JOHANNESBURG, Oct 13: Continental champions Egypt completed the second round of African World Cup qualification with an easy 4-0 win over Djibouti in Cairo on Sunday.

Egypt were among the heavyweight contenders who went through but weekend casualties included 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and 2006 World Cup finalists Angola.

The African Nations Cup champions did not quite deliver the goal deluge expected but started Sunday’s match without injured English-based strikers Mido and Amr Zaki.

Instead goals from Emad Moteab, captain Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Aboutrika along with a late own goal confirmed Egypt as Group 12 winners.

Five matches on Sunday completed qualification with Guinea claiming one of the 12 group winning places after a 3-2 home win over Kenya and Mozambique sneaking the eighth and final best runners-up spot following a positive sequence of results 24 hours after their 1-0 win in Botswana.

The other 18 places had been determined on Saturday with previous World Cup finalists Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Togo and Tunisia progressing to the final five groups to be drawn in Zurich on Oct 22.

The group winners will qualify for the World Cup in South Africa while the top three finishers in each will compete at the 2010 African Nations Cup finals in Angola.

On Saturday, Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed four goals in a dramatic last-minute return to Togo’s team as they snatched a place with a 6-0 thrashing of Swaziland in Accra.

Nigeria were the only team to maintain a 100 percent record throughout after beating Sierra Leone 4-1 in Abuja while Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Cameroon all finished unbeaten.

The full list of 20 qualifiers are: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.

World Cup qualifying African results:

Second round:

Group Two

Guinea 3 Kenya 2

Group Three

Angola 3 Niger 1

Uganda 2 Benin 1

Group Nine

Burundi 1 Burkina Faso 3

Group 12

Egypt 4 Djibouti 0

Played on Saturday:

Group One

Cameroon 5 Mauritius 0

Tanzania 3 Cape Verde Islands 1

Group Two

Namibia 4 Zimbabwe 2

Group Four

Equatorial Guinea 0 South Africa 1

Nigeria 4 Sierra Leone 1

Group Five

Gabon 1 Libya 0

Ghana 3 Lesotho 0

Group Six

Liberia 0 Algeria 0

Senegal 1 Gambia 1

Group Seven

Botswana 0 Mozambique 1

Ivory Coast 3 Madagascar 0

Group Eight

Morocco 4 Mauritania 1

Group Nine

Tunisia 5 Seychelles 0

Group 10

Mali 2 Chad 1

Sudan 2 Congo 0

Group 11

Togo 6 Swaziland 0

Group 12

Malawi 2 Congo DR 1

—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Kurram ceasefire
Updated 26 Nov, 2024

Kurram ceasefire

DESPITE efforts by the KP government to bring about a ceasefire in Kurram tribal district, the bloodletting has...
Hollow victory
26 Nov, 2024

Hollow victory

THE conclusion of COP29 in Baku has left developing nations — struggling with the mounting costs of climate...
Infrastructure schemes
26 Nov, 2024

Infrastructure schemes

THE government’s decision to finance priority PSDP schemes on a three-year rolling basis is a significant step...
Anti-women state
Updated 25 Nov, 2024

Anti-women state

GLOBALLY, women are tormented by the worst tools of exploitation: rape, sexual abuse, GBV, IPV, and more are among...
IT sector concerns
25 Nov, 2024

IT sector concerns

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to increase Pakistan’s IT exports from $3.2bn to $25bn in the ...
Israel’s war crimes
25 Nov, 2024

Israel’s war crimes

WHILE some powerful states are shielding Israel from censure, the court of global opinion is quite clear: there is...