A fierce North African rivalry was intensified in Cairo last night as Egypt threw themselves a World Cup lifeline in the most dramatic fashion. With five minutes of injury time on the clock, Emad Metaab popped up to head the ball into the Algerian net and produce the only result that would guarantee a sudden death play off.

The story was simple – Egypt needed to win by three goals or more to claim the qualifying place, but Egypt’s 2-0 victory left both countries on identical points and goal difference.

They will now meet again on Wednesday in a winner takes all shoot out in Sudan; the winners will progress to South Africa 2010.

After just two minutes it looked as though glory would Egypt’s as Amr Zaki sent the majority of the 75,000 crowd wild with the opener. But the Pharaohs could not improve their lead and were staring down the barrel when Metaab, a replacement for Zaki, produced his late, late show.

Algeria missed several good chances to score themselves and it all means that Wednesday’s play off should be a cracker.

The other African places still in the balance went to heavyweights Cameroon and Nigeria.

Cameroon’s 2-0 win in Morocco was more than enough to clinch an African record sixth World Cup appearance, as rivals Gabon lost 1-0 in Togo. Achille Webo and Samuel Eto’o got the goals for the Indomitable Lions. A disastrous beginning to their campaign was turned around and Cameroon eventually cruised to South Africa.

Nigeria had to win their final game in Kenya and hope that Tunisia blew a two point lead in their match in Mozambique. This is precisely what happened as an over-cautious Tunisia lost 1-0 and Nigeria triumphed 3-2, thanks to two goal hero Obafemi Martins. Aiyegbeni Yakubu got the other Super Eagles goal but it wasn’t without drama.

Trailing 1-0 at half time, Martins and Yakubu grabbed two quick goals to put Nigeria in command. However, Kenya equalised with twelve minutes remaining but Martins got his second and the decider in the 83rd minute to send Nigeria to their fourth finals.

African Qualifiers

South Africa (hosts), Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt or Algeria (play off 18/11/09)

BruiseLee

The mere fact that the 2010 World Cup is to be staged in Africa for the very first time has added special significance to qualifying for all the African nations.

53 countries were reduced to 20 through two preliminary rounds. From five groups of four, there are five group winners progressing to South Africa 2010. Two are already known – heavyweights Ivory Coast and Ghana can book their hotels now. Three places remain and none of the six teams in contention have a straightforward task.

In Group A, Cameroon lead the way with a one point cushion to second placed Gabon. The Indomitable Lions are looking to maintain a proud qualifying record of five in the last six, while Gabon are battling for a world cup debut. Both are away for tricky final games, at Morocco and Togo respectively.

Cameroon’s campaign got off to a disastrous start and with one point from their opening two games, qualification didn’t look likely with Gabon boasting a 100% record. They then put together a run of three wins that included two defeats of Gabon to turn the table on its head and put them in pole position.

However, anything other than a win for Cameroon would open the door for Gabon, who could even go through with a draw should Cameroon lose to Morocco by a couple of goals.

Group B sees Tunisia head the standings on eleven points, two ahead of Nigeria. Tunisia hold the African record, jointly with Cameroon, for most world cup appearances. The Super Eagles have played in three of the last four finals but missed out in 2006 and are keen to make up for that disappointment.

Again, both have away games to the other teams in the group – Tunisia in Mozambique and Nigeria at Kenya. A draw won’t be enough for Tunisia should Nigeria win, so both have to go for victory.

Tunisia & Nigeria are unbeaten in the group but will rue costly draws that could have seen them already safely qualified. Instead a nervous final day is in store for both and they can expect no favours from their opponents.

Group C is easily the most fascinating. Algeria have led the way and sit three points in front of arch rivals Egypt. The 2006 & 2008 African champions face an almighty battle to qualify. The final match sees Algeria go to Cairo and a 3-0 win will see The Pharoahs snatch the qualifying place.

Algeria were 3-1 winners in the reverse tie in Blida; a game that exploded into life in the last half hour with all four goals coming in that period. Slack defending cost the Egyptians dear that day and they can’t afford any mistakes in the decider.

Both teams started their campaigns with disappointing draws and since then Algeria’s defeat of Egypt is all that separates the two. Egypt have the chance to reverse the picture but will have to improve on form that has only once seen them score more than one goal in a game.

The continent will come to a standstill on November 14th as the final three places for South Africa 2010 are decided. Six into three doesn’t go and we can expect fireworks as the equation is worked out.