3 Days To Go: All-Injury Team

3 days to go and can Friday come any sooner?
I'm tired of waiting! Let's start the 2010 World Cup already!

No idea where I'm watching the first match between South Africa and Mexico.
I'll have more on that tomorrow.

For now, 3 posts today. So make sure to come back and check out the other material after reading this entertaining, enlightening post.

Today's big news concerns Portugal winger Nani, who's been ruled out of the 2010 World Cup with a collar bone injury.

Nani, who plays for English side Manchester United, suffered the injury in a training session with his national side in Portugal, before leaving for the tournament.

Bad news all around, as Nani is a wonderful talent.

But this tidbit got me to thinking: How many star players are going to miss the World Cup?

Take a look at this list of the injured and the doubtful ... You could field a nice team with all these guys. Also, lots of Germans and Chelsea players on this list, eh?

MICHAEL BALLACK, Germany

The German captain was ruled out of the Cup with an ankle injury after a late challenge during Chelsea's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth in May.

RIO FERDINAND, England

The England captain will miss the finals after injuring his knee in his country's first major training session in South Africa on Friday.

MICHAEL ESSIEN, Ghana

The Ghana midfielder suffered a knee injury at the African Cup of Nations in January and has failed to recover in time.

JOHN OBI MIKEL, Nigeria

The midfielder was forced out of the tournament with a badly bruised ankle suffered in Nigeria's first full contact training session in South Africa on Friday.

LASSANA DIARRA, France

The holding midfielder will not play in South Africa after being told he needed an extended rest because of persistent stomach pains which began during France's week-long training camp in the French Alps last month.

DAVID BECKHAM, England

England's most capped player ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for AC Milan in March.

RENE ADLER, Germany

Germany's first-choice goalkeeper underwent surgery on a rib injury in May and will play no part in the finals.

SIMON ROLFES, Germany

The midfielder ruled himself out of the World Cup after saying he was short of match fitness following knee surgery in January.

CHRISTIAN TRAESCH, Germany

The midfielder, who was considered a possible replacement for captain Michael Ballack, is out after injuring his ankle in a friendly at the squad's training camp in Italy.

HEIKO WESTERMANN, Germany

The defender will miss the tournament after fracturing a bone in his foot during a warm-up win over Hungary last week.

MIROSLAV KARHAN, Slovakia

Slovakia's most capped player has a hamstring injury and will miss his country's first World Cup appearance.

Doubtful


DIDIER DROGBA, Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast's fearsome striker underwent successful surgery on an injured elbow on Saturday but remains a doubt for the finals. Drogba picked up the injury in a World Cup warm-up against Japan on Friday.

ARJEN ROBBEN, Netherlands

The Dutch winger needs a scan to determine the extent of a hamstring injury he suffered in a 6-1 friendly thrashing of Hungary on Saturday.

ANDREA PIRLO, Italy

The Italian midfielder will miss the defending champions' opening game of the tournament against Paraguay, and possibly the whole tournament, after injuring his calf in Thursday's 2-1 friendly defeat by Mexico.

HARRY KEWELL, Australia

The Australian winger has hardly played since December because of a troublesome groin injury.

TIM BROWN, New Zealand

It is unknown if the New Zealand vice-captain will recover in time from surgery on a fractured shoulder suffered in the friendly defeat to Australia last month.

HUMBERTO SUAZO, Chile

Chile's leading striker will reportedly miss their opening World Cup match against Honduras and possibly the second game with Switzerland because of a hamstring injury.

LEE DONG-GUK, South Korea

The South Korean striker was named in the final 23-man squad despite concerns over a thigh problem which is expected to keep him out of their opening game against Greece on June 12.

2010 World Cup Tidbits: Where We Stand in Africa

It's been some time since my last post so let's catch up on some news from the 2010 World Cup and African football, shall we?

First off, some self-promotion ... my post on Africans in the UEFA Champions League from earlier today ... don't you dare miss it!

- Are you interested in the upcoming African Cup of Nations in Angola? Well, you should be. Here are photos of their stadiums being finished in time for the tournament in January.

- Is Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor in trouble for taunting Arsenal's fans after scoring a goal against them with new club Manchester City? Looks that way. What was he thinking, anyways?

- Here's a nice little primer from about.com about African football. Nothing new, but what the hey?

- A Ning African football social networking site? Yes, please. Let's join ...

Finally, let's catch up on the state of affairs in African qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, courtesy of FIFA.

Two matchdays remain in the third and final round of African qualifiers. Who's in and who is out?

Which teams are already through?
With four wins out of four, seven goals for and none against, Ghana’s progress in this third qualifying round has been flawless. With qualification secured, the Black Stars can now aim to build on their debut performance at Germany 2006.

Which teams are out?
Still winless after four games, Rwanda (Group C) and Sudan (Group D) are no longer in the running for the big event in South Africa. Despite faring somewhat better, Mali and Benin are in the same situation in Group D, as are Guinea and Malawi in E.

The permutations

Group A: This is by far the most open of the five groups with all four teams still in with a shout, although Cameroon are in the driving seat after their recent back-to-back wins over second-placed Gabon. If they beat Togo, and Morocco win in Gabon on the next matchday, the Indomitable Lions will join Ghana in the finals. For the other three teams, their fate is out of their hands.

Group B: Two solid performances against main rivals Nigeria (0-0 in Rades and 2-2 in Abuja) mean that Tunisia will qualify if they record a home win against Kenya in October and Nigeria fail to beat Mozambique. The Super Eagles will need to win their two final matches and hope other results go their way if they are to finish top.

Group C: Twenty-three years after their last FIFA World Cup appearance, Algeria have never been closer to a return to the world stage. With an unblemished home record (three wins out of three), the Fennecs need only to better Egypt’s result on the next matchday to wrap up qualification. Failing that, all will be decided when they face off against the Pharoahs in November.

Group D: With Ghana safely through, all that remains is for Mali, Benin and Sudan to battle it out for second place in the two outstanding rounds of fixtures.

Group E: Although qualification is not yet a mathematical certainty, with 12 points out of 12, Ivory Coast have done all the hard work. A single point from their two remaining games, in Malawi and at home to Guinea, will be enough to see the Elephants through, four years after their maiden FIFA World Cup.

What about second and third place?
This last round of qualifiers in Africa doubles as the qualification tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations. The top three teams in each group will book their passage to the finals in Angola in January, just a few months before the FIFA World Cup itself kicks off. Algeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast are already assured of a place, while the others still have everything to play for in the last two matchdays.

Final Stage of African World Cup Qualifiers At Halfway Point

We're almost to the 2010 World Cup in Africa, as the continent is now half way through their last phase of Cup qualifying.

Where do we stand? Let's take a look at the standings for the five groups.

Remember, the five group winners go to the 2010 World Cup. The top three in each group advance to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola. Qualifying starts again in September.

GROUP A

				P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
			Gabon	2	2	0	0	5	1	6
			Togo	3	1	1	1	1	3	4
			Morocco	3	0	2	1	1	2	2
			Cameroon	2	0	1	1	0	1	1

In Group A, Gabon is the surprise leader over the likes of Cameroon and Morocco.
What's up with Cameroon? They've yet to score a goal! Get it together, lads.

GROUP B

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Tunisia	3	2	1	0	4	1	7
Nigeria	3	1	2	0	3	0	5
Kenya	3	1	0	2	3	6	3
Mozambique	3	0	1	2	1	4	1

Tunisia has always had a strong team. Can they keep the Nigerians at bay? They play again on September 5th ...

GROUP C

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Algeria	3	2	1	0	5	1	7
Zambia	3	1	1	1	2	3	4
Rwanda	2	0	1	1	0	1	1
Egypt	2	0	1	1	2	4	1

What's up with the Egyptians, reigning African champions? The Egyptians are disappointing again. Luckily, there's still time to get it together. I'd like to see a run from them in the World Cup. Until then, the Algerians are doing a great job at the top of the group, letting in just one but scoring five.

GROUP D

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Ghana	3	3	0	0	5	0	9
Mali	3	1	1	1	4	4	4
Benin	3	1	0	2	2	4	3
Sudan	3	0	1	2	1	3	1

Group favorite Ghana is riding high. Can anyone catch them? Doubtful.

GROUP E

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Ivory Coast	3	3	0	0	10	3	9
B Faso	3	2	0	1	7	5	6
Guinea	3	1	0	2	5	7	3
Malawi	3	0	0	3	1	8	0

Ivory Coast is doing exceptionally well. The surprise package is Burkina Faso, a mere three points behind the group leaders. Still, Ivory Coast just defeated their major competition and another three points would see them inch ever so closer to the 2010 Cup.

There you have it! For a full schedule of fixtures, please click here.

We're so close, I can almost taste it!

Hey: Kenya Can Get to 2010 World Cup

We've often chronicled the ups and downs of Kenyan football.
Now, with new coach Antoine Hey in place, Kenya is not only looking for on and off-field stability but a place in the 2010 World Cup.

Hey thinks he can lead them there.

The final group phase gets underway at the end of March, with Kenya's Harambee Stars hosting Tunisia in a group that also includes Nigeria and Mozambique.

The team that tops the group qualifies for the 2010 World Cup, and the top three will go to the 2010 African Cup of Nations finals.

While a Nations Cup place would seem a realistic target, Hey is thinking big.

"We are six games away from the World Cup. We are about to rewrite history because we are not aiming at anything less," he said.

"We must join the best teams in the world when the World Cup comes to Africa for the first time."

Hey was appointed last month to replace sacked local coach Francis Kimanzi, who guided the Harambee Stars into the final qualifying round.

He was most recently in charge of Liberia, having also had spells with Lesotho and Gambia.

Hey has named a 28-player squad for the Tunisia match that includes the recall of former captain Musa Otieno, a South Africa-based defender who had retired from international competition.

He has also named fellow German Kemal Halat, who was with him in Liberia, as his assistant, and Kenyan, Razak Siwa as goalkeepers' coach.

Kenya's hopes of beating Tunisia, however, suffered a setback after French club AJ Auxerre said striker Dennis Oliech would not be available due to injury.

Angola 2010: The Stadiums

2010 is a big year in African football. Not only will Africa host the 2010 World Cup, but see the re-appearance of their continental championship, the African Cup of Nations.

Today, the BBC takes a look at the progress of the stadiums being built for the tournament, being held in January 2010.

They're getting there, slowly but surely ...

South Africa Coach: We're Almost There

South Africa national team coach Joel Santana says his side is almost to the point where they'll do reasonably well in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Santana's been the focal point of criticism the past few months as Bafana Bafana have struggled, failing to qualify for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

But the team's been playing better of late and the Brazilian coach is encouraged by what he's seen.

“At this stage we are staying calm. We have the definition of what we want for 2010; we are actually halfway to what we want,” said Santana.

The Brazilian coach aired his sentiments after the announcement of the team to play against Cameroon in the Mandela Challenge next week in Rustenburg, South Africa.

“I now know the players that are playing for me and I know how to make them approach the game. This is why we have tried to preserve the team from the past three games and have gone for the in-form players.

“Other players have been left out of the team because they are injured, like Bryce Moon, while others have to stay on with their teams,” says Santana.

“This job is just like life; is all about learning. We heard and we have seen things during this period since I arrived here and what I say is that I feel very secure.

“This job always has its ups and downs, but you have to live by the results that you get. Though we understand that people have this anxiety of wanting to have a great national team that wins all the games, you have to be patient. But we just need to be united going into the New Year.

“You should know that this is not just a coach’s job, but involves all of us from the media which I now know how it operates and sees things at times, the fans and the players.

“I don’t have regrets about what has happened in the past since I arrived here and took over from Carlos Parreira. I am satisfied and happy to be here. The Confederations Cup is a big challenge for us, but the World Cup is the main goal that we are prioritising and working towards.

“We hope to close the year with one more win ahead of the Confederations Cup next year. Each game is important for us and this match in particular is crucial in that we are honoring a great man and it will be a nice birthday gift for me if we win as I want to celebrate my birthday on December 25 with a smile,” he says.

The Brazilian says he is aware of the players that the West Africans will bring for next week’s match.

“We know the players just like you do, and they are quality players who play in European leagues. But we need this kind of test and we have watched their recent games.”

Santana says his wish is to make it four wins in a row when he faces Cameroon

“This is an important tournament in the history of this country, honoring one of the biggest legends of our time,” says Santana.

“The best way to honor Nelson Mandela would be to win this game. We will be playing at home and we will be expecting a lift from our supporters. Our ambition is to make it four wins in a row.”

MY POV: Santana's challenges have only just begun. The team's playing better, though. Let's wish him luck in the Mandela Challenge and take it from there ...

2010 African Cup Qualifying Now Set

The draw for the final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations took place today in Zurich, Switzerland.

So what happened?

African champions Egypt were handed what many would consider to be the best of the five group draws.

The Egyptians will face Algeria, Zambia and Rwanda in Group C as they attempt to reach their third World Cup finals.

Cameroon, the highest ranked African country, were drawn against Morocco, Gabon and Togo.

Ghana will face Benin, who have cruised through the qualifiers to date, as well as Mali and Sudan.

Nigeria will face Tunisia, Kenya, and Mozambique, while 2006 World Cup finalists Ivory Coast will meet Guinea, Burkina Faso and Malawi.

The 20 remaining African nations were drawn into five groups of four teams each.

The five group winners qualify directly for the 2010 World Cup finals, while the first three in each group will go to Angola to contest the African Cup of Nations in the same year.

Hosts South Africa qualify for the World Cup automatically, but were knocked out of the African Cup of Nations at the first group stage of qualifying.

The final round of qualifying matches will begin in March 2009.

So, how about some analysis?

BBC Sport was so kind as to offer us a breakdown of the groups vying for a spot in the first African World Cup. Here are some excerpts ...

Group A is a Francophone affair, and a tough test for any team hoping to make it to the World Cup in 2010.
Cameroon may be Africa's top-ranked side, but they will know there is no easy passage through a group which also includes Morocco, Gabon and 2006 World Cup contenders Togo.

Cameroon boss Otto Pfister knows all about Togo. He lead them through that chaotic campaign in Germany and will now meet his old charges as he tries to lead the Indomitable Lions to South Africa and Angola.

Gabon will be fired up to try and embarrass their illustrious neighbours and Morocco are looking for a resurgence under new coach Roger Lemerre.

There is no free passage to 2010 from Group A.

20 Teams Advance in African Cup Qualifying

With 607 days until the opening of the 2010 World Cup South Africa, African Cup qualifying is heading to its final stage.

20 countries advanced into the final round of African qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after an eventful weekend.

Along with the perennial crop of heavyweights, including nine previous Cup participants, the likes of Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sudan also progressed, indication of the constantly shifting power balance on the continent.

Unfortunately, Senegal is out following a 1-1 draw at home to Gambia on Saturday.

Diomansy Kamara, who plays his club football for Fulham in the English Premier League, believes the failure marks the end of a generation for the Lions of Teranga.

"There will now be three years without competition until the next qualifiers and for many of the players who are over the age of 28, it means the end of their international career," he explained. "From the beginning of the qualifiers things did not work out for us."

We'll miss Senegal and their insatiable energy and enthusiasm.

The Democratic Republic of Congo also miss out after a 2-1 loss in Malawi.

As Zaire, the country qualified for Germany 1974 to become Africa's first sub-Saharan side to compete at the World Cup. But although they have come close since, it remains their only appearance on the sport's grandest stage.

Mozambique had little hope of making it to the final phase of qualifying, even after they had beaten Botswana in Gaborone on Saturday in one of only three away wins of the weekend's 22 African preliminaries.

Coach Mart Nooij revealed they were only told that Sunday's sequence of results had fallen perfectly in their favor, and allowed them to qualify as the last best runners-up, when they got back to Maputo after a long day's travel.

"It was a narrow escape but I think we played well in all six of our qualifiers. We didn't have much luck in the first three games but if you are willing to play offensive football then in the end it pays off," said the Dutchman.

The 20 sides will go into the draw in Zurich on October 20, when they will be divided into five groups of four. The group winners qualify directly for South Africa 2010, and the top three in each section will reach the CAF African Cup of Nations Angola 2010.

South Africa: It's Getting Bad

Now that South Africa have been eliminated from playing in the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola ahead of hosting the 2010 World Cup, many in the nation are blaming the South African Football Association (Safa) for their football development programs.

Safa chief Raymond Hack doesn't respond kindly to these critics, calling them "idiots who do not know what development is."

It's getting nasty down in South Africa.

Safa has been under fire for its lack of development structures both from former coaches and the South African Parliament's sports portfolio committee.

Bafana Bafana have been performing dismally since 1996 when they were crowned champions at the African Cup of Nations. When former Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira joined the national team as head coach, he stated that much needed to be done by Safa to develop young players for 2010.

Referring to the nation's population, Hack quipped that each one of the 50-million Bafana Bafana supporters across the country always has something to say about the players and football development.

"If they know better, they should be the national coach. People like Neil Tovey [former captain], who has been fired many times as a coach, and Ted Dumitru talk nonsense and rubbish when they talk about the national team. Dumitru is a 78-year-old who watches English football on television and has failed as a national coach. We have 52 Safa regions across the country and we train coaches who coach in those leagues. They select players for the regions and compete in competitions that we organize. People have no clue but just talk whatever they feel like talking," fumed Hack.

When Parreira took over as coach he was amazed at the lack of functional junior structures and suggested that leagues for under-16, under-18 and under-20 players be established.

Last weekend, Bafana Bafana lost 1-0 against Nigeria in a match that ended South Africa's dreams of participating at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

This is widely seen as a disgrace for a country that will host the 2010 World Cup. On Tuesday, they lost 1-0 to Guinea in a match watched by about 2,000 fans. Ranked 70th in the world by FIFA and 16th in Africa, Bafana Bafana have had 11 coaches since 1992.

Cedric Frolick, deputy chairperson of the parliamentary sports portfolio committee, said Bafana Bafana's dismal performances are not doing justice to the majority of black South Africans who follow the game.

"Football is still seen as a black sport, but because of incompetent people it has become a laughing stock especially leading up to 2010. When you compare it with rugby and cricket, even those two codes are not doing well at the moment but at least you can see that there are development plans."

"We have always asked Safa about their development programs but until today we haven't gotten any answers ... We have competent people who can do the job better and I think they need to be given a chance," Frolick said.

He added that Safa will be invited to Parliament to explain why Bafana Bafana have fared so badly.

"Hack should stop saying that there is a plan for 2010 because it doesn't exist. Last year when we invited Safa to Parliament to present this plan they didn't, but instead sent us documents to read which we could not understand. We want to interact with them," said Frolick.

A fuming Hack responded that Parliament is not composed of football experts, saying their job is to facilitate and provide infrastructure."We gave them [Parliament] the documents and that was enough. Their job is not to question us on what and how we do it."

One of Hack's targets, former Bafana Bafana coach Dumitru, said the national team's poor performance over the years has caused "too much pain to the nation".

"It is not a matter of good selection, or style of play, or the Brazilian coach, but because we don't have the quality players to match the standard of teams like Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana.

"We still call players that we did eight years back but who haven't helped the team perform better. Some players are not even playing for their teams, yet they are being selected," said Dumitru.

Dumitru said Hack should stick to finding sponsorships for the national teams and leave the technicalities of the game to the experts.

Luke Masomere, coach of Harare team Caps United, said it is not "normal at all" for a country of South Africa's size and importance to fail to qualify for Angola 2010. "This development doesn't augur well for 2010. It will kill local interest in the game."

Previous World Cup hosts France won the final in 1998, co-hosts South Korea reached the semifinal in 2002 and Germany reached the semis at the 2006 World Cup.

Masomere questioned why South Africa employed Parreira in the first place. "He struggled at the last World Cup in Germany with more talented players. South Africa has impressive local coaches, these are the guys that won them the cup in 1996," he said, referring to AmaZulu coach Clive Barker.

Masomere, who has also coached in Botswana, said the departure of Parreira had presented Safa with a "glorious opportunity" to have a local coach.

"That was a strange decision," he said of the decision to hire Joel Santana. "The results to prove that are there. Santana is a club coach, not a national coach."

MY POV: There is a whirlwind of disagreement over the direction of the South African game ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Many believe the blame lies with the people running the game. One would think the talent on the field could do better, but for some reason Bafana Bafana can't put it together.

Would it be a grave embarrassment should South Africa fail to make it out of the group stage in their World Cup?

I guess so. But at the same time, the Cup could induce more interest in the game, especially if it's seen as merely a 'black sport', as Frolick says above.

The Cup's coming and South Africa have many issues to deal with ahead of the games, from infrastructure to security. One can only hope that this issue doesn't cause the country more anxiety ahead of an already-anxiety inducing tournament.

Should South Africa Coach Get Boot?

Now that South Africa has been eliminated from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, will South Africa coach Joel Santana get the boot?

A South African newspaper editorial from the Cape Times doesn't seem to think so.

The South African Football Association must stay calm and resist the urge to fire coach Joel Santana after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Angola in 2010.

Bafana lost 1-0 to Nigeria on Saturday, ending their hopes of sneaking in through the backdoor after a miserable campaign in Group Four. Yet Bafana were irresistible at times on a dusty and patchy EPRU Stadium pitch and played some of the best football seen by the national team for a long time. Yet they just could not find the back of the net.

The knee-jerk reaction now would be to fire the coach. The Brazilian coach has so far only managed to win one qualifying match. The 4-1 victory over Equatorial Guinea was also the only time Bafana managed to score in their campaign.

But Santana was always on a hiding to nothing after inheriting the team from his countryman Carlos Parreira only a month before the start of the qualifiers.

In his first international in charge, Bafana were outplayed by the Super Eagles in Abuja. They were played off the park that day and lost 2-0. After beating Equatorial Guinea, Bafana then travelled to Sierra Leone, where they lost 1-0 to the Leone Stars, drawing with them a week later in Atteridgeville. In both games they failed to score after creating numerous chances.

Bafana needed to win Saturday's game to stand a chance of qualifying. Ace goal-scorer Benni McCarthy was back after missing the first four qualifiers. Nigeria were depleted and looked ripe for the picking.

A couple of old faces were back and everybody in the Bafana team was quietly confident that they can pull-off their first competitive victory over the Super Eagles.

And they nearly delivered.

Bafana played out of their socks. It was probably one their best performances in recent times. But yet again poor finishing cost them the game. After nearly 20 shots at goal, you would expect that at least one of them would find the back of the net. But it was not to be.

Now people are calling for the coach's head after his team failed to qualify for their first Nations Cup since 1996. But what purpose would that serve?

Judged purely on results, Santana does not have a strong case. But appointing a new coach two years ahead of the World Cup and less than a year from the Confederation Cup would be counter-productive.

And what about the responsibility of the players? Santana can only do so much. Unfortunately he can't hold a player like Siyabonga Nkosi's hand while he is in the box.

On Saturday, Bafana played some breathtaking football at times. Tactically speaking, you could see that Santana had drilled the team the week before and that he has a vision for the team. For instance, he has been criticised for playing two defensive midfielders. Yet it did seem to work on Saturday. Kagisho Dikgacoi and Macbeth Sibaya created so much space for their attacking players it was almost embarrassing.

Unfortunately poor finishing and decision-making undid all the hard work. It was a shame, and the team must have been gutted after Nigeria scored with about probably their first shot on target.

The point is that firing Santana will be a step backward. He does have a vision and it seems the players are starting to buy into it. Saturday's statistics on possession and shots on goal makes a compelling case for how well Bafana played.

If they can learn how to finish and score goals, perhaps they will be able to compete with the likes of Nigeria. But at international level players should able to score goals. It is not up to the coach to teach them that.

Benin, Cameroon On to Second Phase

Benin overcame the formidable challenge of Angola on Sunday to join Nigeria and Cameroon in the last phase of African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A 3-2 win in Cotonou for the small West African country came 24 hours after Cameroon had secured their progress by beating the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 in Praia.

Nigeria, who had already made sure of their berth at the end of June, kept up their 100 percent record with a 1-0 win over World Cup hosts South Africa, who are now virtually certain to miss out on the next African Cup of Nations in Angola.

The World Cup qualifiers are also serving as a tournament to determine the 16 finalists for the 2010 Cup of Nations, which is being held six months before the World Cup.

Striker Razak Omotoyossi scored twice for Benin to increase his tally of goals in the qualifiers to five.

Defeat for Angola leaves the 2006 World Cup finalists facing the prospect of early elimination.

Cameroon came from a goal down on Saturday to beat their island opponents with substitutes Achille Webo and Alain Nkong scoring for the Indomitable Lions.

Burkina Faso, Egypt, Libya, and Ivory Coast all need a single point from their last second-round group qualifiers next month to also advance.

Burkina Faso drew 0-0 at home to Tunisia in Ouagadougou on Saturday to keep up their three-point advantage in Group Nine while the Ivorians drew 1-1 in Mozambique on Sunday to stay three points clear in Group Seven.

Playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika scored a 31st-minute winner for Egypt as the African champions beat DR Congo 1-0 in Kinshasa on Sunday in Group 12.

Libya's 1-0 win over Ghana put them into top place in Group Five.

Gabon moved level with Ghana in second place after a 3-0 away win over Lesotho in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Willy Endzanga scored a second-half winner for Congo as they beat Mali 1-0 in Brazzaville to ensure both sides share the leadership in Group 10.

Live World Cup Qualifying Scores

Here, the latest scores from the latest round of 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers...

The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join hosts South Africa at the World Cup in 2010.

The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

From FIFA, some results from today .... Is South Africa out of the Cup of Nations already??

The already-qualified Nigeria maintained one of only two 100 per cent records in African Zone qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, and made it five clean sheets from as many outings in Port Elizabeth. Ikechukwu Uche scored the only game as the Super Eagles inflicted a 1-0 defeat on South Africa, who, although through to the next world finals as the Host Nation, are all but out of the running for a place at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2010.

Burundi kept their faint hopes of reaching the final phase of regional qualifying for South Africa 2010 alive, at least until later today, by eking out a 2-1 victory away to Group 9 tailenders Seychelles. Henry Mbazumutima and Claude Nahimana put the Swallows firmly in control, before a 63rd-minute Philip Zialor goal ensured a nervy finish for the visitors.

Burundi now need leaders Burkina Faso to beat Tunisia at home in the seciotn's other Matchday 5 game to have any chance of progressing. Seychelles, meanwhile, remain pointless with just one game left to play.

Kenya went three points clear of Guinea, who play in Zimbabwe tomorrow, at the Group 2 summit courtesy of a 1-0 reverse of Namibia, who are unable to advance.

Mauritius and Tanzania may have entered their Group 1 game with no chance of progressing to the next phase of African Zone qualifying for South Africa 2010, but that did not stop them serving up an enchanting first half at the King George V stadium in Curepipe. It produced five goals, all of them in a frenetic 22-minute period and four of them in favour of the Taifa Stars.

African Zone Qualifying, Matchday 5 results
Saturday
South Africa 0-1 Nigeria
Kenya 1-0 Namibia
Seychelles 1-2 Burundi
Mauritius 1-4 Tanzania

Friday
Djibouti 0-3 Malawi
Libya 1-0 Ghana
Algeria 3-2 Senegal

2010 African Qualifiers Are Confusing!

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, 'FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal' with their qualifier rules.

Basically, there's a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Play along).

South Africa spokesman Sipho Nkumane said the situation was strange, to say the least. "It is a difficult situation. How can we tell our players that they are not allowed to win a game? We will have to look at all the permutations after our game against Nigeria and then see what we have to do. The same situation could, of course, also arise in other groups."

A FIFA spokesman said that they worked on the premise that all teams would have to win games to ensure that they finished first or second.

"Teams have to win their matches if they want to make sure of winning their groups or finishing second. If South Africa do not win their game against Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone beat Nigeria, then they will probably not finish second at all.

"We will have to see the results of all the games to know all the different possibilities," he said.

So how did this happen? Here's the South Africa scenario.

In Group 4 of the qualifiers, where South Africa is close to being knocked out of the African Cup of Nations (the World Cup qualifiers also serve as the 2010 African Cup of Nations qualifiers), the 2010 hosts could be in a situation where they'll be eliminated if they win their final game against Equatorial Guinea.

After drawing and losing to Sierra Leone, Bafana Bafana face a do-or-die game against Nigeria this weekend. If they fail to win, they will certainly be eliminated from the 2010 Nations Cup.

If they win, much will depend on the result of the other game between Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.

A victory for Sierra Leone will all but guarantee an early exit for the 1996 African champions.

A draw or a victory for the visiting side from Equatorial Guinea will keep alive South Africa's chances of qualifying for the finals of the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola, on condition they do not win their final game in Equatorial Guinea.

South Africa, who are currently on four points behind the already- qualified Nigerians, would move to seven points should they win. Sierra Leone would remain on four or move to five if they lose or draw to Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea would move to four points (with a draw) or six (with a victory).

South Africa then faces Equatorial Guinea in their final game and would finish second if they win that game. In that case, however, Equatorial Guinea would in all probability finish last in the group and the six points that South Africa secured against them would be scratched, leaving South Africa with four points - too few to advance as one of the best-eight second-placed teams.

If, however, South Africa do not win, Equatorial Guinea could finish third and South Africa keep the three or four points they secured against them and as a result could advance to the next round with six or seven points.

Umm, WHAT??

From the BBC, a guide to African qualifying ...

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has detailed a complicated formula to determine which teams progress to the second qualifying group stage for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

The 12 group winners in the first group phase and the eight best runners-up will advance to the second stage.

But a fair amount of mathematics will be required to discover those best runners-up.

One of the 12 groups has only three teams, and Caf wants to give the runners-up in that group a fair chance of qualifying.

So rather than simply looking at points gained and goal difference to determine the best second-placed teams, a re-calculation will take place.

The runners-up in Group 11, which has three teams will have their statistics unchanged.

But in the other groups, the points and goal difference that the second-placed teams had against the fourth-placed team will be erased.

These new totals will then be used to determine the eight best runners-up, using points gained and then goal difference, then goals scored.

Caf says that a play-off match will take place in November should there be a tie for the eighth best runners-up spot.

Second stage

The 20 teams that qualify for the second group stage will be drawn in five groups of four teams.

The group winners qualify for the 2010 World Cup, but should hosts South Africa win a group, there will be a recalculation to determine the team that goes to the World Cup.

All results against South Africa would be erased and a new table calculated.

The first three teams in each group will qualify for the 2010 Nations Cup.

If Angola reach the second group stage, the three teams drawn in their group will automatically qualify for the Nations Cup.

MY POV: I dunno about you, but my head hurts reading the above.
How about we just wait and see what happens this weekend, OK??
Why couldn't they make this more straight forward? Yikes ...

2010 African Cup of Nations: Angola Prepares

It seems like just yesterday we were blogging about the finals of the African Cup of Nations tournament in Ghana.

But things move quickly in the world of football.

Today, news that the host nation of the 2010 African Cup of Nations, Angola, is confident their infrastructure will be ready in time for the tournament.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) seems to agree after an inspection team dropped in and snooped around.

The country sees the football tournament as a catalyst for change.

Much of Angola's infrastructure was destroyed by a 27-year civil war. Therefore, it's seen by some as an ambitious choice to host the Cup.

After only six years of peace, many roads remain poor, some still have land mines in them, there are few hotels and the country is hard to to get to for tourists.

But things can only get better.

If the amount of building that is going on in the capital of Luanda and the other main provinces is anything to go by, the competition is definitely leading to a rebirth of facilities.

Manuel Mariano, Angola's director of information and publicity for COCAN (the Cup's organizing committee), told the BBC: "We are a country in re-construction. We are a country in movement; the war was over six years ago.

"And you can notice what the changes are, that this country is going through, from North to South, from West to East and in the center. Therefore this is a task that the Angolans will perform and, like the President says, we will have a successful Nations Cup."

All over the country, and particularly in Luanda, new hotels are being built, and key roads linking the provincial capitals are being rebuilt, largely by Chinese construction companies.

MY POV: The Chinese have a hand in many public works projects in Africa, don't they? There's been a lot made of this as the burgeoning superpower makes inroads in the last great untouched economic expanse in the world.

The Chinese built the new stadiums and have the contracts to build the four other new stadiums in Luanda, Lubango, Cabinda and Benguela.

The Luanda stadium, which is in a new area of suburban development about 15 miles from the city center, will seat 50,000.

According to the CAF inspectors, this project and the stadiums in Benguela and Lubango are all running to schedule.

The stadium in Cabinda, however, is proving a little trickier.

Cabinda's geographical location, part of Angola but an isolated province within the DR of Congo, has hampered the building work.

The project is running around 20 days behind schedule, although this time is expected to be recovered over the next few months.

More than 4,000 foreign visitors are expected to come to the 2010 tournament and a lot of work is being done to enhance the capacity of the regional airports and rebuild sections of the railway destroyed during the civil war.

One concern is access to visas for visiting fans. COCAN say it is now entering the second stage of tournament preparation and this will look at the logistics for tourists and transportation.

Tickets will be pre-sold, the committee said, and a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to prepare the country for the influx of visitors, the group added.

The CAF inspectors are due back in January. Until then, it's all hands to the cement mixers.

MY POV: Thanks to the BBC for the majority of this article.

Once again, football plays a part in restoring civic pride and establishing a sense of collective unity in a land ravaged by infighting.

One only hopes Angola gets their infrastructure in place before the Cup and everything goes smoothly.

2010 is shaping up to be quite the year in African football, no?

African World Cup Qualifying Offers No Surprises

Sounds like it was a ho-hum day for African World Cup/Cup of Nations qualifying, save for Malawi's 8-0 destruction of Djibouti.

There were no major surprises in the afternoon's eight games, with continental powerhouses Cameroon and Togo winning their respective engagements to take early leads in their groups.

Let's give the fine folks at FIFA.com the chance to break it down for us, shall we?
(Well, they provide the facts, I provide the meat. Work with me, people!)

According to fifa.com, the game of the day had Togo defeating Zambia 1-0 on a goal by Adekamni Olufade in the 16th minute. Why so good, FIFA?

As in many of the other sections, the headline clash in Group 11 came on the very first day, with the Sparrowhawks of Togo taking on the Copper Bullets of Zambia. Despite being forced to play at the Ohene-Djan Stadium in the Ghanaian capital of Accra due to the suspension imposed on their home ground in Lome, Henri Stambouli's side took a big stride towards securing top spot in the group.

Olufade put them in the driving seat 16 minutes in and that is where the Germany 2006 finalists stayed to clinch a vital opening-day win. With only three teams in the pool following Eritrea's withdrawal, Togo will be anxious not to drop points when they take on a beatable Swaziland team on the road in their next game.

Not a bad win for a team forced to play away from home ...

The surprise of the day saw Tanzania draw perennial pushover Mauritius 1-1.

Minnows Mauritius made a mockery of the 104-place gap separating them from Tanzania in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking when the two sides met at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. The visitors even had the audacity to take a first-half lead before the Tanzanians, pushed on by their excitable fans, eventually levelled things up. The hosts could not find a winner, though, leaving the islanders with an early advantage in Group 1.

Like the old adage says, you never know what'll happen once the ball is rolled out. That's why they play the games. Good going, Mauritius!

Here are the rest of Saturday's results:

Malawi 8-1 Djibouti
Namibia 2-1 Kenya
Botswana 0-0 Madagascar
Cameroon 2-0 Cape Verde Islands
Rwanda 3-0 Mauritania
Togo 1-0 Zambia
Tanzania 1-1 Mauritius
Uganda 1-0 Niger
Senegal 1-0 Algeria
Morocco 3-0 Ethiopia

For more, please click on the link above ...

It's just getting started, folks! Hang in there!

African Stadiums OK For World Cup Qualifiers

Finally, some encouraging news regarding the safety of stadiums in Africa ahead of next month's World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

All the stadiums under threat of being barred from hosting World Cup qualifying matches have been passed by FIFA.

Stadiums in Congo, DR Congo, Gambia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Zambia will be allowed to host matches in next month after having upgrades or starting the necessary improvements demanded by FIFA.

But that's not the end of it.

FIFA, football's ruling body, has warned it might clamp down again if the improvements ordered are not in place by the start of the second phase of group qualifiers in November 2008.

"In order to play 2010 World Cup qualifiers in stadiums at the level of such a competition, FIFA took the initiative to inspect several stadiums in Africa in the past months," a FIFA spokesman said.

"Based on the inspections and thanks to the works already realized since then, FIFA has authorized that these stadiums be used for the preliminary competition matches of the 2010 World Cup. However, in most cases, FIFA has decided that the present authorization is conditioned by the mandatory completion of some works by the end of November."

In other words, get your house in order ... or else.

Many African countries were under the threat of having to move their upcoming home matches to neutral venues. Now only Lesotho and Togo are playing home matches outside their borders.

Lesotho have moved matches to Bloemfontein in neighboring South Africa because of renovations to their only national stadium.

Togo have been given a four-match home ban after violence at the last qualifier they hosted in last year's African Cup of Nations qualifiers, when supporters attacked Mali's players.

Togo, surprise World Cup finalists in 2006, have moved their matches from Lome to neighboring Ghana.

MY POV: This is great news. On one hand, FIFA's clamped down on unsafe football stadiums. They're protecting the most important asset in this equation: the supporter.

On the other hand, the host countries are forced to deal with the problem at hand: the inadequate stadiums. Renovations are made, FIFA inspects, FIFA deems the stadium safe and qualifiers proceed.

This is a classic win-win situation.

True, some countries can't afford the renovations. Some countries are dealing with issues far more important that football.

But then again, isn't that where the focus should lie? The problem at hand? Not the football?

Good job by FIFA. Let's hope the stadium issue gets more press as the qualifiers go on and no one has to set foot in an unsafe environment on the continent again.