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African World Cup Qualifying Preview: Group E [Fri Sep 2nd, 2005]
Tunisia and Morocco have already qualified for the 2006 African Nations Cup finals in Egypt, but two more qualifying matches would determine who among the two will qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals.
African champions Tunisia, who also made an appearance in the 2002 World Cup finals, have taken the lead in Group E after they beat Kenya 1-0 in their last qualifying match on August 17. The Carthage Eagles are top with seventeen points, just one point above their North African rivals Morocco.
Tunisia will play away to Kenya in the second leg on September 3 where they will fight for a win to keep their hopes of qualifying for Germany 2006 alive. However, they will be missing key players.
Strikers Francileudo dos Santos and Ziad Jaziri who play in France will not feature in this match followed by Germany-based midfielders Adel Chedli and Joahar Mnari. These players were all instrumental to the side that won the 2004 African Nations cup, and will be hoping to play in the final qualifying match in October in order to achieve success at a higher level with the team.
Morocco, who qualified for the World Cup finals in 1994, will play host to Botswana on September 3. Morocco need to win their two remaining qualifying matches and hope that Tunisia lose or draw in one of their games in order to enable them to book their ticket to the finals. The Moroccans are yet to lose a match since the qualifying rounds began last year and have a record of four wins and four draws.
Guinea will not qualify for the World Cup finals, but they are fighting to maintain their third position in the group in order for them to qualify for the Nations Cup next year. The Syli Nationale, with eleven points, will play bottom placed Malawi on September 4. They are just a point above their closest challengers Kenya, followed by Botswana with nine points. In their pre-qualifier warm-up match, Guinea lost 3-1 to DR Congo in an international friendly that was played on August 16.
Kenya will play their match against Tunisia amidst tight security following crowd disturbance from the home fans after a fan died during a stampede when Kenya hosted Morocco and secured a goalless draw in June.
Malawi has had a disappointing run throughout the campaign. They are yet to win a single match and could only console themselves with three draws. The final round of qualifying matches will be played in October.
Ibrahim Dabo
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