Manchester United and England football Wayne Rooney and actor Gerard Butler walk on Centre Court for the men’s final match between Andy Murray of Britain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia at Wimbledon, yesterday.
JOHANNESBURG: Nigeria overpowered Ivory Coast and Morocco shocked title-holders Tunisia this weekend in 2014 African Nations Championship qualifiers.
A brace from star midfielder Sunday Mba helped Nigeria trounce nine-man Ivory Coast 4-1 in Kaduna and virtually seal a place in the finals for the first time.
Morocco are equally well-placed to compete in South Africa next January after a 1-0 away win over Tunisia via a late Abdessamad Mbarki goal.
Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso built leads at home in other matches while a FIFA ban forced Cameroon to cancel a fixture against Gabon.
The Nigerian ‘Super Eagles’ are strongly positioned to progress in a competition restricted to footballers playing in their country of birth.
Coach Stephen Keshi took eight local stars to the Confederations Cup in Brazil last month and all were in the squad to face the Ivorians.
A home victory was expected in the northern city of Kaduna, but the margin must have thrilled even hard-to-please former national team captain Keshi.
Ivory Coast did not help themselves by having Roger Assale and Baresi Gloudeaou sent off in the second half.
However, Nigeria were already 3-1 ahead and scored only through Ifeanyi Benjamin when they had a two-man numerical advantage.
Star midfielder Sunday Mba once again punished Ivory Coast by scoring in each half and Gambo Mohammed was the other Nigerian marksman.
Mba scored the winner when Nigeria eliminated pre-tournament favourites Ivory Coast this year en route to winning the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. AFP
