World Cup - Last-gasp Nigeria stay alive

Eurosport - Sun, 11 Oct 16:53:00 2009

Obinna Nsofor's goal three minutes into stoppage time kept Nigeria's slim World Cup hopes alive as they squeezed out a narrow 1-0 home win over Mozambique in Abuja.

Obinna Nsofor, Nigeria - 0

The victory came after some frenetic attacking towards the end of their African Group B qualifier.

Nsofor's strike came after Obafemi Martins saw a header saved. Martins had fluffed several earlier chances to give Nigeria the lead.

Tunisia, who started Sunday's penultimate set of qualifiers two points ahead in the standings, would have qualified for next year's finals in South Africa had second-placed Nigeria drawn.

They remain in command after Issam Jomaa's first minute goal sealed a 1-0 win at home to Kenya in Rades on Sunday.

Tunisia visit Mozambique while Nigeria travel to Kenya in the final round of group matches on Wednesday.

Algeria moved to within a point qualification with a 3-1 comeback win over Rwanda in Blida.

Portsmouth full-back Nader Belhadj scored Algeria's vital second goal as the North Africans had to come from behind against last-placed Rwanda. A draw against Egypt in Cairo next month would seal their place in South Africa.

Abdelkader Ghezzal had earlier netted the equaliser and a late penalty from Karim Ziani ensured Algeria stayed three points clear of the African champions in Group C.

A goal in added time from Mohamed Aoudou ended Ghana's winning run in Group D as they lost 1-0 in Benin.

Ghana secured World Cup qualification last month but Benin's victory means they are through to January's African Nations Cup finals.

Frederic Kanoute's last-minute winner also secured Mali's berth in the continental championship, and Burkina Faso are through to the tournament in Angola after winning 2-1 in Guinea.

The Nations Cup field is being determined by the World Cup qualifiers.

On Saturday Ivory Coast became the second country from Africa to qualify for the World Cup.

Reuters

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  1. stupid eagles(chicken)

    From kunle, on Mon 12 Oct 7:53AM
  2. well done Algeria keep it up, one more point and will­ go to South Africa

    From Zak33uk, on Mon 12 Oct 1:22AM
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