Rwanda seeded fourth for Third round

Rwanda has been seeded fourth for the third and final round of the 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifying campaign and there are hardly any surprises in the seeding process. The top five countries in the continent, according to recent Fifa rankings, are listed as the top seeds. Rwanda and Morocco progressed from group eight with the Atlas Lions qualifying as group leaders after they smashed Mauritania 4-1 in the last qualifier. The Amavubi Stars qualified to the next round as one of the eight best second-placed. Guinea took the last remaining place in the second group phase of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations. The Gambia and Uganda were the unluckiest teams on the final day of the first group stage, but they both missed out on best runners-up spots. In groups 1 to 6, Cameroon, Guinea, Kenya, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, and Algeria all made it through. Ivory Coast, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, Zambia, Togo, Malawi and Egypt also made it through, along with Mozambique. Spokesman for the continent’s football soccer body, CAF Sherif Ahmed told Goalafrica that the basis for the stratification was solely based on the current FIFA rankings and nothing else, contrary to earlier reports that the global rankings would make up just a third of the criteria. The draws for the third stage will see the top seeds each heading a group to be composed of four teams each. The winner of each group will qualify automatically for the 2010 World Cup alongside hosts South Africa. For the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola earlier in 2010, no fewer than three of the four sides in each group will qualify for the continental tournament, making fifteen teams (plus hosts Angola). Seeding for the third and final round of Qualifiers:First seedsEgypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon.Second seedsMorocco, Tunisia, Mali, Algeria, Guinea.Third seedsBurkina Faso, Gabon, Zambia, Kenya, Benin.Fourth seedsRwanda, Togo, Mozambique, Sudan, Malawi. Ends

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Rwanda seeded fourth for Third round