By Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG, July 3 - Defender Joseph Yobo saved
Nigeria's World Cup campaign from a major setback when he scored
a late winner against Algeria in Abuja on Saturday.
Yobo headed home from a corner kick to the relief of a
35,000 crowd in the new stadium in Nigeria's federal capital as
the Super Eagles put defeat in Angola last month behind them.
The 1-0 win was a second at home in the qualifying campaign
for Nigeria, whose group four rivals Angola and Zimbabwe both
notched important away points.
The match also marked a return for Portsmouth's Yakubu
Aiyegbeni, who had been sent home in disgrace after allegedly
breaking the team curfew at the African Nations Cup finals in
Tunisia in January.
Zimbabwe won 2-0 in Rwanda on Saturday with goals from Peter
Ndlovu and Tinashe Nengomasha to keep up their unbeaten run.
Angola are also undefeated after their first three games in
the group but had a 83rd minute equaliser from Marco Paulo, the
imposing striker from Estoril in Portugal, to thank for a 2-2
draw at Gabon.
Senegal and South Africa, who were at the last World Cup
finals in Japan and South Korea in 2002, also shrugged off
defeats in the last qualifying matches to restore their chances
for the 2006 finals in Germany.
Teenager Babacar Gueye continued his scoring form for
Senegal with a 21st minute goal to secure a 1-0 win over Zambia
in front of 50,000 fans in Dakar.
Senegal, hit by injury and suspension, had lost 3-1 in Togo
a fortnight ago in their last qualifier.
South Africa also put recent defeat behind them as they made
seven changes for their 2-0 win over Burkina Faso in
Johannesburg.
Steven Pienaar and Shaun Bartlett scored in the first half
but the team drew the wrath of coach Stuart Baxter as they went
off the boil in the second half.
GHANA HELD
Ghana are two points behind South Africa but will be pleased
with a 1-1 draw in Uganda especially after Asamoah Gyan scored
just five minutes from time.
Nader Kara's goal two minutes into time added on at the end
of the match gave Libya a 1-0 win against Sudan, who have now
lost both of their home matches in group three.
The goal set off a riot by home fans which held up the last
minutes of the game in Khartoum.
Youssef Mokhtari scored on 30 minutes against Botswana as
Morocco managed the only other away win in Saturday's 10
qualifying matches.
Also in group five, Kaba Diawara, formerly of Arsenal, Paris
St Germain and Olympique Marseille, scored his third goal in two
matches as Guinea got a late equaliser for a 1-1 draw with
Malawi in Lilongwe.
Diawara is a recent beneficiary of the new FIFA rule that
allows players to change nationality if they have won caps at
junior level for another country. Diawara was a French youth
international.
Four more African zone qualifiers will be played on Sunday.