Egypt's impressive 4-2 away victory over Zimbabwe in Harare which included a hat trick by Basel's Mohamed Salah will definitely see a more confident team when they host Mozambique in the next round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Only two more rounds of group stage clashes remain in the African qualifiers. Only the 10 group winners advance to the third and final round, where they will be drawn into five ties in October and November, with the winners of the two-legged play-offs qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. So, a win in this weekend's match against Mozambique is desperately needed so that the Pharaohs can rest assured that they secured their ticket in the final round of qualifications regardless of the result of their last game against Guinea. Egyptians were more than satisfied with Sunday's away win. During the game the streets looked somewhat deserted as thousands of fans tuned in, in front of TV sets in homes and street cafes to watch the Pharaohs deservingly upend their hosts in Harari. Despite a bit of criticism from football analysts that followed the game, and calls for the team to work on their mistakes for the coming match against Mozambique, the victory was still impressive. Egypt's prodigal international Salah, a star in Swizerland's Basel, scored a superb hat trick while Mohamed Abu Treika scored too to seal the 4-2 victory over Zimbabwe. The Pharaohs faced a dilemma when No 1 goalkeeper Abdel-Wahed Al-Sayed was injured while training before the game. Bradley and his assistants had to choose between Al-Hani Suleiman of Ittihad and Mohamed Sobhi of Ismaili. Sobhi was given the nod at the last minute for being the more experienced. Winning the three points of the match gave Egypt 12 cumulative points from four games, a perfect record. Egypt is now leading its Group G, five points ahead of Guinea who pummeled Mozambique 6-1 in a later game. No one was happier with the Zimbabwe win than Egypt's head coach Bob Bradley who has been struggling since taking charge of the team. Bradley came to Egypt following the start of the revolution, the violence of which cancelled the league season last year. However, Bradley, the former US coach, has managed to win four World Cup qualifiers. Failing to make it to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations -- after winning three in a row -- was a major setback but Bradely has many times underlined the Egyptian dream of reaching the World Cup finals in Brazil and has been a driving force to fulfil that dream. Egypt has been to only two World Cup, the last in 1990. Congo and Tunisia share Egypt's position in their groups. Congo, who drew 0-0 in Gabon, are also in command of their destiny in Group E. They are on 10 points, four ahead of recent African runners up Burkina Faso, who travel to Pointe Noire for a showdown between the two next week. Algeria took the upper hand in Group H after they beat Benin 3-1 and Mali struggled to a surprise 1-1 draw in Bamako against Rwanda. FIFA online website selected the Sierra Leone match against Tunisia as the match of the day. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw. The teams were led by two new coaches. Irishman Johnny McKinstry, 27, came excruciatingly close to winning his first competitive game in charge of a national team as Sierra Leone outplayed Tunisia in their Group B encounter. After missing several opportunities to advance, Kaiansu Kamara brought hope to the supporters at Freetown's National Stadium by half-time. Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul responded by bringing on Sameh Derbaly and Oussama Darragi for the second half and the changes made an impact as the Carthage Eagles upped the tempo. Darragi's penalty put the emphasis back on the home side, and Alhassan Kamara thought he had given the Leone Stars the win before Fakhreddine Ben Youssef snatched a dramatic equaliser to keep Tunisia top of the group by five points and looking likely to advance. In other matches around the African continent, Ethiopia remain the team to overtake in Group A after winning their match in Botswana 2-1 to stay two points clear of South Africa, which won 3-0 against the Central African Republic. Libya hit the summit of a wide-open Group I despite being held to a goalless draw by Congo DR in their first competitive match at home since 2011. The point was enough to climb above Cameroon whose new coach Volker Finke began his career with the Lions suffering through a disheartening 2-0 defeat to Togo in Lome. Just two points now separate the four teams in that section. Group J, similarly, remains evenly poised as all four teams can still advance. Senegal top the group with six points after drawing 1-1 in Angola, giving the Palancas Negras their fourth stalemate in four matches. Uganda, for whom Tony Mawejje scored the only goal of the game against Liberia are second on five points, while Liberia are on four. Trying to reach their third FIFA World Cup finals on the trot, Côte d'Ivoire took a giant step toward the next round with a 3-0 win in Gambia with goals by Lacina Traore, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure. Tanzania's 2-1 defeat in Morocco leaves the Elephants four points clear of the Taifa Stars and five in front of the Moroccans. Ethiopia won 2-1 in Botswana Saturday to stay two points ahead of fancied South Africa in a thrilling Group A race for World Cup survival. A couple of first-half goals for leading scorers Getaneh Kebede and Saladin Ahmed put bottom seeds Ethiopia in control before Tebogo Sembowa pulled one back in Lobatse. Ivory Coast got the second spell of Peter Johnson as Gambia coach off to a miserable start by winning 3-0 in Bakau. The Ivorian ‘Elephants' moved four points ahead of Tanzania, who play Morocco in Marrakech late Saturday, in Group C ahead of a Dar es Salaam showdown between the sides next weekend. Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse put Senegal ahead during the opening half against Angola in Luanda and Afonso Guilherme forced a 1-1 draw via an early second-half equaliser. Zambia regained the Group D lead by one point from Ghana after whipping lowly Lesotho 4-0 in Ndola with Jacob Mulenga bagging a brace and captain Christopher Katongo and Collins Mbesuma one each. However, wins for Ghana away to Lesotho next weekend and at home to Zambia during September will take them through at the expense of the shock 2012 Cup of Nations champions. The African qualifiers had the following results: Nigeria beat Kenya 1-0, Malawi played to a scoreless draw against Namibia and so did Libya and Congo DR. Ghana beat Sudan 3-1, Cape Verde Islands scored a 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea, while Gambia lost 0-3 to Côte d'Ivoire. Morocco beat Tanzania 2-1 while Zambia overpowered Lesotho 4-0. Uganda defeated Liberia 1-0 and Angola drew 1-1 with Senegal. The last day of the qualifications saw Niger losing 1-0 to Burkina Faso, Guinea thrashing Mozambique 6-1 , Benin losing 3-1 to Algeria, Togo beating Cameroon 2-0 and Mali and Rwanda drawing 1-1.
