In the African section of the qualifying for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, there were five places up for grabs for countries to join follow African nation South Africa in the finals, and there was an exhilarating finale to qualification. Twenty African nations qualified for the third round of the Confederation of African Nations 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification. Those nations were split into five groups of four, with seeding used to separate the strongest countries. Each nation played every other country home and away, before the group winners progressed to the finals next summer.

In Group A Cameroon were seeded as the top nation and duly topped their group with 13 points. Matching up against Gabon, Togo and Morroco, Cameroon started slowly, losing to Togo and drawing with Morocco. This led to Cameroon changing their manager, replacing Otto Pfister with Frenchman Paul Le Guen, and he managed to change their spirits and Cameroon went on to win the rest of their matches. Captain and star player Samuel Eto’o was Cameroon’s top scorer with 8 goals, and the Inter Milan striker will once again be their player to watch in the finals.

Group B was arguably the most exciting group in Africa’s final stage of World Cup qualifying. Nigeria headed into qualifying as favourites, but it looked as though Tunisia had qualification wrapped up heading into the final fixtures. Tunisia had a 2 point lead over Nigeria, but travelled to Mozambique and lost, which meant that Nigeria needed to win away to Kenya. In a 5 goal thriller, Nigeria prevailed 3-2 after having to come from behind at 0-1 and after being pegged back to 2-2. 2 goals from former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins and 1 from Everton’s Yakubu sent Nigeria through as group winners.

Group C had to be resolved by a playoff match between Algeria and Egypt, with the one-legged tie won by Algeria 1-0 in a match where tensions were running high. Algeria and Egypt finished joint top of the group with 13 points, ahead of Zambia and Rwanda. A tie-breaking play-off was required as they had an identical goal difference, both scoring 9 and conceding 4, as well as identical head-to-head records. Algeria beat Egypt 3-1 at home, and Egypt beating Algeria 2-0 at home thanks to a very late goal in a game in which former Wigan striker Amr Zaki also hit the back of the net.

In Group D, Ghana entered the group as favourites and topped the groups after winning 4 of their 6 matches. In a group also featuring Benin, Mail and Sudan who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, Ghana won their opening 4 games to seal their qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals way back in September. Captain Stephen Appiah is likely to lead the team in South Africa, and Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien will be looking to impress for The Black Stars.

Group E turned out to be a stroll in the park for Ivory Coast, as they beat fellow African nations Burkina Faso and Guinea home and away, whilst also picking up 4 points against Malawi. They scored 19 goals in their 6 matches, with Chelsea striker Didier Drogba top scoring with 6 goals. Ivory Coast arguably head into the 2010 World Cup as the strongest African nation, with a team full of Premiership and La Liga stars, and will be looking to progress well into the knockout stages.

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