Mess in Mauritania

Contrary to what was expected, Egypt is still sweating in its African group qualifier. Abeer Anwar reports

---

Egypt were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Mauritania in Nouakchott in Group Two qualifiers for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana.

Despite the result, Egypt, the defending champions, are still atop their group with eight points. Burundi's 1-0 win over Botswana in the Rwandan capital Kigali gave it second place with six points, while Botswana and Mauritania share the same total of points, four each.

Egypt's next game is with Burundi in Burundi. Its final game is against Botswana in Cairo.

The Pharaohs were on the right track when Ahmed Hassan scored after only 15 minutes. They looked like emulating their 3-0 first leg win in Cairo, however, the match soon degenerated into a scrappy affair. Mauritania had several good chances to equalise in the second half and did so eventually, with 20 minutes to go, Johan Langlet scoring from close range. Only the heroics of goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari prevented an outright win by Mauritania.

Half-time was extended by 20 minutes before crowds of fans who descended onto the pitch were removed.

In other groups, Morocco moved within one point of a place at the 2008 African Nations Cup after outclassing Zimbabwe 2-0 over the weekend. The Atlas Lions achieved a second victory in three Group 12 outings thanks to goals from France-based duo Marouane Chamakh after three minutes and Youssef Hadji midway through the first half.

Success at the 80,000-seat Mohamed V Stadium in the Moroccan commercial capital lifted former champions Morocco to seven points. Malawi have three and Zimbabwe one. Zimbabwe, who reached the 2004 and 2006 editions of the biennial African football championships after more than a decade of underachievement, cannot qualify with only a home fixture against Malawi in September left.

Although just 24 years old, Bordeaux striker Chamakh threatened to quit international football if Morocco failed to qualify for the finals and his early breakthrough settled Moroccan nerves. And when Hadji, younger brother of former national star Mustapha, added a second goal after 27 minutes, there was no way back for the goal-shy Zimbabwe Warriors who have managed just one in 270 minutes of qualifying action.

Sudan are set to end a 31-year absence from the Nations Cup next year in Ghana after outclassing Mauritius 3-0 in Omdurman with Richard Jastin on target twice and Faisal Ajab once. Jastin converted a penalty midway through the first half, Ajab struck three minutes before half-time and Jastin completed an easy Group 4 victory with a 75th-minute goal.

Tunisia remain one point ahead of Sudan with 10 after an even more emphatic win, proving far too strong for Indian Ocean islanders Seychelles in a 4-0 Tunis triumph. Issam Jomaa, one of many France-based professionals in action during a 22-match weekend programme, put the 2004 champions ahead after 26 minutes. Kamel Zaiem scored in each half and Amine Charmiti completed the rout.

Tunisia or Sudan are destined to win the group and qualify automatically, and it is virtually certain that the country finishing second will be among the three best runners-up in the 12 four-team groups and also go to west Africa.

Algeria overcame the dismissal of goalkeeper Lounes Gaouaoui midway through the opening half in the Cape Verde Islands capital Praia to lead twice and were deprived of a heroic victory by a stoppage time goal in a 2-2 thriller.

Madjid Bougherra opened the scoring in the first half and Marco Suarez restored equality only for Rafik Saifi to put the Desert Foxes ahead with six minutes left on the west Africa archipelago.

But the Group 8 pacesetters were robbed of maximum points when Herman Borges, one of many Portugal-based Cape Verdians, scored two minutes into additional time.

The government of Zambia on Sunday launched an investigation into the deaths of 12 soccer fans who were crushed as they tried to leave a stadium after Zambia's victory over the Republic of Congo in another African Cup qualifier.

Sports Minister Gabriel Namulambe visited Konkola Stadium in the northern Copperbelt mining town of Chililabombwe and said the government had also ordered the Zambian Football Association to take urgent steps to ensure there was no repeat of the tragedy.

"At the end of the soccer match we all thought everything had ended well, only to be shocked with the news that 12 fans had died after the match," Namulambe said on the evening bulletin of state owned Television Zambia.

He said the victims were caught up in a stampede that was started by a group of fans who had wanted to re-enter the stadium at a time when the main body of more than 30,000 other fans were fighting to get out.

Namulambe said the Zambian government had set up a committee to investigate the circumstances and had ordered it to report back by tomorrow.

He said the government would pay for the funeral expenses of all the dead. Up to 50 people sustained slight injuries, but only one remained hospitalized late Sunday.

The official Sunday Times newspaper said the dead were nine men and three women.

Zambia won the match 3-0 to send it into second position in its qualifying group. The match should have started at 3pm but was delayed for an hour because of the late arrival of the referee.

There was more confusion afterward at a hospital as family members tried to identify the deceased, prompting local police to send in 50 extra officers to control the grieving crowd.

President of the Confederation of African Football Issa Hayatou sent a message of condolences to the Zambian government.