African World Cup qualifying is halfway to its conclusion as the Motherland continues to give the footballing world more to talk about as this round of matches ranged from the hardly interesting 0-0 draws like Morocco v Togo to 5 goal thrilers like Burkina Faso v Côte d’Ivoire. Interestingly, the visiting team took at least 1 point in all but 3 matches this weekend.
The match between Burkina Faso & Côte d’Ivoire was a battle for top spot in Group E with Les Éléphants being massively tested by a surprising Burkina Faso side. Goals by European stars Yaya Toure & Didier Drogba did not decide the match but an own goal by Burkina defender Mamadou Tall gave Côte d’Ivoire the 3-2 road win as Les Éléphants continued their perfect start in World Cup qualifying.
Algeria moved to the top of Group C with their big 2-0 road win against Zambia. Rangers’ defender Madjid Bougherra opened the scoring in the 21st minute as The Desert Foxes kept the clean sheet and remained unbeaten in Group C. Algeria look to be the favorite to win Group C as they are unbeaten in their last 6 WC Qualifiers.
On Sunday, Mali got its 1st win of the final group stage with a 3-1 home win in the capital city of Bamako against Benin. The Eagles’ French Connection of Modibo Maïga of Le Mans and Mamadou Diallo of Le Havre led Mali to victory with goals in the 21st and 75th minute respectively after Benin stunned the crowd with a 12th minute goal by Bahrain based midfielder Seidath Tchomogo. Mali’s victory moves them into 2nd place behind Ghana in Group D.
Here are the results & standings:
STANDINGS
SATURDAY, JUNE 20th
Morocco 0 – 0 Togo
STANDINGS
SATURDAY, JUNE 20th
Kenya 2 – 1 Mozambique
KEN: Julius Owino (5′) & Macdonald Mariaga (pen 76′)
MOZ: Domingues (49′)
Tunisia 0 – 0 Nigeria
STANDINGS
SATURDAY, JUNE 20th
Zambia 0 – 2 Algeria
ALG: Madjid Bougherra (21′) & Rafik Saifi (66′)
STANDINGS
SATURDAY, JUNE 20th
Sudan 0 – 2 Ghana
GHA: Matthew Amoah (5′, 52′)
SUNDAY, JUNE 21st
Mali 3 – 1 Benin
MLI: Modibo Maiga (21′), Mamadou Diallo (75′), Frédéric Kanouté (83′)
BEN: Seidath Tchomogo (12′)
STANDINGS
SATURDAY, JUNE 20th
Burkina Faso 2 – 3 Côte d’Ivoire
BFO: Jonathan Pitroipa (27′), Aristide Bance (78′)
CIV: Yaya Toure (13′), Mamadou Tall (og 55′), Didier Drogba (70′)
SUNDAY, JUNE 21st
Guinea 2 – 1 Malawi
GUI: Pascal Feindouno (24′, 42′)
MWI: Chiukepo Msowoya (89′)
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