Sports / Soccer
Some African giants may miss Nations Cup
06 Jun 2011 at 15:54hrs | Views
Defending champions Egypt head a queue of football heavyweights in danger of failing to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Former winners Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria are other teams in trouble with just two rounds left of the mini-leagues competition that will deliver 14 teams to join co-hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next January.
Libya are the fifth side among the top 10 African countries on the May FIFA rankings who may not make it to the biennial showcase of African national team football.
Egypt were held 0-0 by South Africa at the weekend, Cameroon suffered a similar fate against Senegal, Nigeria snatched a 2-2 draw in Ethiopia, Libya only drew 1-1 on the Comoros Islands and Algeria crumbled 4-0 in Morocco.
A group-by-group assessment of the competition from which the 11 group winners, the Group K runners-up, and the best two second-place teams from the other 10 mini-leagues qualify:
GROUP A Wide open with three points separating leaders Cape Verde Islands from bottom team Liberia. Mali continue to overlook Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita and have lost twice on the road while Zimbabwe are unpredictable.
GROUP B Guinea will clinch top place if they win at home to Ethiopia early September and suspect travellers Nigeria fail to collect maximum points on the island of Madagascar.
GROUP C Leaders Zambia are well placed with a visit to the Comoros and a home fixture against sole challengers Libya to come. Mozambique have been a major disappointment with just one win from four outings.
GROUP D Central African Republic have been a revelation with two victories and a draw and share first place with Morocco ahead of an early September Bangui clash bound to have a major bearing on who tops the table.
GROUP E Senegal are the most improved team in Africa and can secure a place at the finals if they win at home to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the next round while the best Cameroon can hope for is to be among the best runners-up.
GROUP F Burkina Faso are well placed in a section reduced to three teams by the withdrawal of Mauritania. Gambia must beat them in Banjul and Namibia in Windhoek to draw level on points and goal difference would come into play.
GROUP G The only hope of survival for record seven-time champions Egypt is to defeat Sierra Leone (away) and Niger (home) and hope neither West African country defeats leaders South Africa, who have not conceded a goal in four matches.
GROUP H The Ivory Coast Elephants trampled Benin 6-2 in Cotonou to become the second country after Botswana to qualify. It was the most impressive away performance of the qualifiers with Didier Drogba and 'Gervinho' bagging a brace each.
GROUP I Ghana and Sudan have 10 points each and face off in Omdurman on the final weekend of the competition. Whoever finishes second could be strong contenders for one of the two slots reserved for runners-up.
GROUP J Uganda need one win from fixtures against second-place Angola (away) and Kenya (home) to win the mini-league and return to the Cup of Nations 34 years after finishing runners-up to hosts Ghana.
GROUP K With upstarts Botswana going to the finals for the first time, interest centres on who will come second and Tunisia shade Malawi on goal difference ahead of a September showdown in Blantyre.
Former winners Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria are other teams in trouble with just two rounds left of the mini-leagues competition that will deliver 14 teams to join co-hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next January.
Libya are the fifth side among the top 10 African countries on the May FIFA rankings who may not make it to the biennial showcase of African national team football.
Egypt were held 0-0 by South Africa at the weekend, Cameroon suffered a similar fate against Senegal, Nigeria snatched a 2-2 draw in Ethiopia, Libya only drew 1-1 on the Comoros Islands and Algeria crumbled 4-0 in Morocco.
A group-by-group assessment of the competition from which the 11 group winners, the Group K runners-up, and the best two second-place teams from the other 10 mini-leagues qualify:
GROUP A Wide open with three points separating leaders Cape Verde Islands from bottom team Liberia. Mali continue to overlook Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita and have lost twice on the road while Zimbabwe are unpredictable.
GROUP B Guinea will clinch top place if they win at home to Ethiopia early September and suspect travellers Nigeria fail to collect maximum points on the island of Madagascar.
GROUP C Leaders Zambia are well placed with a visit to the Comoros and a home fixture against sole challengers Libya to come. Mozambique have been a major disappointment with just one win from four outings.
GROUP D Central African Republic have been a revelation with two victories and a draw and share first place with Morocco ahead of an early September Bangui clash bound to have a major bearing on who tops the table.
GROUP E Senegal are the most improved team in Africa and can secure a place at the finals if they win at home to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the next round while the best Cameroon can hope for is to be among the best runners-up.
GROUP F Burkina Faso are well placed in a section reduced to three teams by the withdrawal of Mauritania. Gambia must beat them in Banjul and Namibia in Windhoek to draw level on points and goal difference would come into play.
GROUP G The only hope of survival for record seven-time champions Egypt is to defeat Sierra Leone (away) and Niger (home) and hope neither West African country defeats leaders South Africa, who have not conceded a goal in four matches.
GROUP H The Ivory Coast Elephants trampled Benin 6-2 in Cotonou to become the second country after Botswana to qualify. It was the most impressive away performance of the qualifiers with Didier Drogba and 'Gervinho' bagging a brace each.
GROUP I Ghana and Sudan have 10 points each and face off in Omdurman on the final weekend of the competition. Whoever finishes second could be strong contenders for one of the two slots reserved for runners-up.
GROUP J Uganda need one win from fixtures against second-place Angola (away) and Kenya (home) to win the mini-league and return to the Cup of Nations 34 years after finishing runners-up to hosts Ghana.
GROUP K With upstarts Botswana going to the finals for the first time, interest centres on who will come second and Tunisia shade Malawi on goal difference ahead of a September showdown in Blantyre.
Source - Sapa-AFP
