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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Interview Features Focus Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Dribbling towards Sydney
Nashwa Abdel-TawabAhmed Bilal, who was not even supposed to play, scored twice to propel Egypt past Côte d'Ivoire and put the Pharaohs within striking distance of an Olympic football berth.
Morocco maintained its leadership of Group C with a comfortable 2-0 win over Tunisia in Casablanca through first-half goals from Abdel-Fattah Al-Khattari and Essam Al-Baroudi. The Moroccans, with nine points, lead Egypt by two points and Côte d'Ivoire by four. Each country has two games left. Egypt plays a crucial game against Morocco in Cairo on 12 March. A place at the 16-nation finals in the Olympics awaits each of the three group winners, while the best runner-up from the three African mini-leagues plays off with New Zealand for another berth.
Sunday's match in Cairo Stadium, seen by 40,000 fans, belonged to Bilal who was a replacement for injured striker Mohamed Farouk. In the 21st minute he opened the scoring against the run of play when he received a chest-high ball and, before falling to the ground and with his back to the goal, let fly with a double kick that floated over the keeper's head into the far left corner. Ten minutes into the second half, Bilal again lobbed the ball over, this time from a header. The performance of the youngster, a product of Ahli, surely strengthened his candidacy for a starring role in future games.
Antonin "Tony" Koutouan scored a consolation goal for the visitors in the 75th minute following an ill-timed leap for a corner kick by the goalkeeper.
Following the match, Egypt's German coach Zegi Heeld promised the team would reach the Olympics for a record 11th appearance at the Games.
Egypt's Ahmed Bilal star of the match in possession of the ball
photo: Amr Gamal
In Group A matches, Nigeria looked anything but defending Olympic champions as it laboured to a 1-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Uganda in Lagos through a late goal from James Obiora.
The result was sufficient, however, to bring the Nigerians level in Group A with Zimbabwe, which crashed 4-2 in Angola to suffer its first mini-league reverse.
Qatar-based striker Fabrice "Akwa" Maieco was the three-goal hero of Angola, with Jose de Almeida also on target. Walter Tshuma had put Zimbabwe ahead twice during a lively opening half.
In Group B, Ghana snatched a dramatic 2-1 win over Guinea in Conakry to keep alive its hopes of a third consecutive appearance at the Olympics. The Black Meteors fell behind after 37 minutes when goalkeeper Sammy Adjei conceded an own goal and Greece-based Baffour Gyan levelled before half-time. Guinea seemed set to end a three-match losing streak until Osei Kwame scored with just two minutes left to nudge Ghana into second place behind Cameroon.
South Africa began the weekend as leaders only to stumble 2-0 in Yaounde against Cameroon, with Patrick Suffo scoring after four minutes and Ze Albert Meyongue adding a second six minutes into the second half. Cameroon has nine points and Ghana and South Africa seven each, and similar goal differences with two rounds left of a competition restricted to players born on or after 1 January 1977.
