Africa: National Soccer Teams Look for Revenge

21 June 2008
allAfrica.com
By Aliou Goloko

Dakar — A great wind of revenge and score-settling is blowing across soccer fields this weekend as teams play return matches in the second round of the combined 2010 Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers.

These matches should give a clearer picture of the path ahead as the teams which remain in the race for the 2010 finals begin a two-month break. The qualifiers resume in September.

With the exception of Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Nigeria – who have won all their games – teams will have to play it big in order still to have a shot at making the next round, when the 12 best teams and the 8 runners-up will face-off.

Most major teams faced upsets in the last round, so this weekend's fixtures offer them a chance to redeem themselves.

Continental champions Egypt will battle an increasingly bold Malawi, who inflicted on them a stinging 3-1 defeat last week.

Likewise a spirit of revenge should also hover over the stadium when the Atlas Lions of Morocco clash with Rwanda's Amavubi. Ditto for Ghana's Black Stars, who were defeated 0-2 a week ago in Libreville by Gabon's Panthers.

Côte d'Ivoire's Elephants will try not to be left behind when they tackle the young and athletic players of Botswana.

Will World Cup hosts South Africa manage to avoid the humiliation of an early exit from the Cup of Nations after losing to Sierra Leone last weekend? (Their host status guarantees them a place in the World Cup.)

In the west, Senegal's Teranga Lions will have to please a disappointed home crowd after their faux pas against Liberia last week.

Victory will also be the only option for Mali and Angola, if both teams expect to reconcile with their fans, many of whom are already grinding their teeth after the setbacks suffered during their last games.

For Djibouti, Niger, Lesotho and Mauritania, damage control is all that's left, given that their elimination is already guaranteed.

Below is the program of this weekend's games.

Friday

Algeria - Gambia

Libya - Lesotho

Saturday

Zambia - Swaziland

South Africa - Sierra Leone

Cameroon - Tanzania

Nigeria - Equatorial Guinea

Burkina - Seychelles

Morocco - Rwanda

Senegal - Liberia

Tunisia - Burundi

Sunday

Zimbabwe - Kenya

Mozambique - Madagascar

Angola - Uganda

Congo - Chad

DR Congo - Djibouti

Cape Verde - Mauritius

Benin - Niger

Cote d'Ivoire - Botswana

Ethiopia - Mauritania

Guinea - Namibia

Ghana - Gabon

Mali - Sudan

Egypt - Malawi

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