By Katondwaci Marvin
7 times Africa Cup of Nation’s champion, Egypt was the biggest loser of the second round of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers kicked off. In another display of poor performance the Pharaons have still failed to win a game of football in this campaign. Their first game was a 1-1 draw with Sierra Leone., and then, they lost 1-0 in Niger thanks Moussa Maazou (photo with AS Monaco, France) However it’s not only Egypt that is suffering but it seems that the whole of North Africa. Morocco drew with Central African Republic 0–0. Algeria was held by Tanzania 1 – 1. And, while Tunisia has played 4 games and won two of these away.
Rather than pinning the blame on Egypt’s lacklustre start to the tournament, some locals are adamant foul play was involved, pointing to a black goat which was paraded around the pitch by a ‘local witch doctor’ before the game kicked off.
Rumours quickly spread the goat was part of a black magic ritual – Sort of like pigeon that Algeria sent to curse England to damnation – and grew loud enough that a spokesman for Africa’s version of UEFA, the CAF, was forced to go on radio and downplay the goat’s role.
Confederation of African Football technical director Mostafa Abdul-Menem told Egyptian radio: I really don’t see the reason why we are talking about some goat.
Of course it’s the match commissioner’s responsibility to make sure that only the players are on the pitch, but it’s no big deal after all.
Results from the previous 2012 nations cup qualifier.
Mali 2 Liberia 1
Kenya 0 Uganda 0
Senegal 7 Mauritius 0
Tanzania 0 Morocco 1
Burkina Faso 3 Gambia 1
Rwanda 0 Benin 3
Comoros 0 Mozambique 1
Burundi 0 Côte d’Ivoire 1
Malawi 6 Chad 2
Angola 1 Guinea-Bissau 0
Cameroon 1 DR Congo 1
