African giants survive
African
Nations Cup openers
Agence France-Presse
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (September 8,
2002 3:47 p.m. EDT) - Senegal won and Nigeria and South Africa drew Sunday
as the 2002 World Cup qualifiers survived awkward away assignments at the
start of the African Nations Cup.
A first-half goal from Henri Camara earned
Senegal a 1-0 win in Lesotho, Nigeria had the better of a 0-0 draw in Angola
and South Africa withstood relentless pressure to force a 0-0 stalemate in
Ivory Coast.
There was another goalless draw in Congo, where
Burkina Faso was the visitor, and perennial underachiever Zimbabwe used home
advantage to edge Mali 1-0 via a Lazarus Muhoni goal.
Seychelles, ranked second last in Africa by world
soccer governing body FIFA, celebrated a rare victory, pipping Eritrea
thanks to a 50th-minute goal from Roddy Victor.
Senegal went furthest of the five African nations at
the World Cup in Japan and South Korea last June, defeating defending
champion France and Sweden and holding Denmark and Uruguay before bowing to
Turkey in the quarterfinals.
A hero of that run, peroxide blond striker El-Hadji
Diouf, was a notable absentee when the Teranga Lions arrived in the tiny
Southern Africa mountain kingdom of Lesotho.
While many Senegalese supporters were
furious that Diouf did not travel, the recent Liverpool recruit said he had
gone home to Dakar to be with his seriously ill father and would be
available for future fixtures.
Senegal could have done with the predatory powers of
their best known soccer player as it carved open the Lesotho defense at will
in Maseru only to be let down by timid finishing.
Camara and Kalidou Fadiga were the biggest culprits before
atoning for a series of misses by combining to score the lone goal 10
minutes before halftime.
Fadiga stormed down the right touchline and
his cross caught a back-pedaling Lesotho defense out of position, leaving
Camara to strike from 20 meters.
Lesotho spent most of the second half defending
in depth, seemingly content to lose narrowly and it did not reverse its
safety-first policy even after the late expulsion of Fadiga for disputing a
caution with the referee.
Angola and severely depleted Nigeria served up
poor fare in Luanda with few fluid passing movements or goalmouth incidents
on a hard, unven Citadela Stadium surface.
Although missing
Augustine "Jay Jay" Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Joseph Yobo and Christopher
Justice, the "Super Eagles" generally looked more threatening and captain
Julius Aghahowa had the ball in the net only to be ruled offside.
Zimbabwe, the strongest team never to
qualify for the Nations Cup, could not afford to drop any points at home to
2002 semifinalists Mali and 30 minutes into the first half, Muhoni pounced
on a loose ball to score.
Seychelles was playing for the first time under
Dominique Bathenay, a member of the French squad at the 1978 World Cup in
Argentina, who has been given a six-month contract by the Indian Ocean
islanders.
Host Tunisia, holder Cameroon, the 13 group winners and
the best runners-up in the four-team pools qualify for the biennial finals
of the African soccer showpiece.
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