Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will take on the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the playoff phase of the African qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup slated for the Latin American country, Brazil.
The draws for this final round of the qualifiers were done Monday, September 16 2013 at the CAF head office in Cairo, Egypt. At the close of the draws conducted by Gordon Savic, Head of FIFA World Cup & Olympic Qualifiers Competitions, with assistance from CAF Secretary General, Hicham El Amrani, Cameroon was paired against Tunisia, two sides who know themselves so well.
Tunisia bounced back into the world cup qualifiers though they lost their last group game against a spirited Cape Verdean Blue Sharks, 0-2. But an illegible player the Cape Verde Blue Sharks featured in their match against Tunisia has cost them a possible place in Brazil 2014.
Indomitable Lions of Cameroon - Looking forward to another challenge from the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia
Things turned sour for the Blue Sharks when Tunisia lodged a complaint to FIFA, questioning the eligibility of a Cape Verdean defender, Fernando Varela, who should have sat out of the match after being red-carded in a qualifier match on March 24 2013 against Equatorial Guinea. Consequently, the match was awarded to Tunisia with a 3-0 victory and now they are in the playoff stage.
In the build up to the Cameroon – Tunisia game, the Carthage Eagles must find a coach before hosting Cameroon in the
Volker Finke, Coach of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
away leg in Tunis, as Nabil Maaloul quit after a home loss to Cape Verde last weekend. Former Dutch star, Ruud Krol, who coaches local club CS Sfaxien, is the man Tunisian officials want as they seek a fifth World Cup appearance.
As the road to Brazil nears the end, the other playoff pairings will see Ivory Coast renew rivalry with Senegal while Ghana and Egypt fight it out for a ticket to the finals. Ethiopia takes on Nigeria and Burkina Faso will have to contest with Algeria.
The mouth-watering matches will take place over two leg with the first scheduled for 11- 15 October 2013 and the five sides to represent Africa will be known after 15-19 November 2013 second leg ties.
Ethiopia and Burkina Faso are the only side not to have played at the World Cup finals and will have their work cut out if they are to make their debut in Brazil. Ethiopian coach Sewnet Bishaw told journalists after the draw that he is looking forward to the two matches against African champions, Nigeria. “I think it’s a good draw and we will give it a good go against Nigeria whom we have played before. At this stage you cannot have preferred opponents because this is the end of qualifiers and all sides left are good, so yes l am happy with the draw and l can tell you that Nigeria will meet a different Ethiopia from the one they played against during AFCON 2013,” he noted.
German-born coach for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon was upbeat after the draws; “At this level of the competition, you do not choose your opponents. What is in our minds is to play football. We have no other choice. We are set to face Tunisia.”
Paul Put, coach of Burkina Faso, one of the continent’s most improved sides was cautiously philosophical about the encounter with Algeria. The Belgian told the press that, Algeria has a bigger football pedigree but that will not deter his players from putting up a fight. “It’s a balanced draw and in Algeria we will face a big football nation so that means we have to do our homework in preparing for these two big games of our lives. Burkinabe players have been active in preparations and we hope to take it from there and build on the self- belief we have got from reaching this stage and also reaching AFCON 2013 finals. This will motivate us to try harder to reach our first World Cup final,” he mentioned.
The Ivorians will draw comfort from their last meeting with Senegal in a 2013 Cup of Nations qualifier. The ‘Elephants’ won 4-2 in Abidjan and were two goals ahead in Dakar when crowd violence forced the game to be abandoned during the second half.
Ghana find themselves facing an Egyptian side that sailed through round two of the qualifiers with a hundred percent record. The last time the two sides met in a competitive match, The Pharaohs beat The Black Stars 1-0 in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations final with Mohamed ‘Geddo’ Nagy scoring the late winner. Ghana on the other hand is looking forward to join Cameroon as the only other African team to reach three consecutive World Cup finals. The Black Stars reached the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals and will be boosted by the returning players like Michael Essien, the Ayew brothers, Andre and Jordan Ayew and Kevin-Prince Boateng
A major handicap for Egypt has been the lack of crowd support with home games played behind closed doors or in front of tiny crowds due to security concerns. Burkina Faso are among the most improved African sides and hope to build on a shock 2013 Cup of Nations final appearance by overcoming Algeria. The winners of the two legged ties will compete at 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
