Mohamed Salah, who helped Swiss club Basel reach the Europa League semi-finals this season, celebrated his 21st birthday in style this year, making it a date to remember by scoring Egypt's sole goal against Mozambique just five minutes before half-time in the Mozambican capital Maputo. The Pharaohs sustained the only perfect record in the African qualifying World Cup competition with a fifth consecutive victory and finish their schedule at home to second place Guinea in a meaningless encounter. The win puts the Pharaohs eight points clear of Guinea at the top of Group G. In general, the players said they did their best to end the match with a win to make their chances in the 2014 World Cup better. US coach Bob Bradley gave the instructions and they followed them to the letter. Assistant coach Diaa Al-Sayed, said, “We will continue doing our best to win the next two matches, one against Guinea, and the second a friendly match that is included in the FIFA calendar to improve our FIFA ranking next month.” Egypt is in 15th place in Africa so needs to jump to one of the first five places which are secured right now by Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Ghana , Mali and Nigeria. The top ranked five African teams will avoid meeting each other in the African continent final phase in October and November. Ahmed Gafaar, of Zamalek and the national team said Egypt's performance in the last two matches against Mozambique and Zimbabwe “was the perfect answer to all who attacked the Egyptian national team in its previous failures”. Despite winning the Nations Cup in 1998 and on three straight occasions between 2006 and 2010, Egypt has not gone to the World Cup since 1990. Egypt's win in Mozambique ensures the seven-time African champions will be one of the 10 nations through to the African play-offs for Brazil 2014.The Pharaohs will learn who they will face when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducts the draw for the deciding round on 16 September. CAF will host the draw in Cairo. The matches will take the form of two-legged play-offs, with the aggregate winners going through to Brazil 2014. It has also stated that the five best-placed sides in the world rankings, as of 12 September 2013, will be seeded for the draw. The first legs of the play-offs will be played between 11-15 October 2013, while the second and decisive ties will take place between 15-19 November 2013. According to FIFA, Ivory Coast became the first team to reach the third and final round of African qualifying when winning 4-2 in Tanzania. The victory takes the Group C leaders to 13 points, with Morocco second with eight points and just a game left. Morocco were 2-0 winners over Gambia in Marrakech thanks to goals from Abdelaziz Barrada and Younes Belhanda. Adds the BBC: Ethiopia progressed to the African play-offs after knocking 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa out of the race to Brazil with a 2-1 win in Addis Ababa. The come-from-behind victory means the Ethiopians cannot be caught in Group A, with one round of matches still left. Not since 1986 World Cup hosts Mexico failed to appear at the 1990 finals has a team that staged the World Cup failed to qualify for the next edition of the tournament. Tunisia ensured that they can make amends for missing out on South Africa 2010 by gaining the point they needed in Equatorial Guinea to make the third round. Trailing 1-0 against the only side that could catch them in the group, Oussama Darragi scored a second-half penalty to seal the point needed and maintain the 2004 African champions' unbeaten run. The 1-1 draw leaves Tunisia on 11 points, five more than second-placed Cape Verde. 2010 World Cup qualifiers Algeria booked their place in the play-offs on Sunday after winning in Rwanda - but they needed Mali to stumble at home to Benin as well. Zambia suffered a major blow to their hopes of qualifying for a maiden World Cup when held to a 1-1 draw at home by Sudan. Zambia coach Herve Renard told cafonline that his side complicated their World Cup mission.”We are at this moment very frustrated,” he said after the match.”We do not have any excuses. We failed when we drew 1-1 and we have to wait for the Ghana result and then we will see how our team will be.” Botswana won their first match in Group A when beating the Central African Republic 3-2 on home soil in a clash that was high on drama but which had little impact on the table. Togo were eliminated from World Cup qualifying by Libya as the hosts won 2-0 in Tripoli on Friday to extend their lead at the top of Group I. The victory takes the Libyans to nine points, three more than Cameroon, the 2006 World Cup qualifiers which have four points but just one match left. Burkina Faso gave themselves a World Cup lifeline when winning 1-0 at the home of Group E leaders Congo. Burkina Faso move to nine points, just one less than Congo with one round of games left. Gabon won 4-1 at home to Niger. Uganda came from behind to beat visiting Angola 2-1 in Group J. The result means the Cranes remain unbeaten and move top of Group J with eight points, two more than Senegal who play in Liberia. “We want to fulfill the dream of all Ugandans by going to the World Cup.” Uganda can qualify for the play-offs with victory in their away fixture against Senegal in September.
