Tricky rules could wreck 2013 AFCON dreams

IF Amavubi Stars beat or draw with Nigeria in the second leg of the second round of the qualification to the 2013 African Cup of Nations, they will qualify to the third and last stage of the qualification.Rwanda would then be part of the fourteen teams that will qualify from this stage and join sixteen other countries that participated in the 2012 African Cup of Nations tournament in the last stage of the qualification. The thirty teams will be considered for the final direct knockout stage.According to the guidelines released by CAF last week, the thirty teams will be put in two pots which will be classified according to their FIFA rankings and participation in the last three African Cup of Nations tournaments. Teams that participated in the last AFCON will add on to their points based on the following scale; 2008 Afcon-1 Point, 2010 Afcon-2 points, 2012 Afcon-3 points.In addition, teams that participated in the 2012 Afcon will add to their tally depending on how they finished up. Teams that were eliminated in the group stages will have one point, those that were eliminated in the quarters will have two points, and those from the semis will have three points, the losing finalist five points while the winners will be added with seven points. Zambia, the reigning Afcon champions lead the table with 26 points.This ranking will help determine the pool of each of the thirty countries. Teams pooled in Pot one will be matched against those in Pot 2.The winners of the two legged paired tie (15 teams) will join with the hosts South Africa for the 2013 games. This will be the first time the Afcon is held on an odd year.This new rules mean that Rwanda might be one of the least ranked teams having not participated in any of the last three editions and could be paired against one of the African soccer giants.The last time Rwanda played in Africa’s biggest soccer extravaganza was in 2004 where they were eliminated in the group stages after losing to Tunisia, drawing with Guinea and beating DR Congo.The third round of qualification will be played between September and October this year. The drawing of lots will be done in the last week of July.

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Tricky rules could wreck 2013 AFCON dreams