30 July 2011
The draw for the African qualification section for the 2014 FIFA World Cup has been made with a number of tasty clashes to look forward too.
African qualification gets underway this November with two legged ties involving the bottom 24 rankeg sides according to the FIFA World Rankings and the teams were drawn out of the hat as follows:
Match 1: Seychelles vs Kenya
Match 2: Guinea-Bissau vs Togo
Match 3: Djibouti vs Namibia
Match 4: Mauritius vs Liberia
Match 5: Comoros vs Mozambique
Match 6: Equatorial Guinea vs Madagascar
Match 7: Somalia vs Ethiopia
Match 8: Lesotho vs Burundi
Match 9: Eritrea vs Rwanda
Match 10: Swaziland vs DR Congo
Match 11: Sao Tome e Principe vs Congo
Match 12: Chad vs Tanzania
The winners of those ties will then advance to the group stages, where they have been pooled with the remaining 28 sides in the competition into 10 groups of four teams.
Egypt have a tough opponent in Guinea in their pool, while one of Cote d’Ivoire or Morocco will be knocked out at this stage.
Ghana will again meet Sudan in the qualifiers, as they did for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, while Nigeria will feel confident with just Malawi the major obstacle in their pool.
The matches will start in June 2012 and the groups were drawn as follows:
Group A
South Africa
Botswana
Central African Republic
Somalia or Ethiopia
Group B
Tunisia
Cape Verde Islands
Sierra Leone
Equatorial Guinea or Madagascar
Group C
Cote d’Ivoire
Morocco
Gambia
Chad or Tanzania
Group D
Ghana
Zambia
Sudan
Lesotho or Burundi
Group E
Burkina Faso
Gabon
Niger
Sao Tome e Principe or Congo
Group F
Nigeria
Malawi
Seychelles or Kenya
Djibouti or Namibia
Group G
Egypt
Guinea
Zimbabwe
Comoros or Mozambique
Group H
Algeria
Mali
Benin
Eritrea or Rwanda
Group I
Cameroon
Libya
Guinea-Bissau or Togo
Swaziland or DR Congo
Group J
Senegal
Uganda
Angola
Mauritius or Liberia
The top sides in these pools will then advance to the third qualifying round and will be paired in five two-legged knockout matches to decide Africa’s five entrants to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.