First Round --- First leg June 7 South Africa 2 Kenya 1 All the other first leg games are being played next weekend. Ethiopia at Zimbabwe Botswana at Zambia Lesotho at Angola Seychelles at Uganda Rwanda at DPR Congo Mauritania at Senegal Chad at Algeria Gambia at Morocco Congo at Cameroon Ivory Coast at Burkina Faso Ghana at Liberia Namibia at Nigeria Guinea at Mali
First round --- 1st leg results from the weekend Nigeria 1 Namibia 0 Algeria 5 Chad 0 Uganda 3 Seychelles 2 Zambia 3 Botswana 2 Mali 1 Guinea 0 Cameroon 3 Congo 1 Zimbabwe 2 Ethiopia 1 Democratic Republic of Congo 1 Rwanda 0 In Angola 3 Lesotho 0 Ivory coast and Senegal both received walkovers because Burkina Faso and Mauritania withdrew. The ties between Liberia/Ghana and Morocco/Gambia have been postponed.
First round --- 2nd leg Ghana 1 Liberia 0 (Ghana wins 6-0 on aggregate) Ethiopia 2 Zimbabwe 0 (Ethiopia wins 3-2 on aggregate) Congo 1 Cameroon 0 (Cameroon wins 3-2 on aggregate) Guinea 0 Mali 0 (Guinea wins 1-0 on aggregate) Botswana 0 Zambia 0 (Zambia wins 3-2 on aggregate) Lesotho 2 Angola 2 (Angola wins 5-2 on aggregate) Rwanda 0 DPR Congo 2 (DPR Congo wins 3-0 on aggregate) Kenya 0 South Africa 0 (South Africa wins 2-1 on aggregate) Seychelles 2 Uganda 2 (Uganda wins 5-4 on aggregate) Namibia 1 Nigeria 2 (Nigeria wins 3-1 on aggregate) Second leg between Algeria and Chad has been postponed. Algeria won the first leg 5-0. The biggest surprise of the first round has to be Ethiopia defeating Zimbabwe. With that being said, Ethiopia did have a strong U20 team a few years ago. Both Cameroon and South Africa crawled into the second round.
Group Stage - winners qualify for 2004 Olympics Group A - Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia Group B - Cameroon, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali Group C - Angola, Ethiopia, Morocco, Uganda Group D - Algeria, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia I don't feel like typing out the fixtures at the moment, but the first games will start Oct 24th weekend. All four groups play a home and away schedule.
Group A Oct 25 - Tunisia 0 Senegal 0 Oct 26 - Egypt 0 Nigeria 2 Dec 20 - Nigeria 1 Tunisia 1 Dec 20 - Senegal 2 Egypt 0 Jan 2 - Egypt vs Tunisia Jan 3 - Senegal vs Nigeria Feb 21 - Nigeria vs Senegal Feb 21 - Tunisia vs Egypt Mar 13 - Senegal vs Tunisia Mar 13 - Nigeria vs Egypt Mar 27 - Egypt vs Senegal Mar 27 - Tunisia vs Senegal 1. Nigeria 4pts 2. Senegal 4pts 3. Tunisia 2pts 4. Egypt 0pts Group B Oct 25 - Mali 3 Cote d'Ivorie 0 Oct 26 - DR Congo 1 Cameroon 4 Dec 21 - DR Congo 4 Cote d'Ivorie 1 Dec 21 - Cameroon 2 Mali 0 Jan 4 - Cote d'Ivoire v Cameroon Jan 4 - DR Congo v Mali Feb 21 - Mali vs DR Congo Feb 22 - Cameroon vs Cote d'Ivorie Mar 14 - Cote d'Ivorie vs Mali Mar 14 - Cameroon vs DR Congo Mar 28 - Mali vs Cameroon Mar 28 - DR Congo vs Cote d'Ivorie 1. Cameroon 6pts 2. Mali 3pts 3. Cote d'Ivorie 3pts 4. DR Congo 0pts Group C Oct 25 - Uganda 1 Angola 2 Oct 26 - Morocco 4 Ethiopia 0 Dec 21 - Ethiopia 1 Uganda 0 Dec 21 - Angola 0 Morocco 0 Jan 3 - Uganda vs Morocco Jan 4 - Ethiopia vs Angola Feb 21 - Morocco vs Uganda Feb 22 - Angola vs Ethiopia Mar 14 - Ethiopia vs Morocco Mar 14 - Angola vs Uganda Mar 27 - Uganda vs Ethiopia Mar 27 - Morocco vs Angola 1. Morocco 4pts 2. Angola 4pts 3. Ethiopia 3pts 4. Uganda 0pts Group D Oct 24 - Algeria 1 Zambia 0 Oct 26 - Ghana 1 South Africa 0 Dec 20 - South Africa 4 Algeria 1 Dec 20 - Zambia 0 Ghana 0 Jan 2 - Algeria vs Ghana Jan 3 - South Africa vs Zambia Feb 21 - Zambia vs South Africa Feb 22 - Ghana vs Algeria Mar 13 - South Africa vs Ghana Mar 13 - Zambia vs Algeria Mar 28 - Ghana vs Zambia Mar 28 - Algeria vs South Africa 1. Ghana 4pts 2. South Africa 3pts 3. Algeria 3pts 4. Zambia 1pt Four group winners advance to the 2004 Athen's Olympics
Group A Egypt 1 Tunisia 3 Senegal 4 Nigeria 3 After three games 1. Senegal 7pts 2. Tunisia 5pts 3. Nigeria 4pts 4. Egypt 0pts Group B Côte d'Ivoire 1 Cameroon 1 DR Congo 0 Mali 2 After three games 1. Cameroon 7pts 2. Mali 6pts 3. Cote d'Ivoire 4pts 4. DR Congo 0pts Group c Uganda 1 Morocco 1 Ethiopia 1 Angola 0 After three games 1. Ethiopia 6pts 2. Morocco 5pts 3. Angola 4pts 4. Uganda 1pt Group D Algeria 1 Ghana 0 South Africa 0 Zambia 1 After three games 1. Algeria 6pts 2. Ghana 4pts 3. Zambia 4pts 4. South Africa 3pts Personally, I would love to see Ethiopia qualify for the Olympics. A lot is still to be decided in the last three games... Next group matches are scheduled for late Febuary.
Article about the South Africa-Zambia match " A 49th minute strike by Roan United winger Collins Mbesuma yesterday put Zambia back on the Olympic Games qualifying road as the under-23 beat South Africa 1-0 at Olen Park, Potche-fstroom." http://allafrica.com/stories/200401050512.html It is amazing that Zambia was able to win the match after travelling 23-hours by road to get to South Africa. South African reaction to loss "NATIONAL U23 coach Kenneth "Conti" Kubheka has appealed to the public not to press the panic button yet after his side's shock defeat to Zambia at the weekend." http://allafrica.com/stories/200401050475.html The South African U23 squad is nicknamed Amaglug-glug. How did this name come about? Match report - Morocco at Uganda "The Kobs' chances of taking part in the Olympic Games in Athens are fast evaporating. The national U-23 side was held to a 1-1 draw by their Moroccan counterparts in front of a fair crowd at Nakivubo Stadium on Saturday." http://allafrica.com/stories/200401050317.html Nigerian coach fired after loss to Senegal "The move came after the Olympic champions from 1996 lost 4-3 in Senegal in a qualifying match for Athens 2004." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3367021.stm
Olympic qualifying starts up again this weekend... Group A Nigeria v Senegal Tunisia v Egypt Group B Mali v Democratic Republic of Congo Cameroon v Ivory Coast Group C Morocco v Uganda Angola v Ethiopia Group D Zambia v South Africa Ghana v Algeria
Preview of the Uganda-Morocco match (to be played today). Uganda left for Morocco with only 14 players... http://allafrica.com/stories/200402200733.html Story about South Africa's chances... http://allafrica.com/stories/200402200524.html Excellent preview from BBC of all the Olympic qualifiers this weekend... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3507941.stm
Results from today... Group A Nigeria 2 Senegal 0 Group C Morocco 5 Uganda 0 (not surprise here) Group D Zambia 2 South Africa 1 (tough loss for SA) I will post full standings after the games tomorrow.
Results from Sunday Group A Tunisia 2 Egypt 0 1. Tunisia 8pts 2. Nigeria 7pts 3. Senegal 7pts 4. Egypt 0pts Group B Mali 3 DR Congo 1 Cameroon 2 Côte d'Ivoire 0 1. Cameroon 10pts 2. Mali 9pts 3. Côte d'Ivoire 4pts 4. DR Congo 0pts Group C Angola 4 Ethiopia 0 1. Morocco 8pts 2. Angola 7pts 3. Ethiopia 6pts 4. Uganad 1pt Group D Ghana 2 Algeria 0 1. Ghana 7pts 2. Zambia 6pts 3. Algeria 6pts 4. South Africa 3pts Next set of matches will be played on the March 13-14th weekend
"The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) intends to send a squad of just 12 players and two officials owing to what a FUFA official described as 'acute financial problems'." http://allafrica.com/stories/200403100468.html The game in Angola will be played this weekend. the FUFA also decided not to send the head coach in a cost saving measure. "Its definitely risky travelling with just twelve soccer players. We run a risk of being embarrassed," Mayanja warned." http://allafrica.com/stories/200403100328.html
Fixtures for this weekend Group A Senegal vs Tunisia Nigeria vs Egypt Group B Ivory Coast vs Mali Cameroon vs DR Congo Group C Ethiopia vs Morocco Angola vs Uganda Group D Zambia vs Algeria South Africa vs Ghana