JOHANNESBURG, -- Ghana and Nigeria's much
anticipated World Cup qualifier ended goalless on Sunday with
the two powerful west African nations slipping back in the race
for places at next year's finals in Japan and South Korea.
A capacity crowd in Accra watched Ghana's makeshift side
maintain their 18-year unbeaten record against their
star-studded rivals while Nigeria dropped to third in their
five-team group halfway through the qualifying campaign.
The lack of goals in Accra contrasted with a veritable feast
in Cairo where Egypt beat Algeria 5-2 to record their first win
in group C and join Senegal and Morocco at the top of the table.
Senegal were among the other weekend winners, along with the
Ivory Coast, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Ghana gained a moral victory over Nigeria even if they
dropped a further two points and are now all but dead and buried.
They managed the draw with a side made up only of
locally-based players after Ghana's coach Jones Attaquayefio
dropped all the country's foreign stars following successive
defeats in their two previous qualifiers.
Nigeria now find themselves trailing two points behind
Liberia and Sudan in group B.
Rare away win
Liberia did not play this weekend but Sudan surprised
with a rare away victory, beating Sierra Leone 2-0 in Freetown
on Saturday.
The shock defeat came courtesy of two quick goals just
before halftime and Sierra Leone president Ahmed Tejjan Kabbah
was forced to leave the ground early as the anger of the home
crowd exploded into an orgy of bottle and missile throwing.
It was the fourth successive defeat for Sierra Leone, the
only one of the 25 African teams in the qualifiers yet to win a
single point.
Police action was also needed in Kinshasa on Saturday to
quell a crowd seeking to attack referee Lucien Bouchardeau of
Niger after the Democratic Republic of Congo lost 2-1 to the
Ivory Coast in group D.
Olympique Marseille striker Ibrahima Bakayoko scored the
winner just before halftime -- his sixth goal of the campaign.
Bakayoko's clubmate Djamel Belmadi was among the scorers for
Algeria in Cairo although it was Egypt who raced to a goal feast
after leading 3-2 at halftime in the north African derby.
Two more late goals by Tarek El Said ensured a first win in
the group for the Pharaohs, who now share top place with Senegal
and Morocco.
Diouf hat-trick
Striker El Hadji Diouf made good use of his suspension at
French club Lens to travel home to Senegal and score a hat-trick
in Saturday's 4-0 win over Namibia, whose team arrived only on
the eve of the match because of airline schedule problems.
Angola failed to win in group A away at Togo, coming back
from a goal down to force a 1-1 draw in Lome on Sunday.
The result pushed them back into second place five points
behind Cameroon, who would seem to have this section sewn up.
Zimbabwe's 2-0 win at home against Malawi put them back in
contention in group E, where the top-of-the-table clash between
South Africa and Guinea was cancelled because of the FIFA
suspension of Guinea.
Edzai Kasinuayo scored on his debut for Zimbabwe, now three
points behind South Africa.
The next round of African qualifiers will be played on the
weekend of April 21-22.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.