Defeat is too terrible to contemplate for six African minnows when they clash in 2010 World Cup qualifiers this weekend.
Failure means three years in the wilderness because the fixtures double as 2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers and the losers will not play competitively again until late that year when qualifiers for the next edition begin.
This system has been criticised as being too harsh on the vanquished, but the African Football Confederation had to cut the 51-strong field by three ahead of the second round draw on November 25 in South Africa.
The Comoros appear doomed to temporary oblivion having crashed 6-2 away to Madagascar last month in the first leg of a first round tie.
The youngest member of the African football family will enjoy a home advantage as they stage a match in the capital, Moroni, for the first time, but wiping out a four-goal deficit appears too great a task.
Faneva Andriatsima returned home from the reserve side at French club Nantes to persecute Comoros in Antananarivo, scoring two goals in each half while Rija Rakotomandimby and Jean Tsaralaza also hit the target.
Daoud Midtadi raised hopes of a sensational World Cup debut for Comoros by opening the scoring and Ibor Bakar converted a second-half penalty to cut the Malagasy lead to a single goal before the home team scored three more.
Madagascar have a disastrous away record in six World Cup qualifying challenges, winning in Namibia, drawing in Zimbabwe, losing the other nine matches, scoring eight goals and conceding 23.
After changing coaches repeatedly during a winless, goalless 2008 African Nations Cup qualifying campaign, the Malagasy turned to German coach Franz Gerber and he should be celebrating another triumph come Saturday evening.
Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone are much more evenly balanced with the former enjoying home advantage and the latter defending a 1-0 advantage in another Saturday fixture.
Italy-based Kewullay Conteh earned the Leone Stars a first home win in four years with an early goal after pouncing on a rebound to fire the ball beyond goalkeeper Flaviano Nanque.
The build up to the first leg laid bare the chaotic state of Sierra Leone football with officials claiming Nigerian James Peters was in charge while the role was actually being fulfilled by former national team captain Ahmed Kanu.
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A new coach was needed after the axe fell on John Sherington, who was in charge for most of a six-match 2008 African Nations Cup qualifying campaign that yielded a solitary point.
While civil war rages in Somalia, the country are in Djibouti for a clash on Friday after the first leg was cancelled.
Djibouti have bittersweet memories of their previous attempt, holding the formidable Democratic Republic of Congo 1-1 at home in a 2002 qualifier only to be humiliated 9-1 in Kinshasa when the countries met again.
Somalia fell 6-0 on aggregate to Cameroon in the 2002 eliminators and 7-0 to Ghana four years later and both their conquerors went on to reach the World Cup finals. – Sapa-AFP