World Cup Round-up: Part 4 - Africa

The first of the five African qualifiers for World Cup 2010 is now known after Ghana got the vital three points they needed in their 2-0 win over Sudan yesterday.

The Ghanaians reached their second successive Finals with a fourth straight win to put them out of reach of second placed Mali in Group D. Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien got the goals in another competent display for the Black Stars, and with Mali only able to draw 1-1 earlier in the day against Benin, Ghana now find themselves seven points clear at the top with only two games remaining.

The next team to reach the Finals should be Ivory Coast who, in real-world terms, are already there but for the technicality of a sizeable goal difference advantage. The Elephants increased their lead at the top of Group E to six points with a 5-0 thrashing of Burkino Faso on Saturday. Didier Drogba picked up two of the goals with Barcelona's Yaya Toure and Galatasaray's new signing Kader Keita getting one each.

That result means Burkino Faso have to win both their last two remaining games and hope that Ivory Coast lose theirs - and they have to bridge a goal difference of fifteen if they're to stand any chance of making it to South Africa next year. Don't hold your breath, folks…

Group A - the Group of Death where this qualifying campaign's concerned - remains wide open after Cameroon picked up their first win of the final round. Samuel Eto'o picked up his seventh goal of the qualifying stages as his side beat Gabon 2-0 at the weekend, and the two teams face each other again this Wednesday in a match Gabon must win to keep alive their chances in the group.

Elsewhere, Togo were denied their second win of the competition thanks to a late, late goal from QPR and Morocco's Adel Taarabt. The 1-1 scoreline means Morocco are bottom of the Group A table, one point behind Cameroon who have a game in hand, and they in turn are one point behind Togo in second who in turn are one point behind Gabon at the top. Hope you followed all that…

In Group B, the top two teams - Nigeria and Tunisia - fought out a 2-2 draw to leave things pretty much as you were after Mozambique got themselves off the bottom of the table with a 1-0 win over Kenya.

Similarly in Group C, the top two remained in situ as leaders Algeria beat Zambia 1-0 and Egypt defeated Rwanda by the same scoreline. Egypt stay three points behind Algeria as the two teams head for a big showdown against each other in mid-November which Egypt will have to win by a healthy score if they're to reach the Finals.

Full results and standings from the African qualifying zone available here.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Report: Rest of the World

Asia

As we've just mentioned in our TV Preview, Asia is awash with three new countries that have qualified for the Finals in South Africa next year.

From Group 1, Australia and Japan are assured of occupying the top two places after the Aussies played out a goalless draw against Qatar and Japan won 1-0 away to Uzbekistan.

In Group 2, South Korea made it seven Finals in a row thanks to a 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates. North Korea stay second but are now three points behind their near neighbours after a goalless draw at home to Iran who stay in fourth.

In next Wednesday's fixtures, Iran travel to Seoul to play South Korea while Saudi Arabia will be hoping to move up from third in Group 2 when they play host to North Korea.

Africa

It's still early days in the final round of African qualifying, but there's already been some eye-opening results from last weekend's matches.

African champions Egypt are still without a win after two games thanks to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Group C leaders Algeria. All three of the goals for The Desert Foxes came after an hour of play in a 17-minute spell that left Egypt shell-shocked. Al Ahly's Mohamed Aboutrika pulled one back with four minutes remaining, but Egypt will now be looking at their next fixture against Rwanda as a must-win if they're to play in South Africa next year.

Elsewhere Cameroon and Morocco played out a 0-0 draw in Yaounde that will damage both team's chances of progressing in Group A. Gabon, however, beat Togo 3-0 to top the group with two wins out of two leaving both the bookies' favourites in the bottom half of the table.

The other matches around Africa provided fewer shocks - Tunisia maintained their 100% record in Group B with a 2-0 win over Mozambique while Nigeria moved up to second with a 3-0 victory over Kenya that featured two goals from Inter's Victor Obinna.

In Group E, Ivory Coast got their second win of the campaign, 2-1 over Guinea, but they have Burkino Faso for company on six points after they beat Malawi 1-0. Finally in Group D, Ghana predictably maintained their perfect start thanks to a 2-0 win in Mali which gives them a three-point lead over Benin.

South America

After months of dominance in the South American round-robin, Paraguay have finally been knocked off their perch by Brazil who now lead the group table on goal difference.

While Brazil were thumping rivals Uruguay 4-0 in Porto Alegre, Paraguay were struggling to deal with an in-form Chile side who beat them 2-0 in Asuncion. Dunga's side will be delighted with their first win over the Uruguayans since 1976, especially as it comes at a time when Paraguay extend their current run without a win to three. Brazil's goals came from Barcelona's Dani Alves, Juan, Luis Fabiano and Real Madrid's latest signing, Kaka.

For Chile, however, the gap between them and the leaders is now just a single point and a win at home to Bolivia tonight could see them lead the group if other results go in their favour.

In other news, Argentina recovered from their recent 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Bolivians by scrambling to a 1-0 win over Colombia. Daniel Diaz was on hand with a goal after 55 minutes to give Maradona's men a five point gap ahead of fifth-placed Uruguay.

At the bottom, Peru slumped to their eighth defeat in thirteen games, 2-1 at the hands of Ecuador, while Venezuela surprisingly beat Bolivia 1-0 in La Paz to totally make a mockery of Maradona's claims that playing at altitude can seriously harm a team's performance.

World Cup 2010 Round-up: The rest of the world

And so to the final part of our mammoth World Cup round-up where we tie up all the loose ends in Asia, the CONCACAF region and, to begin with, Africa...

Africa

The third and final round of qualifying got underway last Saturday with the remaining twenty teams split into five groups of which only the winners will reach South Africa 2010.

To start with, we must reflect on the terrible news from Ivory Coast where 19 people were killed and 130 injured in a stampede before the match against Malawi in Abidjan. It's still unclear what caused the stampede, but it is known that thousands of fans were flocking to the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium to witness the return of Didier Drogba to the national side after injury.

Many fans were still outside when the match started and it's believed huge numbers had made a late desperate attempt to get in, thus causing a stadium wall to collapse. Unaware of what was happening, the two sets of players kicked off and after the home side won 5-0, the full scale of the tragedy was made aware to Drogba and his team-mates.

Moving onto other more prosaic events elsewhere, Burkina Faso won their Group E match against Guinea 4-2 to start their campaign level on points with Ivory Coast while in Group B, Tunisia took the early advantage with a 2-1 win over Kenya. Nigeria, favourites to win the group could only draw 0-0 away to Mozambique and it's said the home side could and should have picked up all three points.

Arguably the shock result of this batch of games was the 2-1 win for Gabon over Morocco in Group A. Alain Giresse's side didn't even qualify for the last African Cup of Nations, but two first half goals from Pierre Aubameyang and Roguy Meye were enough to snuff out the threat of the Atlas Lions.

Elsewhere in the group, Emmanuel Adebayor's eleventh minute goal proved good enough for Togo to beat Cameroon 1-0 and he was even allowed the luxury of missing a penalty late on. All is therefore set for a great round of games at the start of June when Togo travel to Gabon and Cameroon play host to Morocco.

Group D predictably saw Ghana get off to a winning start with a 1-0 win over Benin while Fredi Kanoute's goal for Mali was soon equalised by Sudan's El Tahir meaning both teams trail the Black Stars by two points at this early stage.

Finally in Group C, African champions Egypt were held to a 1-1 draw against Zambia while in Kigali Rwanda picked up an impressive point against former African champions Algeria.

June 2009 will see twenty more matches take place, and we'll be reporting on the latest news from across Africa when they happen.

Asia

It's a case of 'as you were' in the two Final Round groups in Asia with the top two teams in each case both retaining their places.

In Group 1, Australia survived a tough first half against Uzbekistan to win 2-0 in Sydney on Wednesday. Goals from Karlsruher's Joshua Kennedy and Galatasaray's Harry Kewell mid-way through the second half ensured the Socceroos stayed top of the table while Japan enjoyed a narrow 1-0 win over Bahrain at the weekend to stay second.

Had Bahrain and Qatar drawn their match a couple of days ago, Australia would have confirmed their place at the 2010 World Cup, but a 52nd minute Fouzi Aaish goal for Bahrain means Pim Verbeek's side will have to wait until at least June 6th to start their celebrations.

In Group 2, South Korea laboured to a rare victory over North Korea thanks to a late goal from FC Seoul's Kim Chi-Woo. It puts the Taeguk Warriors one point clear of their northern neighbours at the top of the group, but Saudi Arabia have turned up the heat on both teams following a poor start to their campaign.

Last Saturday saw the Saudis begin a successful week by beating Iran 2-1 away from home which was followed by a 3-2 win over the United Arab Emirates which ends the latter's chances of reaching South Africa next year.

The Group 2 table appears to show a three horse race but Iran have a game in hand which, if won, will put them only a point behind Saudi Arabia. All remaining matches in both groups will be played throughout June, so watch this space to see which four (or maybe five) lucky teams make it through to the Finals...

North and Central America

News reached us last night that the Mexican FA have sacked Sven-Goran Eriksson following a 3-1 defeat to Honduras which leaves his former side looking at a play-off if they're to reach the next World Cup.

Eriksson went into the match buoyed by a 2-0 win over Costa Rica last Saturday which temporarily lifted the pressure on the former England manager, but the Hondurans were better in every department as a disjointed Mexico once again failed to pick up any points away from home.

That win - Honduras' first in the final round group - lifts them into third place in the table behind leaders United States and Costa Rica. Both teams play each other on March 6th and for home side Costa Rica a win will be vital if they're to overhaul the unbeaten Americans.

SPAOTP's friend on Twitter, @sensei208, tipped us off about the USA's sensational young striker Jozy Altidore and with some justification. The 19-year-old became the youngest ever scorer for the USA when he grabbed the first of two goals in a 2-2 draw away to El Salvador last Saturday. He went onto follow that up with a hat-trick against Trinidad and Tobago during the week.



Without his first goal, the USA may have been on the receiving end of a shock defeat to the Salvadorans who were 2-0 up with 18 minutes remaining. Once Altidore had pulled one back for the visitors, Frankie Hejduk headed in from close range with two minutes left on the clock to salvage a point.

America's second match was an altogether more straight-forward affair and cemented T&T's position at the bottom of the hexagonal. Jozy Altidore's three goals against the Soca Warriors show why he was snapped up by Villareal last year and will no doubt prompt them to recall Altidore from his loan spell at Second Division side Xerez too.

All in all then, the USA and Costa Rica are living up to their top billing at the moment but Honduras are making the most of Mexico's slip. El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago are yet to win in three matches and with some tough opposition to come in their next games their task won't be getting any easier.

The thing to note, however, is that none of the teams are quite getting things all their own way. The USA and Costa Rica will always bring out the best in the weaker teams and with a relatively few games to play, a point lost or gained here and there could prove vital to all of them. With the competition set to end in October, no-one's taking anything for granted just yet.

World Cup 2010: Africa Round 3 Draw

Further to our recent World Cup 2010 Update, here's news of the draw for Round 3 of the Africa qualifying tournament which took place yesterday (the draw, that is - not the qualifying tournament).

Sepp Blatter was on hand to make sure everything went to plan at FIFA headquarters in Zurich where the remaining twenty teams were allocated to one of the five groups in this last stage of the competition.

Here's how the draw panned out - top seeded teams are shown in orange:



As ever, we're contractually bound to indicate the 'Group of Death' © at the outset, and here it's Group 1 featuring 2008 African Nations Cup runners-up Cameroon along with Togo, Morocco and Alain Giresse's Gabon team.

Gabon are making something of a comeback having failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in five of the last six attempts, their last appearance being in 2000. Since Giresse took the reins two years ago, however, the Black Panthers have turned things around and qualified for Round 3 of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers having finished level on points with Group 5 winners Ghana.

Cameroon's German coach Otto Pfister was understandably wary of the opposition his team faces in the last round, commenting "It is indeed a very difficult group. We are the favourites on paper, but this doesn't mean too much… Togo have two or three really good players, and of course they have the experience of being part of Germany 2006. Morocco has great potential and also a very good coach. Gabon have proved lately how strong they are and what they are capable of. We need to prepare very seriously for this group."

According to the FIFA World Rankings, Group 4 is the weakest group of the five. It contains the winners and runners-up from Group 10 in the last round, Mali and Sudan along with Ghana and Benin - both group winners from the last round.

In Group 2, Nigeria will be particularly keeping an eye on the ever-present threat of Tunisia while in Group 3, African champions Egypt will be more than well aware of the resurgence of Algeria. Having missed the last two African Nations Cup competitions and the last five World Cups, Rabah Saadane will be keen to make the most of this rare chance for success.

The draw for Group 4 looks deceptively kind to Ivory Coast, but two of their opponents, Guinea and Burkina Faso won their Round 2 groups. As Senegal and Angola will tell you, reputation counts for nothing when the level of competition is so high, and the team from Ivory Coast won't for a moment be thinking they'll have a straight run through to the Finals in South Africa.

Speaking of which, those all-important Round 3 matches begin in March 2009 and last all the way through to November, a month before the draw for the 2010 World Cup Finals. As ever, Some People Are On The Pitch will be there to bring you all the latest news, match previews and lots more besides.

World Cup 2010 Round-up

We know it's been a week or two since the most recent round of World Cup qualifiers took place, but we never quite got round to summing up all the action from outside Europe, so here's our whistle-stop tour of all you need to know, starting with…

South America
It seems we were a little hasty to cast our judgement on Brazil after the September 6th/7th matches. Brazil's surge up to second spot in the table came to a crashing halt when they could only draw 0-0 with bottom-dwellers Bolivia. With Argentina also drawing against the lower-placed Peru 1-1, Paraguay were able to extend their lead at the top by beating Venezuela 2-0.

Cristian Riveros and Nelson Valdez put the game out of reach before half time in Asuncion to leave the Paraguayans four points clear of Brazil, Argentina and a Chile side that bounced back from their 3-0 drubbing against the Brazilians by beating Colombia 4-0.

That result sees Chile push the faltering Colombians out of the automatic qualification places with Uruguay occupying the play-off spot following their goalless stalemate against Ecuador.

Oh and one other piece of late breaking news: Colombia's head coach Jorge Luis Pinto has been fired after his team's recent run of poor form. His replacement's first game will be next month against Paraguay… nice.

Yes, the CONMEBOL section resumes with another double-header programme between October 11th and 15th where the top three all look to be facing (supposedly) weaker opposition. In this part of the world, however, don't be surprised if the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay all slip up somewhere along the line.

North and Central America
As predicted by us (and probably most of you, to be fair), each of the three Third Round groups in the CONCACAF section are all being led by the strong favourites in each one.

The USA have a 100% record after three games in Group 1, the second of which was the historic meeting with Cuba in Havana on September 6th. Clint Dempsey's first half goal proved to be enough in what was a slightly uninspiring performance in front of a partisan crowd of 8,000, and with a more convincing 3-0 home win over Trinidad and Tobago taking place four days later, the States look almost home and dry already in their group. Guatemala are their nearest challengers some five points behind, and despite beating Cuba 4-1 at home they could only earn a 1-1 draw with the Soca Warriors.

In Group 2, Mexico have a maximum nine points to their name and look totally at ease against all-comers thus far. Earlier this month, they beat Jamaica (who this week announced former England star John Barnes would be their new head coach) 3-0 before a narrow 2-1 win over Canada ensued. Honduras almost matched the Mexicans goal for goal after beating the Jamaicans 2-0 four days after their own 2-1 win away to Canada on September 6th. Honduras are now second in Group 2, three points behind Mexico.

Finally in Group 3, Costa Rica lead the way with three wins out of three. In their pair of games this month they managed to score ten (seven at home to Suriname) and concede just one in their away win in Haiti.

El Salvador are doing their best to stay in touch but find themselves three points behind. They managed to notch up a 5-0 win at home to Haiti along with a 2-0 away win in Suriname.

The next double header's played on October 11th and 15th and sees a reversal of the previous two fixtures taking place. That means Cuba go to the USA looking for their first win, Mexico go to Canada hoping to avoid another scare and Costa Rica look to inflate their +10 goal difference tally with a repeat performance against Haiti and Suriname.

Africa
We've much to get through here as there's just one fixture remaining for most teams in each of the twelve groups. That means if you're not one of the countries still in with a chance of finishing top, you're probably stand a fair chance of getting one of the eight best runners-up places which also guarantees entry to Round 3.

A few months ago, we told you that Nigeria had become the first team to confirm their place in the next stage of the African qualifying competition, and this month three more managed to join them - Cameroon and Benin.

In Group 1, Cameroon got the vital win they needed by beating the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 but the islanders could yet grab one of those valuable second place finishes if they can get at least a draw against Tanzania next month.

In Group 3, Benin beat nearest challengers Angola 3-2 this month leaving the Angolans and Uganda to fight over the runners-up spot. The final round of games in the group see Uganda play at home against the already qualified Benin while Angola are at home to bottom-placed Niger. An intriguing finish to that group looks to be on the cards.

In the other groups, there are more permutations surrounding who could go through than there are English words in Juande Ramos' vocabulary. In Group 10, any of the four teams involved could yet progress, although leaders on goal difference Mali had to suffer a recent defeat against second-placed Congo. They'll be grateful to face bottom-of-the-group Chad next month while a resurgent Sudan play hosts to the Congolese.

Group 12 is almost as tight with the top three all still looking to go through to Round 3 in October. Egypt have a three point lead at the top and should be all set to confirm their place when they play Djibouti next month as their opponents are yet to pick up a point thus far. But it's the teams in second and third place, DR Congo and Malawi that will battle it out to go through when they meet in Blantyre in three weeks' time. DR Congo won 1-0 in their first encounter in June but may be feeling less than confident after their recent defeat by the same score at home to the Egyptians.

Only one point covers the top three in Group 6, so that means Algeria's slender lead of one point may yet prove insufficient as Gambia and Senegal follow on in hot pursuit. As it is, Algeria may be the more relaxed going into the final fixtures on October 11th and 12th as they play the only team in the group that can't go through - Liberia. Senegal play Gambia in Dakar needing to win if they're to reach the Finals again after a six-year absence.

In a tight Group 7, Ivory Coast find themselves leading the way despite drawing three of their five matches so far - the most recent being against Mozambique a fortnight ago. The Ivorians' final game comes at home to their only challengers, Madagascar. A draw will be enough for Ivory Coast to go through, but a win for their opponents by four clear goals will see them swap places. At that point, The Elephants will have to suffer the lottery of the runners-up placing system, but to be honest, we don't think it'll come to that. Both sides drew 0-0 in Antananarivo back in June, and a similar result may yet prevail.

By way of a sum-up, here's the need-to-know on the remaining groups. Libya need just a draw against second-placed Gabon in Group 5 while a slip-up for Gabon could let Ghana through to take one of the top two spots if they can beat lowly Lesotho.

Morocco play host to Mauritania next month looking for the win that will secure their place in Round 3. They currently lie second in Group 8 behind Rwanda, but a win will put the Moroccans top on goal difference. In Group 9, however, Tunisia look as though they'll have to qualify as one of the best runners-up. They're currently three points behind leaders Burkino Faso with a much inferior goal difference. The two sides recently fought out a goalless draw in Burkino Faso leaving the hosts as good as qualified for the next stage.

Finally in Group 2, a draw between Kenya and Guinea will be good enough to see the former go through, and perhaps the latter too if they turn out to be one of the best runners-up while in Group 11, Zambia will be watching on helplessly as Togo play at home to Swaziland. A draw or a win for Togo will see the Zambians make it to the third round while a win for Swaziland will mean they're knocked off the top and entering the runners-up lottery.

Asia
It's still early days here in the fourth and final round so there's not too much in the way of excitement at the moment. In Group 1, Japan got a win in their first and only match so far, 3-2 away to the Bahrainis while Australia also got their campaign underway with a 1-0 away to the Uzbeks. Qatar top the group, though, after beating Uzbekistan 3-0 and drawing 1-1 with Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia are top of Group 2, picking up four points out of their first six with a draw at home to Iran and a win in the United Arab Emirates. North Korea join them on four points following an impressive 2-1 win in the UAE and a 1-1 draw with their South Korean counterparts.

The top two in each group are guaranteed a place in the 2010 Finals while the two teams finishing third play each other in a play-off, the winner of that going on to another play-off with the winner of the Oceania section. If only we knew who that might be...

Oceania
New Zealand are the winners of the Oceania section after a brace of victories over closest challengers New Caledonia. That means with one match left to play against Fiji, the All Whites are assured of a high-profile showdown with one of the Asian elite as well as a place in next year's FIFA Confederations Cup.

Well done to them on a competent qualifying campaign and let's hope they can go one better by reaching South Africa in 2010, if only to silence those people who snigger about the Oceania section being a waste of time.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Update (Part 1)

While the eyes of your average European soccer fan were squarely focused on Euro 2008 recently, other things were, remarkably, going on elsewhere in the world.

We speak, of course, about the qualifying competition for World Cup 2010 and this May and June has proven to be a busy period for every continent except Europe, so let's catch up with what's been going on, starting with...

Africa

Overview
It's currently Round 2 of 3 here, featuring 47 teams split into 12 groups. The winners of the groups, along with the eight best runners-up, will proceed to Round 3. That will leave 20 teams from which only five will progress to South Africa 2010.

News
It's hats off to Nigeria as they become the first team to book their place in the Third Round. They beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0 away and 2-0 at home to maintain their 100% record and stay well clear of the chasing pack - including South Africa - at the top of the Group 4.

Six goals scored and none conceded means the Super Eagles will be one of the teams to beat in the next round, as will Cameroon. They picked up ten points from their first twelve in Group 1, remaining unbeaten against the Cape Verde Islands, Mauritius and Tanzania. The Islanders, ranked 85th in the world, look set to be one of the best runners-up when the dust settles and are currently only one point behind the Indomitable Lions.

Elsewhere, Burkina Faso are keeping Tunisia off the top of Group 9 with four straight victories, one of which was a 2-1 victory over the Carthage Eagles at the start of June. The Tunisians, however, are only a point behind and will be looking to overtake Burkina Faso with a win on September 6th when the two teams face each other again.

In Group 12, current African champions Egypt are level on points with the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of Malawi and Djibouti. The Egyptians scored a valuable 2-1 win over Congo DR in Cairo just over a month ago, but have since lost 1-0 away to Malawi. For The Leopards of Kinshasa, however, it's been maximum points ever since and they now occupy top spot on goal difference as a result.

Once again, irony plays its hand as the next game for both teams will see Egypt and Congo DR face each other in Kinshasa on September 7th. Out of the two, Congo DR will be the more keen to grab a win as their last match in the group against Malawi will undoubtedly be trickier than Egypt's against Djibouti. Either way, both teams should earn a place in the last round of qualifying as (at the very least) one of the best runners-up.

Guinea currently lead Group 2 on goal difference ahead of Kenya although both teams have already dropped five points from their first twelve and may have to keep an eye on Zimbabwe who are just two points behind them in third.

The Zimbabweans have already earned a draw against the leading two and will play Guinea in their next match on September 7th. Should Guinea lose, they run the risk of missing out on a top-two spot in the group as they'll have to beat Kenya in their final match while Zimbabwe play bottom-place Namibia.

Group 5 looks to be heading for an intriguing finish even though Ghana and Libya have clearly had the best starts with nine points taken from a possible twelve. Looming not far behind them are Gabon who have already beaten Ghana earlier in the campaign, but Gabon's remaining matches are against bottom-placed Lesotho and Libya.

Libya's only defeat came in the group opener against Ghana (3-0) and they'll play host to Ghana in the next Group 5 match on September 5th. If Libya lose to them again and Gabon beat Lesotho as is expected, it'll be a straight fight for the second place in the group between Gabon and Libya on October 11th.

Angola's star may well be on the wane as they only managed to pick up one point from a possible six in their last two games. It leaves the Angolans second in Group 3 behind Benin - yes, BENIN - and level on points with third-placed Uganda.

Benin admittedly have a tough pair of final games to come against Angola and Uganda having already waltzed past group make-weights Niger in two games already, and their place at the top of the group looks decidedly uncertain. Angola travel to Benin in their next game having beaten them at home back at the start of June, and with a home tie against Niger set to close their campaign, Uganda could yet sneak into second spot to usurp Benin's lofty aspirations.

While Ivory Coast enjoy a comfortable three point lead over Botswana at the top of Group 7, Morocco are under pressure to keep their top billing in Group 8. The mighty minnows of Rwanda are just two goals behind them and are level on points with an easy away match against Mauritania next on the agenda. Morocco, however, lost 3-1 away to Rwanda during June before reversing the result in a 2-0 win in Casablanca a week later.

Key to who goes through in this group, then, is Ethiopia who have only so far managed to pick up a couple of wins against Mauritania. A victory over Morocco or Rwanda is perhaps too much to ask for, but the amount of goals they can prevent against both teams will no doubt have an effect on what will surely be a very important 'goal difference' column at the end of the campaign.

Coming up in Part 2 of our World Cup Update... all the action from South America...

Half-way to Ghana

While much of the footballing world had its attention focused squarely on the Euro 2008 qualifiers two weekends back, Africa quietly went about the business of undertaking its own equivalent - The 2008 African Nations Cup.

The first competition took place in 1957 and in the fifty years that have followed, many big names have emerged to not only dominate the game in Africa but also make a big impact on the world stage.

2008 hosts Ghana have won the tournament four times but haven't raised the trophy since 1982. They'll be hoping to make their home advantage pay off as Egypt did in 2006 and should start as favourites following their spirited run to the second round of the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Egypt themselves have started their qualifying campaign for Ghana 2008 well. They now lead Group 2 with seven points from a possible nine following a 3-1 win over Mauritania nine days ago. Egypt hold the record for most African Nations Cup titles - five in all - and a good showing next year will make up for a recent lack of World Cup Finals appearances.

Of the countries who played in Germany last year, Ivory Coast and Angola have 100% records at the top of ANC Group 1 and Group 6 while Togo and Tunisia have dropped points but still lead Groups 9 and 4 respectively. All four teams won their games at the end of March although Togo's progress was derailed temporarily back in October 2006 when they lost 1-0 to Mali.

Ivory Coast finished as runners-up to Egypt in the last African Nations Cup while Nigeria beat Senegal in the third-place match. The Nigerians, now under the leadership of Berti Vogts, continued their perfect start in Group 3 of the 2008 qualifiers, beating Uganda 1-0 on March 25th. A goal from Nwankwo Kanu secured all three points for his team in a close game, while El Hadji Diouf had a hand in the first of Senegal's four goals as they shut out Tanzania in Group 4. Senegal head a close group in which they've already lost to third placed Burkina Faso.

Cameroon are four-times African Nations Cup winners just like Egypt and they currently top Group 5. With three goals scored against each of their three opponents so far, the Indomitable Lions already look like clear-cut favourites to qualify ahead of Liberia, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda, and all that so far without the goalscoring contribution of star player Samuel Eto'o who is yet to get off the mark.

One team that seems to raise their game for the World Cup qualifiers but not the African Nations Cup are Morocco. They've only won the latter once back in 1976 with their only other honour being a runners-up spot in 2004. This year they're in the only group of three teams (the others having four) and already they've dropped points following the recent 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe. Despite this setback, the Moroccans lead the group ahead of Malawi who are two points further behind.

South Africa's return to international football in the mid-90's was emphatic following decades of political isolation. In 1996 they won the Nations Cup for the first time and two years later were runners-up to Egypt. Later that same year, South Africa reached the World Cup Finals in France and repeated the feat once again in 2002, but that was the last major achievement of the 'Bfana Bfana'.

The last two Nations Cup Finals have seen South Africa fail to even qualify from their first round groups but that trend could be reversed following a good start to their 2008 qualifying campaign. Blackburn Rovers defender Aaron Mokoena scored in their 1-0 win over Zambia back in October and a recent 3-0 win over bottom-placed Chad means they lead Group 11 with seven points from a possible nine.

The same can be said of Algeria in Group 8 but all is not as it seems for the North Africans. Though Algeria lead the group by three points, they've only scored an average of one goal a game against the likes of Guinea, Gambia and Cape Verde and only scrambled to a draw against the former. Given that the Algerians didn't even qualify for the last African Nations Cup Finals and their last win in the competition was back in 1990, many of their supporters are quite rightly expecting something better this time around.

And that just leaves Group 10 which is arguably the most open of them all. The Democratic Republic of Congo head the group on goal difference with four points ahead of Libya but Namibia in third and Ethiopia in fourth are only one point behind. Ethiopia's heyday was in the early days of the tournament back in the 1950's and 60's but they've already picked up a win against Libya who in turn have already beaten Namibia and drawn against the Congolese.

The only blot on the horizon for DR Congo is the current political unrest which has already caused their match against Ethiopia to be cancelled. Further disruption in the country may force the former Zaire to withdraw allowing one of the chasing pack to take their place in Ghana next year.