Addis Ababa — Host nation, Ethiopia caused a shock at the Under-20 Nations Cup, after beating South Africa 4-1 to advance to their first ever World Cup appearance at any level. The hosts claimed one of Africa's four tickets to the World Championship in Argentina thanks to an unusual decision by CAF to order a replay between Egypt and Cameroon, which was abandoned because of crowd trouble.

Despite the fact that both Egypt and Cameroon could have progressed in the tournament if their match on Saturday had ended in a draw, fans rioted for what they saw as a ploy by the two sides to play a draw to the expense of their team, Ethiopia. The replay was to decide which team would finish first or second in the group. It was also played simultaneously with the Ethiopia versus South Africa match.

A draw between Ethiopia and South Africa would have sent the two teams in the other match at the Abebe Bikila Stadium into the semi-finals. At the same time, the winner at the Addis Ababa main stadium would only have advanced with a win and a two-goal margin. Ethiopia just did that.

Hussein Seman put Ethiopia in the lead, scoring from a rebound after nine minutes. In the 27th minute, Yordanos Abay headed the second from close range. Skipper Ashenafi Girma and Zwedu Bekele from the penalty spot completed the rout mid-way in the second-half. South Africa scored a consolation goal in the 73rd minute from a direct free-kick by Steven Pienaar.

South Africa missed several chances early in the match, and the Amajitas were still putting up their best performance, despite the barrage of goals.

Egypt defeated Cameroon 3-1 in the other game to join the African expedition to Argentina. All the goals were scored in the second-half with Mohamed El Yamany scoring twice in the 64th minute and two minutes in injury time. El Atrawy had put the Egyptians ahead eight minutes from the restart. Luc Mbeng scored a late goal for Cameroon two minutes to the final whistle.

On Wednesday, titleholders, Ghana will clash with Egypt and Ethiopia will take on Angola. The third place match is on Saturday and the final is on April Fool's Day.