All the five African countries that qualified for the last World
Cup are all still in contention for a return to the 2014 finals in Brazil as the continent's final round playoffs begin at this weekend.
Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria all
participated at the 2010 finals and have advanced as group
winners to the five playoff matches that will determine
Africa's representatives for next year's tournament in Brazil.
Hosts South Africa were a sixth representative from the
continent in 2010 but have been eliminated from the 2014
race.
Current African champions Nigeria and the top-ranked
Ivory Coast start as overwhelming favourites but the others
need to get through testing contests if they are to repeat
their qualification of four years ago.
Nigeria play away against Ethiopia on Sunday in the first
leg of their tie, with home advantage to follow in
November.
The Ivorians meet fellow west Africans Senegal in a repeat
of last year's African Nations Cup qualification playoff,
which was never concluded after the second leg in Dakar
was abandoned following a stadium riot when Senegal fell
behind.
The two protagonists clash again in Abidjan on Saturday
and will play their second leg tie in neutral Morocco next
month due to a ban on Senegal's home stadium.
The series of playoff matches begins in Ouagadougou on
Saturday when Burkina Faso seek to crown a year beyond
their wildest expectations with a good home result against
Algeria.
Burkina Faso were surprise runners-up at the Nations Cup
finals in South Africa at the start of the year and have since
staged a miraculous comeback in the World Cup qualifiers
after being docked points in the preliminaries for using an
ineligible player.
Cameroon, who are boosted by the return of Samuel Eto'o
after he threatened to retire, but were a far from convincing
group winner, take on Tunisia in their two-legged tie,
starting in Tunis on Sunday.
Tunisia only made it to the playoffs when Cape Verde were
stripped of an away win in Tunis last month because they
fielded a suspended player.
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