Kun Aguero all getting on the scoresheet.
However arch rivals Brazil could only draw against Ecuador. Christian Noboa equalised for Ecuador a minute from time after Julio Baptista had given Brazil a 72nd minute lead.
Group leaders Paraguay were beaten 2-0 by Uruguay in Montevideo. The two Diego’s- Forlan and the lesser known Lugano, scored for Uruguay. The result keeps Uruguay within striking distance of an automatic qualification spot.
Chile’s impressive performances continued when they beat Peru 3-1 in Lima. An early Alexis Sanchez strike, along with a penalty from former Colo Colo star Humberto Suazo saw Chile go 2-0 ahead. Johan Fano pulled one back for Peru only for Matias Fernandez to restore Chile’s two goal advantage in the 70th minute.
Colombia kept their hopes of qualification alive, but in the process also dealt a blow to Bolivia’s hopes of playing in South Africa. The Colombians won 2-0, with Macnelly Torres and Walson Renteria scoring.
Final South American Qualifying results
Argentina 4-0 Venezuela
Ecuador 1-1 Brazil
Uruguay 2-0 Paraguay
Peru 1-3 Chile
Colombia 2-0 Bolivia