World Cup Qualifying: Nigeria qualify at expense of Tunisia

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 20:57

NIGERIA staged a second-half comeback to beat Kenya and snatch a place at next year's World Cup finals from rivals Tunisia.

Obafemi Martins, the former Newcastle United striker, scored twice as Nigeria came from behind to beat Kenya 3-2 in Nairobi while Tunisia lost to a late goal in Mozambique after starting the final round of matches two points clear in the Group B standings.

Nigeria leapfrogged Tunisia to win the group by a single point and qualify for the World Cup for a fourth time.

Nigeria had been behind at half-time after a 15th-minute goal from Denis Oliech while Tunisia looked content to play a defensive game against their Mozambican hosts.

But the group was turned on its head in the second half of both matches, played simultaneously, as Nigeria fought back to go 2-1 ahead with Martins equalising on the hour mark and then Everton striker Yabuku Aiyegbeni scoring just three minutes later.

The match in Nairobi was stopped for several minutes after a barrage of bottles were thrown from an angry home crowd, but when Allen Wetende brought back the score to 2-2 in the 79th minute, Kenyan jeers turned back to cheers.

Wolfsburg forward Martins then grabbed the winner for Nigeria in the 83rd minute at around the same time as Mozambique finally broke down the Tunisian defence and atoned for several glaring misses throughout the game in Maputo with a goal from veteran striker Dario.

The 84th-minute winner from Dario ensured Mozambique finished third in the group and qualified for January's African Nations Cup finals in Angola.

Cameroon beat Morocco 2-0 to also book their place at next year's World Cup finals. Achille Webo's first-half goal and a strike from captain Samuel Eto'o early in the second half ensured Cameroon finished on 13 points at the top of Group A, four points ahead of second-placed Gabon.

Cameroon won their last four qualifiers to come from behind in the group standings. They have qualified for an African record sixth World Cup finals appearance.

Gabon slipped to defeat in Togo. The Gabonese had gone into the game one point behind Cameroon but fluffed their lines as Floyd Ayite scored the game's only goal for the hosts.

Ten-man Australia fought back from a goal down to beat Group B rivals Oman 2-1 on Saturday to edge closer to qualification for the 2011 Asian Cup. Blackburn Rovers midfielder Brett Emerton scored the winner with eight minutes to go. Khalifa Ayil opened the scoring and Luke Wilkshire equalised for Australia.