March to South Africa

With less that 100 days left to the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, teams around the world stretched their muscles in preparation for the big event. Greece suffered a worrying 2-0 home loss to Senegal while Switzerland fell 3-1 at home to Uruguay and Slovakia were defeated 1-0 by the visiting Norwegians. Argentina registered a 1-0 win over their hosts Germany and South Korea triumphed 2-0 over Ivory Coast in London. World Cup hosts South Africa could only draw 1-1 with Namibia while Spain remained at the top of the rankings winning 2-0 away to France. In the Asian Cup qualifiers on the same day, Australia struggled to beat Indonesia 1-0 at home while UAE picked up a creditable 1-0 win in Uzbekistan. In friendly North American matches Panama returned from Venezuela with a 2-1 victory while Guatemala overcame El Salvador by the same result in Los Angeles.

Focus on Africa

Ten days into the year that will see Africa host the World Cup for the first time; the eyes of the world were on Angola to witness the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
Group A – The hosts opened the tournament with 4 goals against Mali, but were pegged back to a 4-4 draw in the last 11 minutes with 2 of the goals coming deep into stoppage time. Algeria suffered a shock 3-0 defeat to Malawi, but having won their next match progressed to the next round, ahead of a an unlucky Mali team who won their last match 3-1 against Malawi, with a goalless draw against their hosts who had also won their 2nd match and topped the group.
Group B – Togo were disqualified for pulling out of the competition after the fatal attack on their bus, leaving the group with only 3 teams. Ivory Coast were held to a goalless draw by Burkina Faso, but after a creditable 3-1 win over Ghana went through together with the Ghanaians who beat Burkina Faso with the only goal the Burkinabe conceded in the tournament.
Group C – Egypt opened with a 3-1 win over Nigeria in the top-of-the-table clash with both teams keeping clean sheets in their subsequent wins over Benin and Mozambique.
Group D – In a tightly fought group Gabon who stunned Cameroon with a 1-0 win in their opening match were unlucky not to make it to the next round having finished on identical points and goal difference to Zambia and Cameroon.
Quarter finals – The participation of hosts Angola came to an end losing 1-0 to Ghana, and Nigeria knocked Zambia out on penalties. Favourites Ivory Coast were sent packing after losing 3-2 to Algeria in extra time while Cameroon fell 3-1 to reigning champions Egypt in another match that needed 30 extra minutes to separate the teams.
Semi finals – A single goal against Nigeria was enough to send Ghana to the final where they were to meet Egypt who avenged their World Cup play-off defeat by thrashing an ill-disciplined Algerian side that finished the match with 8 men.
Final matches - Nigeria beat Algeria 1-0 to finish 3rd while Egypt won the Africa Cup of Nations for the 3rd time in succession with a 1-0 victory over Ghana to make them the highest team in rankfootball not to qualify for the World Cup.
A comprehensive report on all the matches can be found at footballreporter.co.uk.