With the champions
Egypt was paired with defending champions Cameroon in the African Nations Cup finals. Inas Mazhar reports on the group and the rest of the scheduled encounters
Four-time champions Egypt finds itself eyeball to eyeball with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Group C of the African Nations Cup finals in Tunisia beginning next year.
The draw this week placed Egypt alongside Cameroon, seeking a third consecutive title, Algeria, perennial North African rivals and debutantes Zimbabwe.
Hosts Tunisia will face newcomers Rwanda on 24 January in the opening game of the finals at the November 7 Stadium in Rades, on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital. Cameroon start the defence of their crown against Algeria in Sfax the following day.
In Group A the host nation will face the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and newcomers Rwanda. Both Cameroon and Tunisia will start as overwhelming favourites to top its respective groups and qualify for the knockout phase.
Senegal, the 2002 runners-up, will be well satisfied to be drawn with Burkina Faso, Mali and Kenya in Group B. Kenya will be making its first appearance at the tournament since 1992.
Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa were handed a tough Nations Cup draw after landing in the same group for next winter's final. The three former champions being drawn in the same pool throws together three countries bidding to host the 2010 World Cup.
For the second major tournament in a row, Nigeria's Super Eagles find themselves in a "group of death" in the African Nations Cup. At the 2002 World Cup finals, the Super Eagles were eliminated at the first stage having been drawn with England, Argentina and Sweden in that tournament's "group of death".
Although it struggled at the last Nations Cup in Mali, South Africa gained great confidence from its own World Cup and showed something of a return to form when seeing off the Ivory Coast in one of the toughest qualifying groups for Tunisia 2004.
Bafana Bafana's match with the Super Eagles promises to be one of the ties of the first round at Tunisia 2004. It also offers the chance for the South Africans to avenge their defeat in the semi-finals of the 2000 edition.
The 1976 winners Morocco will also be a tough nut to crack. The Atlas Lions dropped only two points in qualifying and are looking to a new generation of players to restore some of the highs the team hit in the 1990s. Their last Nations Cup match against Nigeria ended in a 2-0 loss and saw the dismissal of their high-profile French coach Henri Michel.
Benin, another country appearing at the biennial tournament for the first time, complete the Group D line-up.
CAF President Issa Hayatou declared after the draw that Tunisia was in the right track to host the 2004 African Cup of Nations after an inspection visit on 17 and 18 September.
"Most of the facilities are completed and less than 25 per cent are remaining. I am confident that Tunis, after organising the African Cup of Nations less than 10 years ago, will be ready before kickoff," Hayatou told reporters.
Hayatou headed a delegation of CAF inspectors made up of the African Cup of Nations organising committee members who visited the six venues for the finals. The CAF delegation, which was divided into two groups, made a thorough inspection of the facilities and venues, including stadiums Sousse, Monastir, 15th October Bizerte, Al-Menzah, Mhiri and 7th November.
There are seven former African champions in the field of 16 for Tunisia 2004; Algeria, Cameroon, the DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. The top two sides in each group will progress to the quarter- finals, with the final due to be played at Rades on 14 February.
Hosts Tunisia, defending champions Cameroon, Senegal and Nigeria led the four groups in the first round. The remaining 12 countries were pooled into three tiers of four teams.
Olympic draw
The results of the draw for qualifying for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games was as follows;
Group A: Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal
Group B: RD Congo, Cameroon, Mali, Ivory Coast
Group C: Uganda, Angola, Morocco, Ethiopia
Group D: Algeria, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa
