OUAGADOUGOU -- South Africa joined Cameroon
as the first qualifiers for next year's World Cup finals after
forcing a 1-1 draw in their group E match against Burkina Faso
in Ouagadougou on Sunday.
But the South Africans had to withstand a second-half
onslaught by their hosts to get the point they needed to reach
the finals for the second successive time.
A wicked deflection off defender Andrew Rabutla presented
Burkinabe captain Alain Nana with an equaliser 14 minutes from
the end to spark a furious late challenge after South Africa had
coasted through much of the match.
The visitors took the lead after 24 minutes when
Danish-based winger Sibusiso Zuma scored with a free header at
back post after a pin-point cross from Delron Buckley.
South Africa controlled much of the early running and looked
likely to keep up their 100 percent record in the qualifiers.
They caught the Burkina Faso defence square on several
occasions but the South African strikers were unable to profit
from the opportunities.
Substitute Tidiane Tall steered the ball past his own
goalkeeper on the hour mark under pressure from Quinton Fortune
but the Manchester United reserve was adjudged to have been
offside.
Then Nana's speculative drive from outside the penalty area
in the 76th minute took a deflection to leave goalkeeper Hans
Vonk no chance.
After that, Ali Ouedraogo went close with a driving shot and
Ibrahima Korbeogo steered his shot wide of the post after
beating the South African defence.
But the visitors held firm to book their place at the finals
in Japan and South Korea.
South Africa have an unassailable lead in their four-team
group, after Guinea were expelled by FIFA, with 13 points from
five games. Zimbabwe are second with six points from four games.
Earlier on Sunday, Cameroon became the first team, beside
the two host nations and world champions France, to qualify when
they beat Togo 2-0 in Yaounde.
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.