Monday 14 October 2013

African repeat remains on the cards (African Football Media) Sunday 13 October 2013

African repeat remains on the cards
Brazil could well see a repeat of the five African qualifiers from the last FIFA World Cup™ finals as Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria remain on track after their first-leg play-off matches. The continent's fifth qualified representative at South Africa 2010 was Ghana, who play their first match against Egypt on Tuesday in Kumasi.
West Africans Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria secured victories over the weekend, while Cameroon earned a draw at Tunisia and Algeria bagged two away goals and will be hoping to turn around a narrow defeat in November's return leg. FIFA.com looks back at the first-leg matches with the knowledge that the winners of the two-legged play-offs will book their place at Brazil 2014. 
Match of the day
Côte d'Ivoire 3 - 1 Senegal
Goals: Didier Drogba (5 PEN), Lamine Sane (14 OG), Salomon Kalou (50) - Papiss Cisse (90+6)
Les Elephants went into the game as the clear favourites and showed from the start why they are the top-ranked African team. The 2006 and 2010 World Cup veterans went ahead through Didier Drogba's early penalty following a foul on Gervinho, and some nine minutes later the rampant Gervinho's shot was deflected into Senegal defender Lamine Sane. The home side continued where they left off after the break when Kalou added a third and put the game beyond the visitors after being set-up by Roma's in-form Gervinho. The Ivorians then had further opportunities to add a fourth goal, but Bouna Coundoul pulled off a number of good saves, and the visitors were rewarded deep into stoppage time when Papisse Cisse gave the Lions of Teranga a lifeline, scoring after Côte d'Ivoire failed to clear from a set piece.

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