Fair draw

Rwanda pleased with 2010 World Cup draw, Morocco, Ethiopia in the way  Local football’s governing body, Ferwafa has welcomed Rwanda’s 2010 World Cup preliminary draw made yesterday in the South African Port city of Durban.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Rwanda pleased with 2010 World Cup draw, Morocco, Ethiopia in the way 
Local football’s governing body, Ferwafa has welcomed Rwanda’s 2010 World Cup preliminary draw made yesterday in the South African Port city of Durban.

Rwanda was drawn against North African giants Morocco as well as Ethiopia and Mauritania in Group Eight of the qualifiers, which kick off next year.
Ferwafa Chief Executive Office Jules Kalisa is optimistic that Rwanda will advance to the next stage.

"With good preparations I believe we will surprise and go through, we should only be worried of Morocco,” Kalisa said.

"I believe we can get a draw in Rabat and a win at Amahoro,” he added.

 Apart from Morocco, Ethiopia are familiar opponents, having several clashes in the Cecafa challenge cup matches. Mauritania are considered outsiders and shouldn’t be real worry for coach Josip Kuze’s Amavubi boys.       
     
The 32 World Cup finals slots are divided into 13 for Europe, six for Africa (including the host nation), four each for Asia and South America and three for Concacaf (North America and the Caribbean).

The winners of the Oceania group play off against the fifth-placed Asian side for a further spot while the fifth-placed finishers in South America play off for a berth against the fourth-placed team from the central and North American and Caribbean Zone.

Africa will have three rounds of qualification, the first of which is already completed. The 48 remaining teams have been drawn into 12 groups for the second stage. The group winners and eight best runners-up progress to the final group phase where the 20 teams are divided into five groups. Only the group winners qualify for the World Cup finals.

In Cecafa region, Tanzania drew Cameroon in Group One, Kenya are pitied against Guinea, Namibia and Zimbabwe in Group Two, rendering them arguably the toughest draw for the East African countries. Uganda face 2006 World Cup debutants Angola as the toughest opponent in Group Three.

In the European qualifiers, Group 6 serves the most intriguing menu with Croatia who knocked England out of Euro 2008 on Wednesday, drawn to play each other again.
Croatia, 3-2 winners at Wembley in the biggest shock of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, was drawn in the top spot in European Group 6. England’s other opponents are Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

World champions Italy were drawn in Group 8 with their main rivals Bulgaria and Ireland. France, losing finalists last year at the Germany World Cup, face Romania and Serbia in Group 7.

World Cup preliminary draw - Africa
Group 1: Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Tanzania, Mauritius.
Group 2: Guinea, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya.
Group 3: Angola, Benin, Uganda, Niger.
Group 4: Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone.
Group 5: Ghana, Libya, Gabon, Lesotho.
Group 6: Liberia, Algeria, Senegal, Gambia.
Group 7: Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar.
Group 8: Morocco, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mauritania.
Group 9: Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Seychelles.
Group 10: Mali, Congo, Sudan, Chad.
Group 11: Togo, Eritrea, Zambia, Swaziland.
Group 12: Egypt, Congo DR, Malawi, Djibouti.