Back upstairs

A 2-0 victory over Malawi in Cairo boosted Egypt's chances of going to the second round of the 2010 World Cup qualifications, reports Inas Mazhar

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Meteb squeezes past two from Malawi

The win put Egypt level on nine points with group leaders DR Congo who beat Djibouti 5-1 earlier on Sunday.

After several wasted attempts, Emad Meteb opened the scoring for Egypt 17 minutes into the match when he sent home a powerful low drive from long range. However, the African champions failed to add another for the rest of the half as the visitors gave them a hard time.

In the second half and looking to score as many goals as possible, the home team put on the pressure and six minutes later, Meteb, the man of the match, added his second, a looping header but this time from close range. The Ahli striker raised his goal record to 19 with the national team since coach Hassan Shehata took over. Zamalek's superstar Amr Zaki leads active goals scorers with 23.

The Flames of Malawi tried to score and had some good chances but were unlucky and could not emulate the 1-0 win against the African champions they masterminded in Malawi a fortnight ago.

Despite the loss they are still hopeful of making it to the second phase.

Despite the win, Egypt's performance remained sub-par due to the absence of a number of injured players, including midfielder Mohamed Abu Treika and defenders Shadi Mohamed and Ahmed Fathi. Team doctor Ahmed Maged said Fathi's condition was the worst. "I've just spoken to Abu Treika and Shadi in Germany and they are almost 70 per cent okay and will be able to catch up with the team within the next two months," Dr Maged added.

Egypt has two remaining matches against DR Congo and Djibouti. Egypt and DR Congo meet in Kinshasa on 7 September and Djibouti are in Cairo for a 10 October encounter.

According to the team's technical manager Jack Chamnogou, Malawi still has a chance to qualify for the second stage. "The chances are still there. We need to win at home against DR Congo. Luckily, our last game is in Djibouti so before going there we will have a clear picture about the goals we need to score and look for the goal aggregate which I believe will be a decisive point in winning in this group.

"We missed so many chances against Egypt here in Cairo. We had a good game but we played better at home. The players were very slow and naïve. If we were aggressive we could have won this match. Meanwhile, we will have a good break until September which will give us time to correct our mistakes," Chamnogou said.

It was a pleasant evening for the Egyptians at Cairo Stadium all around. Egyptian fans had been practically boycotting attending the matches of the Pharaohs for different reasons, the main reason being that the fans, especially Ahli fans, were upset by the team head coach Shehata for including goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari in the squad despite the goalkeeper abandoning Ahli and turning pro in FC Sion in Switzerland.

Accordingly, all previous matches of the national team in the last few months in Cairo Stadium appeared almost empty, with spectator numbers never exceeding 10,000 in a 72,000- seat stadium. And even those who came went just to hurl insults at El-Hadari and Shehata. Sometimes, army and police forces would be stationed in the stadium seats to cover up for the absence of the fans.

And after Egypt's shock 1-0 loss to Malawi, Egyptian football officials began to feel the heat as the team was in a critical situation and desperately needed the support of the fans. Calls by EFA president Samir Zaher were heeded when Egyptian spectators made it a high spectator turnout on Sunday. Zaher had feared that the Egyptians' greater interest in the Euro Cup currently taking place would prevent them from coming since at the same time as the game, World Cup champions Italy were playing against Spain for the last quarter-final slot of the European Cup. However, being in the stadium didn't prevent the crowd from following the Euro match. They were listening to their mobile radios for updates of the match.

In the other match of Group 12, Turkey- based Shabani Nonda of the Democratic Republic of Congo became the third striker after Esau Kanyenda of Malawi and Moumouni Dagano of Burkina Faso to score a second round hat trick.

Veteran Nonda scored twice in the first half and once in the second before goals by Tsholola Tshinyama and Dieumerci Mbokani completed a 5-1 rout of Group 12 strugglers Djibouti in Kinshasa.

Moussa Hirir snatched a late consolation goal for the tiny Horn of Africa team who have conceded 23 goals in four matches and must still face mighty Egypt in Cairo.

In the other group matches, Ivory Coast finally rediscovered their form to outclass Botswana 4-0. Victory in the top-of-the-table Group 7 Abidjan showdown took the Ivorian Elephants three points clear with two series of matches to go in the second qualifying phase.

Boubacar Sanogo and Didier Zokora struck within six minutes midway through the first half at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium and Sekou Cisse added a couple of goals after half time.

Ivory Coast, rated fourth in Africa this month behind Cameroon, Ghana and Nations Cup holders Egypt, have been slow off the mark in a mini-league they were expected to cruise through.

A solitary goal home win over Mozambique was followed by draws in Madagascar and Botswana as the absence of injured strikers Didier Drogba, Aruna Dindane and Salomon Kalou took its toll.

Chelsea striker Kalou came on in the second half to join four other English Premiership stars, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue of Arsenal, Abdoulaye Meite of Bolton Wanderers and Zokora of Tottenham Hotspur.

Botswana remain second one point ahead of Mozambique, who beat Madagascar 3-0 in Maputo, and their final-round meeting in Gaborone will probably decide who finishes second and stands a chance of qualifying for the next phase.

After scoring just twice in three Group 8 outings, Ethiopia went on the rampage at home to Mauritania and won 6-1 with Teffera Fikru from South African champions Super Sport United and Andualem Negussie hitting two each.

Benin won for the third consecutive weekend in Group 3 with Jocelyn Ahoueya putting the Squirrels ahead on the stroke of half-time at home to Niger and a 55th-minute Karim Oumarou own goal sealed a 2-0 triumph.

Zimbabwe faltered again against Group 2 pacesetters Kenya, drawing 0-0 in a drab Harare clash after a 2-0 loss in Nairobi last weekend cost them the leadership of a pool where Guinea are also serious contenders.

The late arrival of the match officials forced the postponement until Monday of the Group 3 fixture between Angola and Uganda in Luanda.

The 12 African qualifying groups will provide 20 teams to go through to the last phase of qualifiers later this year. The 12 group winners and the eight best runners-up progress to the second phase.