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Ivory Coast seek Africa's first World Cup qualifying place [Wed Aug 31st, 2005]
Johannesburg (Reuters) - Ivory Coast could become the first African qualifiers for next year's World Cup finals with victory against Cameroon this weekend, heralding a shake-up in the traditional hierarchy of African football.
Led by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, the Ivorians host their only remaining challengers on Sunday in Abidjan.
Cameroon have played at four successive finals, but Ivory Coast have never been to a World Cup and have a two-point lead in Group Three before their penultimate match.
African Footballer of the Year, Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona, has added to the pre-match hype with a promise to pay his Cameroon team mates added match bonuses should they snatch an away win ahead of the last round of qualifiers in October.
While the Abidjan match holds the spotlight this weekend, unfancied Angola, Ghana and Togo have a great chance to move closer to their first World Cup finals appearance.
Of the five countries that represented Africa at the last World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan in 2002, only Tunisia look likely to return to the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Fifty-one African countries were in the draw in June 2004 and they were reduced to five groups of six teams in the second stage. Only the group winners qualify for Germany 2006.
Tunisia, who lead arch-rivals Morocco by a single point, must win in Nairobi on Saturday in the first international on the African continent to be played behind closed doors.
The spectator ban was imposed on the Kenyan Football Federation by FIFA after crowd violence led to the death of a 15-year-old fan and injured 15 others at their last home match on June 18.
Failure by the Tunisians, who are reigning African champions, to take all three points will reopen the door for Morocco in Group Five. They are expected to win easily against Botswana in Rabat on Saturday night.
Angola's hopes of edging out favourites Nigeria in Group Four are dependent on winning their last two qualifiers, starting with Sunday's home match against Gabon.
'BLACK ANTELOPES'
"It is not an easy game because Gabon will come to win so we need to have massive support from the public to ensure we take advantage of playing at home," said Angola's Portuguese-based goalkeeper Joao Pereira before the game in Luanda.
Nigeria share the same points but have an inferior head-to-head record. To maintain the pressure on Angola, Nigeria must win in Oran on Sunday against Algeria although their hopes have been hit by the withdrawal through injury of captain Austin Okocha.
Togo are expected to hold on to their one-point lead over Zambia in Group One with a routine assignment against bottom-placed Liberia in Lome on Sunday.
Zambia (16 points) and Senegal (15) play each other in Chililambomwe on Saturday in a game both sides need to win.
In Group Two, Ghana are level on points with 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa. Sunday's home game in Kumasi against Uganda is expected to put four times African champions Ghana on the cusp of reaching their World Cup finals.
South Africa play in Burkina Faso on Saturday.
A total of 15 qualifying matches are scheduled for Africa at the weekend, with several games also having a direct bearing on places at next year's African Nations Cup finals in Egypt.
The top three finishers in each group go to the Nations Cup next January.
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