Namibia and Zambia both pulled off shock wins in the African Nations Cup qualifiers at the weekend to book their places at the 2008 finals in Ghana.
They were joined by fellow group winners Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal while 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa sneaked in the back door, grabbing one of three berths reserved for the best runners-up despite losing 3-1 at home to Zambia.
Already qualified before the weekend’s 19 matches were hosts Ghana, Angola, Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia.
The final three berths in the 16-team tournament from January 20 to February 10 will be decided next month when Groups Two and Nine are completed.
Zambia captain Chris Katongo grabbed a hat-trick within the opening 20 minutes, profiting from a series of defensive errors as South Africa imploded in their Group 11 game in Cape Town on Sunday.
”It was a disaster, it was not our team out there,” said South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira after the defeat, which saw Zambia come from three points back to win the group on a head-to-head count.
Tunisia, the 2004 hosts and winners, are also through as a best runner-up, with the final second-place berth going to either Benin or Uganda next month.
Namibia netted a late winner in Addis Ababa to beat Ethiopia 3-2 and snatch top place in Group 10 after leaders, the Democratic Republic of Congo were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Libya. Both games were played on Saturday.
Manu Kaputose scored to send Namibia to only their second Nations Cup finals appearance as they came from 2-1 down going into the final 10 minutes.
Missing out
The Congolese miss out on the finals after qualifying for the last eight successive tournaments.
Guinea’s 4-0 win over the Cape Verde Islands saw them make sure of top spot in Group Eight on Sunday while Senegal went one goal better in a 5-1 thumping of Burkina Faso in Dakar on Saturday to win Group Seven.
Côte d’Ivoire, without injured captain Didier Drogba, drew 0-0 in Gabon to finish top in Group One, while Sudan’s 3-2 victory over Tunisia in Khartoum made them Group Four winners.
Still to be decided is the outcome of Group Two, where defending champions Egypt need only to avoid defeat at home to Botswana next month to go through.
If Egypt lose, then both Botswana and Burundi have a chance to qualify.
Egypt missed out on their first chance to make sure on Sunday in a dour 0-0 draw at Burundi.
Togo and Mali meet in the decisive Group Nine game on October 12, with a guaranteed finals slot for the winner. – Reuters