Egypt widened the gap in its qualifiers for the 2008 African Cup of Nations, Abeer Anwar reports African champions Egypt beat Mauritania 3-0 in Cairo to top Group 2 of the 2008 African Nations Cup qualifiers. The result put Egypt top of the group after three matches with seven points, three more than second placed Botswana who beat Burundi by a lone goal, for their first win of the campaign. At Cairo International Stadium on Sunday, Germany-based striker Mohamed Zidan opened the scoring for the Pharaohs after 20 minutes. Just three minutes later, Mauritania's Belal Sedebeh handed Egypt a gift goal, scoring in his net after a failed clearance attempt. Tottenham Hotspurs striker Hossam Ghali sealed victory with a super scissors kick after 66 minutes. Emad Meteab from Egypt and Mohamed Yaqoub from Mauritania were given red cards for rough tackling. In some other groups, in Group 1, Cote d'Ivoire maintained a 3-0 win over Madagascar in Antananarivo, making it two wins from two games. After slamming to their second defeat of the qualifiers, Jean Paul Rossignol, coach of Madagascar said the match will serve as a big lesson for his young squad, whose output did not impress him. In Group 3, Nigeria had a harsh 1-0 victory over the Cranes of Uganda. Nigeria are now nine points from three games. In the other match, Lesotho defeated Niger 3-1 to lift themselves from the bottom of the table with their first victory. In Group 4, Sudan beat Mauritius 2-1. Two goals from Faisal Agab in the 42nd and 86th minutes lifted the Sudanese to six points on the ladder, a point adrift of Tunisia, who beat the Seychelles 3-0. In Group 5, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon thrashed Liberia 3-1 in Yaounde. The Lions have nine points, three more than Equatorial Guinea who moved second when beating Rwanda 3-1 in Malabo. In Group 6, Angola extended their lead at the top of the group standings after sinking Eritrea 6-1 in Luanda. In the other group match, Kenya beat Swaziland 2-0 in Nairobi to record their first victory after returning from almost a year's ban. In Group 7, Senegal came top spot of the group after crushing Tanzania 4-0 in Dakar. In the other match, Burkina Faso and Mozambique drew 1-1 in Ouagadougou In Group 8, Algeria defeated Cape Verde 2-0 in Algiers. Algeria topped the group with seven points, while Guinea moved second with four points following their 2-0 away win over Gambia. In Group 9, Togo registered a 3-1 victory over Sierra Leone. The win takes Togo to six points, one clear of Mali whose dreams of going top were thwarted as they were held 1-1 by Benin. In Group 10, Libya kept their hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Cup of Nations by beating Namibia 2-1 in Tripoli. The DR Congo clash with Ethiopia was postponed because of the recent fighting in Kinshasa. In other news favourable to Egypt, Egypt and Nigeria will host the FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cups in 2009 respectively. Following an initiative launched last year by FIFA President Joseph Blatter to organise FIFA youth events on African soil in 2009 prior to the hosting of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, FIFA decided to retain the candidatures of Egypt and Nigeria to host the FIFA U-20 and U-17 tournaments. No soccer Olympics The Egyptian Olympic football team's hopes to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics has vanished, says Ahmed Morsy. For the third straight Olympics starting from Atlanta 1996, Egypt's footballers failed to reach the Games, this time after going down 3-1 to Ivory Coast in Abidjan on Saturday. The teams drew 1-1 in Cairo in the first leg. In Abidjan, Ismaili midfielder Abdallah El-Said stunned the home crowd in the 14th minute, making good use of Shikabala's through pass from the right wing. Egypt squandered loads of opportunities and could have doubled the score in the second half. But they paid for the missed chances in the 50th minute when Cote d'Ivoire striker Cisse Sekou levelled from the penalty spot. The Ivory Coast continued to press and scored again in the 59th minute from a low cross met by Cisse Sekou who latched it on the right of goalkeeper Amir Tawfiq. Eduardo Vingada, Egypt's Portuguese coach, tried to replenish the attack by substituting Ahmed Shedeed and Ahmed Abdel-Dhaher. The substitutions worked but by then it was too late for a comeback. Three minutes from time, Ivory Coast added an insurance goal to put an end to Egyptian hopes of an appearance in Beijing.
