Draw for Africa Cup of Nations to be held on Friday

The Angola 2010 Local Organizing Committee (LOC) confirmed that the draw would be conducted at the Talatona Convention Center in Luanda.The organizer’s said the CAF officials expected to conduct the ceremony had arrived in Luanda.The 15 countries to join Angola in the biennial football competition were finally determined at the weekend after the three rounds of competition, which began on Oct. 13, 2007 with 53 nations, was completed across the continent. Going into the last round of matches, eight teams were still in contention for the four remaining qualification berths after Cameroun, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana and Mali had confirmed their Angola status with matches to spare. Mozambique edged out Kenya to third spot in Group Two after beating Tunisia 1-0 in Maputo to collect seven points and book a ticket to Angola while in Group One, Togo, who beat Gabon 1-0 in Lome, also booked their place on the last day.

In Group Three, Zambia held Rwanda to a 0-0 draw in Kigali but it was enough for the Chipolopolo to join the other qualifiers while in Group five, Malawi, who lost 2-1 away to Burkina Faso, was gifted qualification after Cote d’Ivoire walloped Guinea 3-0 in Abidjan. It is not certain if Nigeria would be seeded in any of the four groups but the Eagles would prefer to avoid the big names until they qualify for the knockout round.

Xinhua