The South African senior national soccer team, Bafana Bafana, have virtually secured their ticket to the World Cup in Germany next year.
Bafana, who top Group Two with 15 points, enhanced their chances when they beat the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 in their African World Cup qualifying match in Praia on Saturday night.
Only the winners of each group will qualify for Germany.
Cape Verde remain second, for the time being, on ten points while third placed Ghana, who have nine points, will host Burkina Faso in Kumasi on Sunday.
Cape Verde started the game well, attacking from all angles which forced Bafana to back peddle from the pressure. But the South Africans, who beat the Cape Verdeans 2-1 in their first game last year, weathered the storm and regrouped.
Benni McCarthy and Delron Buckley scored a goal each to help South Africa keep hold of first place with 15 points.
McCarthy scored the first goal in the 11th minute, heading home after a neat chip from the left by Buckley. Two minutes later, Buckley controlled a ball from Mbulelo Mabizela with his first touch and sent it into the roof of the net.
Cape Verde attacked almost incessantly after that, but defenders Siboniso Gaxa and Ricardo Katza broke up most of the attacks.
In the 78th minute, Arlindo ”Cafu” Semedo got one past South Africa goalkeeper Hans Vonk.
South Africa has played in the last two World Cup final tournaments.
Elsewhere in the competition, Morocco stayed in first place in its group, and Cameroon edged closer to the top with wins in the competition.
Morocco beat Malawi 4-1 in Group Five and Cameroon routed Benin 4-1 in Group Three. In another match, African champion Tunisia beat Botswana 3-1. Ten more African qualifying matches are scheduled for Sunday, with both Nigeria and Senegal trying to retain the lead in their respective groups.
Only the five African group winners will qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. In Cotonou, Benin, Rigobert Song, Achille Webo, Geremi Njitap and Samuel Eto’o scored a goal each for Cameroon, which now trails Group Three leader Ivory Coast by just two points.
The Ivorians were held to a 0-0 draw by Libya on Friday. Benin, which is in last place in the group with just two points, got a goal from Coffi Agbessi in the 80th. Song scored the first goal for Cameroon in the 20th minute, and Webo made it 2-0 in the 51st. Geremi and Eto’o then scored a pair of goals in a five-minute span to help the 1990 World Cup quarterfinalists.
In Rabat, Morocco, Youssouf Hadji scored three goals to keep Morocco in first place ahead of Tunisia. He scored the match-winner in the 21st, and then added goals in the 72nd and 76th minutes.
Malawi took the lead in the 11th minute when Essau Kanyenda scored, but Youssef Safri equalized with a penalty in the 15th. Morocco leads the group with 15 points, followed by Tunisia with 11.
In Gaborone, Botswana, Mogogi Gabonamong gave the hosts the lead in the 10th minute, but Mehdi Nafti equalised for Tunisia 10 minutes later.
Francileudo Santos scored the game-deciding goal in the 44th, and El Abdi Wissem added another for Tunisia in the 76th. ‒ Sapa, Sapa-AP