As most of the world was focused on the countdown to the
World Cup, African nations began their battle to reach their own finals,
throwing up a bunch of interesting results. Botswana who had been thrashed 4-0
by Swaziland in a home friendly managed a goalless draw at Burundi who had won
3-0 in another friendly away to Tanzania, but the most surprising result was
Uganda's 2-1 defeat at Madagascar, though the away goal did eventually see them
through while Chad's 3-1 home victory over Malawi saw the hosts bow out on the
away goals rule. Comoros moved up the rankings despite elimination after losing
1-0 in Kenya and drawing 1-1 in their return match while Tanzania and Namibia
enjoyed 1-0 home wins over Zimbabwe and Congo respectively, though Congo hit
back with a 3-0 win in the return match. Rwanda eased past Libya 3-0 on
aggregate having drawn their away match while Guinea Bissau held the Central
African Republic to a goalless draw and disposed of them 3-1 on home soil.
Mauritania who had won 2-0 away to Mauritius in the preliminary round were
finally halted 3-0 at Equatorial Guinea while Liberia fell 2-0 in Lesotho and
there was some satisfaction for South Sudan who went out holding on to a 0-0
draw against Mozambique in Sudan.
In The AFC Challenge Cup held in the Maldives the
outstanding result was Afghanistan's 3-1 victory over Turkmenistan while in
friendly matches Kyrgyzstan drew 2-2 in Kuwait and South Korea lost 1-0 at home
to Tunisia.
Finland took part in The Baltic Cup and were defeated 1-0 by
Lithuania in Latvia while in friendly matches in preparation for the World Cup
the Netherlands were held to a 1-1 draw at how to Ecuador while Italy suffered
the same fate at home to lowly Luxembourg. Algeria defeated Armenia 3-1 in
Switzerland while in the USA Honduras lost 4-2 to Israel and Ghana humbled
South Korea with 4 goals without reply.