CAN 2010: Group D

Yesterday saw round 2 concluded with Tunisia taking on Gabon and Cameroon taking on Zambia.

Tunisia vs Gabon:

The first game was a lack luster event and seeing Tunisia play you wonder how the mighty have fallen. They are poor and then you see their coach talking and you know why. El Benzarty is very poor and seeing his post game interviews really amused me. The man describes another match. He talked about a disallowed goal that never was and penalties not given although the one real penalty should have been given for a foul on Hull City's Cousin. For some reasons he thought the referee was harsh on them and so did the commentator EL Shawalay. Frankly the ref was probably the best thing in the game. On the other hand I was very impressed by Gabon. I didn't get to see them play Cameroon but they looked very dangerous yesterday and could cause trouble for many teams if they qualify.

Cameroon vs Zambia:

Where to begin. Frankly Rigobert Song put on an appalling display. I don't think he could have played any worse if Zambia had payed him. He gifted Zambia the first goal by heading into his own goal only for Kameni to barely save it but Malenga had an easy tap in a wide open goal. Song was then too lazy to chase a long ball which ended up with Kameni conceding a penalty as he rushed to cover Song's laziness. I have not seen this much bad defending since Titus Bramble was at Newcastle. Paul Le Guen was right to drop him in qualification and I think he should be dropped now if Cameroon have any chance of progressing. How Mr. Le Guen picked him ahead of Spurs Central Defender Bassong is baffling to me.

Zambia's keeper Kennedy Mweene had a role to play too. He gifted Cameroon a way back into the game when all seemed lost. He failed to hold on to a clearance/cross from Geremi who was trying to keep the ball in play. It ended up in the back of the net. After that the game turned over it's head and it was goals galore with Samuel Eto'o then giving Cameroon the lead and Idrissou to seal the win late on after Christopher Katongo had equalized from the spot. Cameroon didn't impress but playing against 12 men (Song was playing for Zambia) they got the job done like true veterans. A clash with Egypt in the quarters seems to be on the cards and it promises to be a cracker.

As It stands Gabon lead the group with points, Cameroon on 3, Tunisia with 2 and Zambia with 1.

Coming Up:

Final games in group A with anyone able to qualify with a win. Angola take on Algeria and Mali take on Malawi. I'm hoping Flavio and co can make it through. Games are played at the same time 16:00 GMT, 18:00 CLT

Road To South Africa 2010

It's crunch time in World Cup Qualifications. Come the end of November 18th all nations to be present in next year's African World Cup will be determined. As a result I thought of discussing each continent and It's qualification possibilities in a series of articles.

AFRICA

Two teams have already qualified with a round to spare, Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire. For the rest of the Continent it's do or die, not only for World Qualification but also for CAN 2010 in Angola next January.

Group A

Cameroon lead the group by 10 points, 1 point ahead of Gabon with both teams travelling to Morocco and Togo respectively. Cameroon need a win to insure qualification while Gabon need to win and hope the Lions fail to win at Morocco. What makes this more interesting is the fact that both Togo and Morocco need a win to clinch the final qualification spot to the African Cup of Nations next year(Top 3 teams qualify), with Togo needing a win to make sure of that regardless of the other result. Cameroon are back to their winning ways under the guidance of Paul Le Guen and have made a remarkable come back under new captain Samuel Eto'o with 3 wins in a row (twice against Gabon and once versus Togo) to put themselves in pole position.

Manga's Prediction: Cameroon to South Africa, Gabon and Togo to Angola

Group B

Surprisingly Tunisia are clear favorites to qualify from this group. They are 2 points ahead of Nigeria thanks to a remarkable 2-2 draw away to the Super Eagles. Nigeria face failure to qualify for the second year running, a disaster by their standards. A win against Mozambique away from home would ensure the Carthage Eagles of Qualification. A draw with Nigeria failing to beat Kenya in Nairobi would lead to the same result. However if Tunisia fail to win and Nigeria beat Kenya the World Cup Qualification spot would go to Nigeria on Goal Difference.

Nigeria's predicament came via a 0-0 away draw with Mozambique sparking speculation that Tunisia's trip there maybe more difficult than it seems.

Similar to Group A both teams have a fight on their hands as Kenya and Mozambique still have real chances of making it to the Nations Cup with Mozambique ahead by 1 point.

Manga's Prediction: Tunisia to South Africa, Nigeria and Mozambique to Angola

Group C

Sadly for me Algeria lead this group by 3 clear points from top seed seed Egypt. Algeria has had a great run in the campaign having not lost any games and accumulating 4 wins that included to wins against Zambia and a 3-1 thrashing of African Champions Egypt in Algeria. Their only negative point came at the start of their campaign with a 0-0 draw away to Rwanda. Egypt seemed dead and buried after 3 rounds and the encounter versus Algeria in Cairo would have been pointless had Egypt not won two strongly contested 1-0 away wins versus Rwanda and Zambia respectively a feat Egypt had not achieved in god knows how long. This group comes with a twist. Egypt needs to beat Algeria by 3 clear goals to ensure automatic qualification, if they manage to win by only 2 goals a one legged play-off game on neutral ground on the 18th of November will have to be played to decide who qualifies to South Africa since all other tie breaking criteria between the teams would be equal . Any other result or an Egypt win by just 1 goal would hand qualification to Algeria for the first time in 24years. I really can't see Egypt beating Algeria twice in 4 days so I feel our best chance is not to go to a decider. The job must be completed in Cairo. Egypt's task is daunting yet not impossible and the 6 time African Champions need to show what they are truly made of if they are to qualify.

Manga's Prediction: Algeria (by numbers and probability) to South Africa, Egypt and Zambia to Angola