South Africa was looking to get back on track after its opening defeat at Nigeria. Their opponents were Equatorial Guinea. South Africa got off to a fast start with a goal in minute ten, and they were able to play add-on before the half to make it 2-0. The lead was 3-0 at the hour mark, and 3-1 after a penalty kick make by the visitors. The final score was South Africa 4, Equatorial Guinea 1, thanks a stoppage time score.Tunisia needed to right their ship after the upset home loss to Burkina Faso. It looks unlikely now that they will win the group, so Tunisia need full points against Burundi and Seychelles to qualify as one of the best eight second-place sides. They visited the islanders of Seychelles, and stamped a 2-0 win thanks to two first-half strikes.
Guinea were the favorites in their group coming into qualifying, but after their trip to Kenya, their route to the World Cup is in jeopardy. The Kenyans received one goal within the first five minutes off each half to take all three precious points at home.
Chad played its home opener against Mali, but it was not the grand beginning which the home crowd had awaited. Two goals, capped by a penalty kick conversion left the Chadians in a 2-0 hole before the half-hour mark. They got one back before halftime, but the 2-1 score held and Mali took three road points.
Tanzania paid Cape Verde a visit for their second match of qualifying. The visit ended unhappily as the islanders took care of business in Praia with a one-goal shutout. The tension must have been thick until Cape Verde found the net thirty minutes in to the second half.
Nigeria were flying high after defeating World Cup 2010 hosts South Africa. Then, they actually ran into trouble at Sierra Leone and fought to a scoreless draw until a header two minutes from time gave them a clutch 1-0 road win.
Morocco looked to make their advance to the next round more of a certainty by beating Mauritania on the road. They got off to a 2-0 lead by the half, and they had stretched the advantage to 4-0 before a consolation goal made the final score 4-1. Morocco even won the yellow card battle 3-2.
“I think it’s a new start for us but we can’t afford to drop our concentration the match against Burundi.” –Moumouni Dagano, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso did not have a let down at home to Burundi thanks to Dagano himself, the man who scored one goal in each half to lead his side to a 2-0 win and six points through two matches.
Libya hosted Gabon in an ugly match. The hosts brought some hard plays, as evidenced by their three yellows, but the ugly play had more to do with the offenses. The only goal was scored by Gabon in the fifth minute; unfortunately, it was an own goal and the Libyans scraped out with a 1-0 victory.
Goal scorers:
South Africa: Dikgacoi 10, 90+3; Moriri 34; Fanteni 60
Equatorial Guinea: Juvenal 76 PK
Tunisia: Jomaa 10; Ben Saada 43
Kenya: Oliech 3, 50
Mali: Kanoute 5, 21 PK
Chad: Kedigui 43
Cape Verde: Babanço 73
Nigeria: Yobo 89
Morocco: Sektioui 8; Benjelloun 36; Safri 59; Kharja 79
Mauritania: Da Silva 82 PK
Burkina Faso: Dagano 25, 47
Libya: Brou Aspanga 5 OG (Gabon)
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