Point is made
EGYPT suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in Atlantic Olympic football qualifiers, losing to Tunisia in Tunisia 2-0 Abeer Anwar reports. The loss left Egypt with no points and no chance of reaching the Olympics even though two games remain.
After the first three losses, the team was disbanded and head coach Shawki Gharib resigned, leaving the reigns of power to Hassan Shehata to finish the job using mostly under-20 players. But the team was clearly outclassed by a Tunisian side which now heads the group with eight points.
In the same group, Nigeria beat Senegal 2-0 in Kanu in their second leg match while Senegal beat Nigeria 4-3 in their first leg match in Dakar to equalise on points with seven each.
In other Athens qualifiers, Cameroon beat the Ivory Coast 2-0 in Yaounde to go top of Group B with 10 points and two games left. Playing with eight European-based players, Cameroon were the better side and scored a goal early in each half.
Francis Ze headed in a long throw-in from skipper Narcisse Abada in the 12th minute, while Marcus Mokake, who has just signed for Sedan in France, made it 2-0 six minutes after resumption, with another header. Mali also defeated Democratic Congo 3-1 in Bamako.
Ghana defeated Algeria 2-0 in Kumasi to go top of Group D. The Ghanaians scored a goal in each half through Israel-based Ishmael Addo and Kwadwo Poku to leap-frog Zambia, who beat South Africa on goal difference with both sides tied on seven points each.
Algeria are in third place on six points while South Africa are bottom with three points and two rounds of matches remaining.
Addo's goal came in the 40th minute after Algeria failed to clear a free kick. Ghana went on to dominate the second half but had to wait until the 77th minute to score the second goal.
Poku, who came on as a substitute, received a square pass from Razak Ibrahim and the player made no mistake from about eight yards.
Algeria were far from being and rarely threatened a Ghanaian side who were playing for the first time under new coach Mariano Barreto.
Algeria were reduced to 10 men after 71 minutes when Adlene Bebsaid was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The win thrilled Barreto whose appointment to the job was criticised by the Ghanaian media.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 678 (Issue No. 26 February - 3 March)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/679/sp4.htm