The Confederation of African Football, Caf have released a new procedure for teams to progress to the third 2010 Nations Cup qualifying round.

The new formula was adopted after Eritrea officially withdrew from the competition on March 6, as a result of which Group 11 remained with only three teams.

While, Chad was disqualified from the African Cup of Nations by CAF Emergency Committee decision to leave group 10 with three teams also.

This means that after the second round, the top teams in each of the12 groups are automatically qualified for the third round.

However, for the eight remaining spots, the best eight teams ranked second in each group will join the top 12 into the third round for the Angola finals.

For teams in groups of four, a new classification will be made for teams ranked second and will be taken into account only their results with teams ranked first and third in their respective groups (total 4 matches).

Results of matches with the team ranked fourth will not be taken into consideration.

According to the memo, "For teams ranked second in groups of three, it will be taken into account all their matches (4 matches)”.

"Once the ranking of teams, who finished second in their groups, is conducted then we can now determine the eight teams qualified to make the list of 20 teams for the third round,” the Caf memo, signed by secretary general read in parts.

The new system takes into account the greater number of points, the goal difference then the highest number of goals scored.

It adds, "If teams ranked eighth and ninth are in complete equality a playoff match will be organized in November.”
What Ferwafa says

Of all the 12 groups, only Rwanda in group eight and Nigeria (group four) have collected maximum points after three rounds of matches and the nearest to that is Cameroon with seven points in group one.

But in case the Amavubi Stars lose the top spot and finish second in their group hence having to deal with the pains of finding out their fate on mathematics, it will sure not be the ideal ending to what is already proving to be roll-coaster ride campaign. 

"We are not thinking about anything else other than finishing the campaign on top of our group. "Already we have nine points yet in most of the other groups, the top teams have six points.

"You see, we already have an advantage, which means whatever the outcome of the Morocco match, a game we want to win, we’re still in a good position,” Ferwafa’s Jules Kalisa told Times Sport yesterday.

He further noted, "If we get a good result in Morocco, I am sure all that Caf mathematics will not affect us whatsoever.”

The third round
The 20 countries qualified for the third round will be drawn in five groups of four teams and the first three teams in each group will qualify for the final tournament of the 2010 CAN along the host country (Angola).

It goes without saying that for the group of Angola, in case they qualifies for the third round, the other three teams in that group will qualify automatically for the CAN 2010.

However, the ranking of this group will be done to determine which team will qualify for the World Cup.

Rwanda leads group eight with nine points and six more points from the remaining three qualifiers, Morocco (away), Ethiopia (at home) and Mauritania (away) will put them in an excellent position to progress to the third round.

Ends