Not again
Once again Egypt finds itself with African champs Cameroon in the same football championship group. Eric Asomugha reports
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FIFA President Sepp Platter (r), and former football great Franz Beckenbauer at the 2006 World Cup draw in Frankfurt, Germany
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Egypt was drawn yet again with African champions Cameroon, this time in the 2006 World Cup qualification round.
Next month, the two will face off in the African Nations Cup in Tunisia.
Another former African champion Ivory Coast, Libya, Sudan and Benin are also in Egypt's World Cup Group 3, arguably the strongest of the five. The games begin in 2004.
In Group 1, Zambia faces Senegal, the same team they were drawn together with 10 years ago, before one of the worst sporting tragedies in history. The Zambians will never forget the jet crash which occurred on their national team's way to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal, claiming 30 lives, including 18 players and two coaches on 28 April 1993.
In the same group are Togo, Liberia and Congo.
In Group 2, the 1996 African champions South Africa were drawn with four-time African champions Ghana and another former champion Congo DR, known previously as Zaire. Other members of the group are Burkina Faso, Uganda and the Cape Verde Islands.
In Group 4, former African champions Nigeria and Algeria will confront each other together with Angola, Gabon, and Rwanda.
Group 5 will witness the only North African clash in the preliminaries. Tunisia and Morocco, both former African champions, will contest for the top spot in the group, which include Guinea, Malawi and Botswana.
Only five African countries, the top country from every group, will go to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The group winners and runners-up, together with the best four third place teams join host Egypt and ANC holders Cameroon for the 2006 ANC.
During the draw, 30 African teams were divided into six pots containing five teams each. The five African representatives in the Korea/Japan World Cup of last year -- Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Tunisia and Senegal -- were the top seeded teams in each of the five groups. The remaining 25 teams were determined according to their positions in the latest FIFA world ranking released 19 November.
Egypt is playing solely for a place in the World Cup which it last entered in 1990 in Italy. Then, it drew 1-1 with Holland, followed by a goalless draw with Ireland and lost 1-0 to England.
The Egyptians were prevented from entering the USA 94 World Cup after a controversial match with Zimbabwe was replayed in France, considered neutral ground. For France 98, Egypt failed to top its group while its inability to beat Algeria in the last match prevented it from going to Korea/ Japan 2002.
The one hour and 35-minute draw took place on 5 December at Frankfurt Festival Hall, Germany, in front of a number of dignitaries including FIFA President Joseph Blatter and CAF President Issa Hayatou.
