2010 World/Africa Cup qualifiers

Group Eight
Saturday
Mauritania    1-4   Morocco
Sunday
Ethiopia       1-2   Rwanda

Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars continued its impressive form in the 2010 World/Africa Cup qualifier campaign with a 2-1 victory over Ethiopia yesterday in a group eight fixture in Addis Ababa.

Israel based Saidi Abedi Makasi and Norway based midfielder Olivier Karekezi were on target for the Wasps on 66th and 89th minute while Tafese Tesfaye had put the Walya Antelopes ahead on 47th minute.

Amavubi Stars who were denied better ball display by a muddy pitch battled through the first half with poor combinations.

Abedi had several chances to increase on his Amavubi Stars goal tally when he failed in a one on one situation with the Ethiopian custodian by placing wide, giving the hosts a chance for a counter attack which resulted into the goal to put Ethiopia ahead .

Tesfaye out paced Hamad Ndikumana in the penalty area unleashing a strong shot which left custodian Jean Claude Ndoli lying on the ground.

Rwanda came back with a better performance in the second half before Patrick Mutesa Mafisango’s free kick fall on Abedi’s head to equalize for the visitors.  

Abedi was at it once again, when an exchange with Oliver Karekezi resulted into the second goal.

Karekezi unleashed home a strong shot which was deflected off a defender leaving the goalkeeper to go a different side.

Meanwhile, Morocco defeated Mauritania 4-1 on Saturday in the other group eight fixture played on Saturday in Nouakchott.

Portugal-based Tarik Sektioui put the Atlas Lions in the lead on eight minutes with a strike from the edge of the box.

The North Africans continued to dominate the game in Nouakchott and doubled their advantage through striker Abdessalam Benjelloun, who found the target in the 36th minute for his second of the campaign.

Youssef Safri made it 3-0 on the hour mark before Houssine Kharja’s strike beat Mauritania goalkeeper Souleymane Diallo.

The home side scored a consolation in the 82nd minute after Dominique Da Silva converted a spot kick.

Morocco and Rwanda are leading group eight with six points each but are separated by goal differences. Morocco has scored seven goals and conceded one while Rwanda has scored five goals and conceded one goal in the two qualifiers played so far.

Both Ethiopia and Mauritania lay bottom of group eight pointless each.

Rwanda continue their 2010 qualifiers by hosting Morocco in Kigali while Mauritania play host to Ethiopia.

The top-qualifying teams in each group and the eight best second-place teams will go on to the second phase in the competition

Group 8 
 Team               P      W     D    L    Pts
 Morocco         2      2    0    0     6
 Rwanda          2      2    0    0     6
 Ethiopia          2      0    0    2     0
 Mauritania       2      0    0    2     0

Ends