Didier Drogba couldn’t come. It’s too bad for Mozambique that Sekou Cisse did. The replacement for Drogba, Cisse scored the games only goal and gave the Ivoirians their first three points toward South Africa against the highest-ranked of its three group opponents. Mozambique went card-crazy in this battle, drawing five yellows, including two for Dario, who was sent off in minute eighty-nine.The Ghanaians had hosted the Cup of Nations, but no tournament is like the World Cup, which is why Ghana was hosting Libya in Kumasi. One large 3-0 win later, Ghana are three points closer to the second and final phase of African qualifying.
Somedays, things just won’t go your way. Guinea had seen that Namibia had scored a last-ditch goal to gain three points and take the group lead the day before. Guinea looked up at the scoreboard and noticed the scoreless draw was still there late in the game. They ended the match with five forwards, but alas, still no goals and they now sit two points back of group-leaders Namibia. Zimbabwe stole an all-important road point and are in position to advance after another five solid matches.
Tunisia were cruising at home with the lead and only ten minutes to play. Surely the experienced, World Cup veterans would be able to shut down an upstart squad. The last ten fateful minutes proved otherwise as substitute Yssouf Koné come on after eighty minutes and became a national hero with his two late goals as Burkina Faso pulled off the biggest upset in Round One of African qualifying so far. The game had five yellow cards, including three for the visiting victors.
Mali took care of Congo in a match that featured six goals. Luckily for Mali, four of those goals were theirs, along with three points from the 4-2 victory. Mali struck in the first minute but had no breathing room when Congo replied four minutes later. Mali took a 3-1 lead into the half, however, and added their fourth before the Congolese finished off the scoring.
Sure, the Egyptians have won two straight Cup of Nations titles. They are perhaps the power team in Africa, yet the world has not heard of them. Why? They have failed to reach a World Cup in recent memory, and a 1-0 deficit at the half at home to second-seeded Democratic Republic of the Congo did not have the supporters of the first-seed feeling very secure. Two unanswered goals in the subsequent half gave the Egyptians a 2-1 win and full points, however, and no damage was done to their campaign.
Goal scorers:
Côte d'Ivoire: Cisse 74
Ghana: Tagoe 17; Agogo 54; Kingston 64
Burkina Faso: Y. Koné 85, 87
Tunisia: Belaid 38
Mali: 1, 61; A. Coulibaly 32; S. Coulibaly 42
Congo: Mouithys 5, 74
Egypt: Zaki 68; Abdelmalk 80
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ilunga 44
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