World Cup Qualifying Preview Part 1: Africa
Africa is the last qualifying zone that still has to finish off its group stages, and the final round of games are to be played this Saturday, with one team qualifying from each of the five groups. Here at The Football Blog, we get the opportunity to sound incredibly cosmopolitan by filling you in about the latest developments in the African qualifiers and predict which African teams might make a splash in South Africa next year.
Group A
At the top of the group, Cameroon and Gabon are separated by one point in a two horse race for the qualification spot. Despite having the talents of Samuel Eto’o, Alexandre Song, and Marseille’s highly rated Stephane M’Bia in the side, Cameroon had a dreadful start to the group, losing to Togo and drawing with Morocco at home. The arrival of Paul Le Guen as manager in July, however, has seen them win all of their since then, allowing them to edge ahead of early group leaders, Gabon.
Gabon haven’t got the big names (their front line will be led by Daniel Cousin, of Hull), but retain an outside chance of qualifying for their first ever world cup. They face a trip to Emmanuel Adebayor’s Togo, while Cameroon face a potentially tricky trip to Morocco, a former African powerhouse yet to win a game in the group, knowing they need to match Gabon’s result to qualify.
Football Blog prediction:
Le Guen has transformed Cameroon into a winning machine and anything but a win in Morocco seems unlikely, especially with Eto’o available. Cameroon are unlikely to shock the world in South Africa as they did in 1990, but with an experienced manager and a strong spine to the team of Eto’o, M’Bia and Song, and Bassong, they will be a difficult proposition for any side and I wouldn’t be surprised if they made the second round
Group B
It’s Tunisia against Nigeria in this group in the race for qualification, with the Super Eagles looking as though they’ve already lost out. Two points behind Tunisia going into their final game away to Kenya, Nigeria are now relying on a major slip up by their rivals, who face Mozambique. Despite having big names such as John Obi Mikel and Obafemi Martins in the side, Nigeria have failed to take their chances, most fatally drawing against Mozambique, and are now staring a second successive failure to reach the world cup in the face.
Tunisia, by contrast, have been ruthlessly efficient and successfully held Nigeria to two draws, with their successful form thanks in no small part to their Portuguese coach, Humberto Coelho. However, they will need to win on Wednesday because of their relatively poor goal difference, keeping the pressure on as they seek to qualify for their fourth successive world cup.
Football Blog prediction:
This is a pretty difficult one to judge, as Mozambique are no mugs at home, but Tunisia still look more likely to qualify. Whoever does qualify will be unlikely to make waves at the world cup, as Tunisia unfortunately don’t have the quality in their squad to escape the group stages, and Nigeria have so far failed to gel convincingly as a team.
Group C
The greatest and fiercest rivalry you’ve never heard of, this Wednesday’s group decider between Egypt and Algeria in Cairo will make Milwall-West Ham look like an under-9s friendly game. The calculations for Egypt, currently lying in second place, are simple. If they win by two goals or more, they overhaul Algeria and qualify.
Anything else, and they fail. As the game approaches and Egypt seek to restore bragging rights after their 3-1 defeat earlier in the campaign, Egyptian captain Ahmed Hassan has cranked up the tension. He said, “Algeria once said that their trip to Egypt will be joyful and full of entertainment, but I assure them that it won’t… The venue will turn into a stadium of horror.”
It promises to be the most intense game of the week and probably the most intense since the 1989 “hate match” between the two sides that led to Algerian star Lakhdar Belloumi being banned from travelling outside Algeria. After a contentious defeat marred by accusations that the referee had been favouring Egypt, the Algerian players attacked the officials, the VIPs, and Belloumi bottled the Egyptian team doctor, before fleeing the country. Hopefully, things won’t get quite that out of hand this time round.
Football Blog prediction:
Egypt have won the last two African Cup of Nations and are theoretically the best team in Africa, but they’ve failed to impose their will on the group so far and Algeria have looked pretty handy…but, this might as well be a knock-out game, in which anything can happen. Whoever gets through will be fairly handy, but unlikely to get beyond the second round.
Already qualified
South Africa (as hosts), Ghana (Group D), and Ivory Coast (Group E) have all already qualified. South Africa have been dreadful (they recently lost to Iceland and Norway) in the run up to the world cup so far, and, although there had been signs of improvement, having sacked their coach Joel Santana only 8 months before the tournament, their goal at in June will be damage limitation.
Ghana and Ivory Coast, on the other hand, are Africa’s best chances of winning the World Cup. Both teams have an excellent chance of getting as far as the quarter finals and both have brilliant talismans leading them in the Chelsea duo of Michael Essien and Didier Drogba. The difference between the two is that Essien, although he can play anywhere on the pitch, will probably have to take up some kind of defensive role in the midfield, which means that Ghana don’t have a match-winner in their side.
Drogba, on the other hand, is one of the world’s best strikers and a constant threat, whoever he plays against. For that reason, I think the Ivory Coast ought to be mentioned as in the same breath as Brazil, Spain, and England as potential World Cup winners.
Shane Murray
