African football was on Monday mourning the deaths of six people after two World Cup qualifiers ended in tragedy and controversy at the weekend.
In Lome, four people were killed and eight injured when a crowd stampeded following a power-cut after the Group One qualifying game between Togo and Mali.
In Monrovia, meanwhile, two people died after fans went on the rampage after the Group One game between Liberia and Senegal.
The drama in Lome came after Emmanuel Adebayor secured a 1-0 win over Mali to keep Togo on course for the finals in Germany.
An electricity blackout after the game caused panic and spectators were crushed in the rush to get out.
World governing body Fifa has launched an investigation into the circumstances which sparked the tragedy.
”The global football family is in mourning today for this tragic loss of life,” said Fifa president Sepp Blatter.
In the war-torn Liberian capital of Monrovia, Liberia’s top football executives denounced the violence which left at least two fans dead.
”These people are hiding behind the football match to achieve their goals,” Nyanquoi Boissy, said Secretary General of the Liberian Football Association.
”They are not Lone Star [Liberia’s nickname] fans. They are hooligans, mere looters who where waiting for the match to execute their plans.”
An estimated 50 000 people crowded into the Samuel Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia to watch Liberia face Senegal.
Stone throwing Liberian supporters delayed the start of the second half and caused a 30-minute stoppage near the end as a hail of bottles, some filled with urine, flew on to the pitch.
It did little to break the concentration of the Teranga Lions, however, who won 3-0 after two second-half goals by Senegalese striker Henri Camara.
A rash of looting and vandalism followed the match, sparing no vehicles lining the streets in the war-ravaged capital.
At least two people were killed as a vehicle, trying to escape the angry mob, crashed into a crowd of bystanders.
Police superintendent Chris Massaquoi said that the Lone Star team should be suspended from future international matches.
But the LFA said he was in no position to make that decision.
Fifa said they are also looking into separate reported instances of crowd trouble in other preliminary matches in Africa, Europe and Central America involving pitch invasions (at Botswana v Kenya and Panama v Jamaica), missiles being thrown onto the pitch (Bosnia-Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro, Malawi v Tunisia,
Sudan v Cameroon and Honduras v Canada) and racist chants (Macedonia v Netherlands). – Sapa-AFP