World Cup Qualifying - Africa

[Juanky]

Africa is arguably the most complicated out of all of the qualification procedures. The First Round consisted only of the ten lowest ranked teams in the Confederation of African Football. They played head to head in a home/home series and the winners of the five advanced to the second round.

The Results

Swaziland* 
Seychelles* 
 Madagascar  10:2  Comoros
    Djibouti  1:0**  Somalia
    Sierra Leone  1:0  Guinea-Bissau

*- Swaziland and Seychelles qualified automatically when São Tomé and Príncipe and the Central African Republic both withdrew in early September.
**- Djibouti and Somalia only played one leg as Somalia was not deemed to have any stadiums that met FIFA qualifications.

[Juanky]

In the second round, 48 teams (yes, 48) were split into 12 groups of 4 each. Each team played six games in round - home/home against each of their group mates. At the end of the round, the 12 group winners and the 8 best runner ups advanced to the third round. After Ethiopia was disqualified and Eritrea withdrew, the 8 runners-up's records would not reflect results against the fourth ranked teams in the group for qualification purposes.

The results

5-1-0 16 points (+12 GD) [Cameroon]
3-0-3 9 points (-1 GD) [Cape Verde]
2-2-2 8 points (+3 GD) [Tanzania]
0-1-5 1 point (-14) [Mauritius]

3-2-1 11 points (+4 GD) [Guinea]
3-1-2 10 points (+3 GD) [Kenya]
1-3-2 6 points (-2 GD) [Zimbabwe]
2-0-4 6 points (-5 GD) [Namibia]

4-0-2 12 points (+4 GD) [Benin]
3-1-2 10 points (+3 GD) [Angola]
3-1-2 10 points (-1 GD) [Uganda]
1-0-5 3 points (-6 GD) [Niger]

Note: Angola will continue to the next round because they are automatically qualified for the African Cup of Nations as the host nation. Due to their failure to qualify from this round in World Cup Qualification, however, they cannot make the World Cup regardless of their performance at the Cup of Nations.

6-0-0 18 points (+10 GD) [Nigeria]
2-1-3 7 points (0 GD) [South Africa]
2-1-3 7 points (-4 GD) [Sierra Leone]
1-0-5 3 points (-6 GD) [Equatorial Guinea]

Note: South Africa has automatically qualified for the World Cup as the host nation. However, failure to secure one of the twenty spots for this round has caused them to be eliminated from the African Cup of Nations.

4-0-2 12 points (+6 GD) [Ghana]
4-0-2 12 points (+5 GD) [Gabon]
4-0-2 (+3 GD) [Libya]
0-0-6 0 points (-14 GD) [Lesotho]

3-1-2 10 points (+3 GD) [Algeria]
2-3-1 9 points (+3 GD) [Gambia]
2-3-1 9 points (+2 GD) [Senegal]
0-3-3 3 points (-8 GD) [Liberia]

3-3-0 12 points (+8 GD) [Côte d'Ivoire]
2-2-2 8 points (+2 GD) [Mozambique]
1-3-2 6 points (-5 GD) [Madagascar]
1-2-3 5 points (-5 GD) [Botswana]

3-0-1 9 points (+6 GD) [Morocco]
3-0-1 9 points (+4 GD) [Rwanda]
0-0-4 0 points -10 GD [Mauritania]

5-1-0 16 points (+9 GD) [Burkina Faso]
4-1-1 13 points (+8 GD) [Tunisia]
2-0-4 6 points (-4 GD) [Burundi]
0-0-6 0 points (-13 GD) [Seychelles]

4-0-2 12 points (+5 GD) [Mali]
3-0-3 9 points (0 GD) [Sudan]
3-0-3 9 points (-1 GD) [Congo]
2-0-4 6 points (-4 GD) [Chad]

2-1-1 7 points (+1 GD) [Zambia]
2-0-2 6 points (+5 GD) [Togo]
1-1-2 4 points (-6 GD) [Swaziland]

5-0-1 15 points (+11) [Egypt]
4-0-2 12 points (+9 GD) [Malawi]
3-0-3 9 points (+8 GD) [Republic of Congo]
0-0-6 0 points (-28 GD) [Djibouti]

[Juanky]

The Third Round for the African Qualifying is also the qualifying round for the African Cup of Nations. The top three teams in each group will qualify for the African Cup of Nations, to be held in Angola. For World Cup purposes, however, only the winner of each group will join South Africa in representing the CAF in the World Cup.

The groups:

Group 1
Cameroon
Gabon
Morocco
Togo

Group 2
Kenya
Mozambique
Nigeria
Tunisia

Group 3
Algeria
Egypt
Rwanda
Zambia

Group 4
Benin
Ghana
Mali
Sudan

Group 5
Burkina Faso
Côte d'Ivoire
Guinea
Malawi

Next Match Day: March 28th, 2009