OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 8.00pm.
THE qualifying rounds for the 2000 African Nations Cup reach a thrilling finale this weekend with eight teams fighting for four places and four more battling for two play-off positions.
Co-hosts Ghana and Nigeria and title holders Egypt gain automatic entry to the biennial showcase of football on the continent and Tunisia joined them in April as the first qualifiers.
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Morocco, South Africa and Zambia secured berths following the penultimate round of matches two weeks ago.
This reduces four of the 11 fixtures on Saturday and Sunday – Angola-South Africa, Mauritius-Gabon, DR Congo-Zambia, Madagascar-Kenya – to little more than academic tussles.
But the other seven – Eritrea-Mozambique, Guinea-Togo, Cote d’Ivoire-Mali, Congo-Namibia, Senegal-Burundi, Algeria-Uganda, Liberia-Tunisia – find only Tunisia and out-of-contention Namibia not fighting for survival. — AFP
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