Soccer, Football in Africa: African qualification for World Cup 2002

similar situation as in group D with a strong favorite, here:South Africa, and challengers Burkina Faso, Guinea, Zimbabwe.
So the match Guinea-Zimbabwe will be very important for those two. In the second match Burkina Faso will play at Malawi, a difficult match again: Malawi has a young ambitious side and for Burkina Faso it will be very important to collect 3 points there anyway.
(idle: South Africa)
Malawi - Burkina Faso 1:1
0:1 ('29) Mamadou Zongo, 1:1 ('39) Dan Chitsulo, att.: between 40,000 and 50,000
several good chances for Malawi are reported
Guinea - Zimbabwe 3:0
1:0 ('32) Mendy, 2:0 ('50) Titi Camara, 3:0 ('61) Soulemane Youla
attendance 30,000

week2
Zimbabwe before the qualification were hoping to become the big counterpart to South Africa but now they are under heavy pressure while South Africa could shake them off easily by a victory today
The talented Burkinabé and the good starters Guinea will batlle out who will be the most serious challenger for South Africa. Only a win by Guinea would be a real loud warning message for the group's big favourites as Burkina Faso has already lost two points at Malawi.
Zimbabwe - South Africa abandoned (0:2, '83) July 9
Due to reports by Agence France Press / sportserver.com, the match had to be abandoned because of crowd trouble after Delron Buckley scored his second goal of the match (Siyabonga Nomvete and captain Shaun Bartlett had set up the two goals).Some bottles out of a 50,000 crowd were flying onto the pitch and police seeming to overreact (says the report) firing teargas and causing the people racing to the exits.
In the reulting panic several reports say that 12 people died.
Reuters reports an attendance of 35,000 and the following team line-ups:
Zimbabwe: 1-Muzondiwa Mugadza; 2-Innocent Chikoya (13-William Mugeyi 44), 3-Edelbert Dinha, 4-Thulani Ncube, 15-Norman Mapeza, 18-Calistus Pasuwa; 7-Desmond Maringwa, 14-Ronald Sibanda (17-Nqobizitha Ncube 68), 12-Peter Ndlovu; 10-Wilfred Mugeyi, 9-Agent Sawu (8-Benjamin Mwaruwaru 61)
South Africa: 1-John Tlale, 2-Cyril Nzama, 3-Bradley Carnell, 5-Aaron Mokoena, 13-Pierre Issa; 7-Quinton Fortune (12-Godfrey Sapula 57), 18-Delron Buckley, 11-Helman Mkhalele, 6-Eric Tinkler; 14-Siyabonga Nomvete (17-Benedict McCarthy 58), 9-Shaun Bartlett
Referee: Falla Ndoye (Senegal)
Burkina Faso - Guinea 2:3 July 9
A valuable away win for Guinea: With 6 points from the first two matches they have emerged as the main challenger for South Africa now.
reuters/dailysoccer.com:
Burkina - Romeo Kambou 20, Amadou Toure 72pen.
Guinea - Souleymane Youla 12, Abdoulaye Sylla 23, Pascal Feindeno 81.
Halftime: 1-2; Attendance 20,000

week3 Jan 26-28, 2001
In Group E another constellation like in Group A seemed ahead: clear favorites South Africa run away, the others can't win their away games. But Guinea surprised and took all three points at Burkina Faso, not an easy match. And despite struggling in the African Nations Cup qualifiers, the West Africans might be able to stay in a position to keep the race open. This requires full concentration, any slip will cost them much in comparison with the solid South Africans.
And Malawi proved to be no easy walkovers causing an upset after a strong first half by Guinea. Now everything looks smooth for the South Africans. The others can only hope, it looks too smooth and South Africa loses some focus. A crucial match is to come here next, when Malawi will put South Africa to a severe test in February.
South Africa - Burkina Faso 1:0
South Africa: 16-Brian Baloyi; 2-Cyril Nzama, 3-Bradley Carnell, 4-Lucas Radebe, 5-Frank Schoeman; 12-Godfrey Sapula, 13-Pierre Issa, 15-Sibusiso Zuma (11-Helman Mkhalele 46), 18-Delron Buckley; 9-Shaun Bartlett (8-Bradley August 83), 17-Benedict McCarthy (14-Siyabonga Nomvete 67)
Burkina Faso: 1-Ibrahima Diarra; 2-Ousmane Traore, 3-Ousmane Coulibaly, 4-Moussa Ouattara, 6-Brahima Korbeogo; 8-Magan Diabate, 11-Alain Nana, 14-Boureima Zongo, 17-Moussa Traore; 7-Ismael Koudou, 13-Djibril Compoare (9-Lazard Sanou 46, 18-Ibrahima Dao 76).
goal: Shaun Bartlett ('17), att.: 25,000
Guinea - Malawi 1:1
1:0 (Bangoura, 24), 1:1 ('52) Banda, att. 20,000

between week3 and week4:
After the draw with Malawi the Guinean Sports minister had dissolved the Guinean Football Federation (!) and so Guinea had violated the independence principle of football associations inside FIFA. So FIFA had set a deadline to reinstall the association board as elected, otherwise Guinea would have faced exclusion from the World Cup. Guinea did so in time but the solution seems still to contain an interfering structure.
FIFA meanwhile has set a new deadline to completely reinstall the former association (March 2nd)

week4 Feb 23-25, 2001
In Group E clear favorites South Africa took one of the difficult African away hurdles at Malawi without making a mistake. It seems unlikely they will get stopped with only Guinea in a position to threaten the Bafana campaign. But considered the solidity of the South African results, only losing points to the West Africans in the upcoming direct encounter at home on March 10/11 promises to be a real threat.
Meanwhile the talented Burkinabé, consistent shockers on youth level for a few years now, have buried all hopes after losing to Zimbabwe at home. By this result theoretical chances for Zimbabwe are maintained, what clearly speaks against it is the reliable persistence of strength of the South African leaders who play on a similar level for years now.
Burkina Faso - Zimbabwe 1:2
0:1, 0:2 Peter Nglobi '2, '13, 1:2 Moumouni Dagano '22, att. 20,000
Malawi - South Africa 1:2
0:1 Masinga '26, 0:2 Nomvete '81, 1:2 Mabedi '85 pen., att. 60,000

between week4 and week5:
Guinea in trouble
After the draw with Malawi the Guinean Sports minister had dissolved the Guinean Football Federation (!) and so Guinea had violated the independence principle of football associations inside FIFA. So FIFA had set a deadline to reinstall the association board as elected, otherwise Guinea would have faced exclusion from the World Cup. Guinea set up a new federation board in time but did not reinstall the old one, which was insufficient to FIFA rules. The consequence was the immediate suspension of the Guinean federation from international competitions after passing the deadline (March 2nd).
The punishment came very hard for the U17 selection of the country who had just reached the final of the African U 17 championship and so qualified for the World U17 championships later the year. The suspension meant disqualification for them (before that final against Nigeria was played) and also the loss of the place at that World championships. A cruel punishment for the boys who became more or less hostages of both sides in that affair (why not a later deadline?).
Now the Guinean World Cup and Nations Cup campaigns are in severe danger if the Guinean government insists on the standpoint that it is better for Guinea to play alone. The suspension should be also applied on the clubs and the African international club competitions.

week5 Mar 9-11, 2001
Zimbabwe - Malawi 2:0
1:0 (45') Mwaruwaru, 2:0 (82') Kasinauyo
South Africa - Guinea postponed or cancelled

between week5 and week6:
Guinea disqualified
Guinea has been disqualified from the competition after being banned from all international competitions by FIFA after a government interference into the Football Association affairs which is not allowed after FIFA rules.
(Because of some contradictory reports one has to be a little careful about the finality of this decision).
After the draw with Malawi the Guinean Sports minister had dissolved the Guinean Football Federation (!) and so Guinea had violated the independence principle of football associations inside FIFA. So FIFA had set a deadline to reinstall the association board as elected, otherwise Guinea would have faced exclusion from the World Cup. Guinea set up a new federation board in time but did not reinstall the old one, which was insufficient to FIFA. The consequence was the immediate suspension of the Guinean federation from international competitions after passing the first deadline (March 2nd).
When another deadline (March 18th) had passed FIFA reacted with exclusion of all international competitions including World Cup, African Nations Cup, and international club competitions.
In Africa sports is often seen as a matter of highest national importance and sports ministers are much more directly concerned with sports matters than their European counterparts (for example there is no sports minister in Germany). Often they even select and pay the coaches of the national teams. So interference with the associations is often a reason for clashes with FIFA rules which try to protect the independence of the football associations whose leaderships have to be democratically legitamised.
In another case Tanzania had been banned since last September and might now return to the international football 'family' after agreeing to cooperate with FIFA

week6 Apr 20-22, 2001
Burkina Faso - Malawi 4:2
0:1, 1:1, 2:1, 2:2, 3:2, 4:2
Zimbabwe - Guinea cancelled*
*Guinea has been disqualified from the competition (see stories above)
After the disqualification of Guinea suddenly Zimbabwe are the challengers to South Africa. For the other two, which played each other this weekend, the World Cup is out of reach: the highest point number the winner still can get is 10. Very unlikely this could be enough as South Africa already has 9. For the losers of the match it is now even mathematically over.
But Malawi face more troubles after a court hearing on corruption in Malawi football, originally dedicated to the trading of television rights, is now reported to have brought up some statements that Malawi might have paid some 'extra-money' to the referee of the preliminary qualification round. Yet the report has only been carried by one international source.

week7 May 4-6, 2001
South Africa - Zimbabwe 2:1
1:0 Bartlett ('17), 2:0 McCarthy ('39), 2:1 ('52 pen.) Ndlovu
After the disqualification of Guinea suddenly Zimbabwe are the sole challengers to South Africa.
But with Malawi and Burkina Faso mathematically out and Zimbabwe losing at South Africa there only remains an unrealistic scenario which could prevent the Bafana Bafana from a second consecutive World Cup participation. They need only one more point.

week8 Jun 29-Jul 1, 2001
Burkina Faso - South Africa 1:1
*South Africa qualified

week9 Jul 13-15, 2001
Zimbabwe - Burkina Faso 1:0
South Africa - Malawi 2:0

week10 Jul 27-29, 2001

World Cup 2002 African qualification: [ Preview ] [ Matches ] [ Review ] [ About ]
The Shot That Passed Right Through The Net: [ HOME ]
Football in: [ 2010 ] [ Today ] [ Germany ] [ Africa ] [ Asia ] [ Internet ] [ Universe ] [ Archives ]
© The Shot That Passed Right Through The Net. [ Mail ]