Qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is well underway for the African nations. All world cups are important for any country, but this will be held in Africa for the first time. South Africa will host the event in 2010, and all the African nations want to be a part of the action.
53 African nations began fighting for 6 places in qualification. With host South Africa automatically qualified, this leaves just 5 up for grabs. 5 nations have already been eliminated in the preliminaries, and one nation, Eritrea, has pulled out, so 47 teams remain. They are at the halfway stage of 12 groups of 4 teams, with one group of 3, each playing home and away. The winners of each group and the 8 best runners up will qualify for the 3rd round. These 20 teams will be placed in 5 groups of 4 and the top 5 teams will progress to the World Cup finals.
The current 48 countries and groups are as follows:
Group 1
Cameroon
Cape Verde Islands
Tanzania
Mauritius
Cameroon is one of the powerhouses of African football and look to be qualifying in first. The Cape Verde Islands are a surprise package and just need another win for them to be sure to qualify.
Group 2
Guinea
Kenya
Zimbabwe
Namibia
Guinea and Kenya are fighting out this group and I think will finish 1st and 2nd. In which order will come down to their last match together.
Group 3
Benin
Angola
Uganda
Niger
Benin are a surprise leader in this group, Angola have had recent success and will probably finish the group top with Benin second.
Group 4
Nigeria
South Africa
Sierra Leone
Equatorial Guinea
Nigeria has already got enough points to move through to the next round. South Africa is only in this competition to qualify for the African Nations Cup finials next year, so they do not get any points for qualification to the world cup, so Sierra Leone will be the beneficiary of this and will probably go through to the second round.
Group 5
Ghana
Libya
Gabon
Lesotho
Ghana is another dominant African team. They just need another win to qualify for the next round. Libya is also not far away from finishing second. Only a late run bay Gabon will prevent them finishing 1 and 2.
Group 6
Senegal
Algeria
Gambia
Liberia
Senegal has slipped from the heights of African football lately. They are seem to be back though and look certain to lead this group with Algeria second.
Group 7
Cote d’Ivoire
Botswana
Mozambique
Madagascar
Cote d’Ivoire is probably the best team in Africa at the moment and they just need another win to go through. Botswana and Mozambique will fight it out for second. I think Mozambique will pull the points back they need to finish second from Botswana.
Group 8
Morocco
Rwanda
Ethiopia
Mauritania
Morocco and Rwanda have almost qualified to the next round. They just need a win each to be sure.
Group 9
Burkina Faso
Tunisia
Burundi
Seychelles
Burkina Faso is a surprise package here. They need another point to go through. Tunisia also is just a win away from the next round.
Group 10
Mali
Congo
Chad
Sudan
Mali and Congo look certain to go through here. Mali have surprised recently and have been keeping up their reputations in qualifying here.
Group 11
Swaziland
Zambia
Togo
With Eritrea out of this group it is all to play for. Just 1 team will miss out. It is very even, but I think Togo and Zambia will go through. They will struggle in the next round however.
Group 12
Congo DR
Egypt
Malawi
Djibouti
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Egypt are level at the top of this group and will go through, with Egypt probably slipping into 1st by the end of this round.
Looing forward to the next round:
It looks like the usual suspects to win the 3rd round. I see Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Ghana going through easily. The last 2 places will be up for grabs, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Angola and the latest African power, Burkina Faso will be there to fight for the last spots. They will need some great results and find some luck with the groupings to get through. For me, I will go for Mali and Senegal.
