Tough Draw For Zebras

By Mqondisi Dube
Staff Writer | Monday February 22, 2010 00:00

 

The draw for the 2012 tournament to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon was conducted in Lubumbashi, DRC on Saturday.

Togo, recently suspended by CAF for what was termed 'political interference' were notable absentees.

Botswana has been drawn in Group 11 with Tunisia, Malawi and Chad. It is not the first time that that Botswana will face Tunisia and Malawi after a similar draw in the 2006 qualifiers. Botswana managed to beat Malawi home and away but lost to Tunisia both at home and away. Little is known about Chad.

Tunisia are the highest ranked team in the group at number 10 in Africa and 55th in the World.

Malawi are seeded second in the group as they are ranked 17th in Africa and 82nd in the World.

The Zebras are ranked 33rd in Africa and are 119 in the world while Chad are not far behind, placed 38th in Africa and 143 in the World.Reacting to the draw, Zebras' coach, Stanley Tshosane said their intention is to qualify for the finals.

'We have been participating in the qualifiers for sometime. Now our intention is to make it to the finals. We have to address issues that have been hindering our qualification,' Tshosane said.

While Tunisia are favoured to go through, Malawi will also present a formidable challenge as they have been improving in recent years. They qualified for the just-ended AFCON finals in Angola where their highlight was a 3-0 thrashing of World Cup finalists, Algeria.Only the group winners qualify for the finals. Full draw:Group 1 Mali, Cape Verde Islands, Zimbabwe, LiberiaGroup 2 Nigeria, Guinea, Ethiopia, MadagascarGroup 3 Zambia, Mozambique, Libya, Comoros IslandsGroup 4 Algeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Central African Republic Group 5 Cameroon, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, MauritiusGroup 6 Burkina Faso, Gambia, Namibia, MauritaniaGroup 7 Egypt (holders), South Africa, Sierra Leone, NigerGroup 8 Ivory Coast, Benin, Rwanda, BurundiGroup 9 Ghana, Congo, Sudan, SwazilandGroup 10 Angola, Uganda, Kenya, Guinea BissauGroup 11 Tunisia, Malawi, Chad, Botswana.