Over the first 90 minutes of the five knock-out ties to decide who will represent Africa at the 2014 World Cup, 19 goals were scored.
Before those games, excessive tactical caution had been predicted amid criticism of the new qualifying system applied by the Confederation of African Football – brutal, sudden, two-leg play-offs at the end of a conventional group phase.
If the yield is an average of nearly four goals per match, arguments that this method maximises entertainment becomes rather convincing.
Only one of the four duels looks settled as Egypt versus Ghana swung emphatically in favour of Asamoah Gyan’s West Africans, whose 6-1 first-leg victory appears to have condemned Egypt to watching Brazil 2014 via television. This, despite the continued presence of several Egyptian players who helped win three African Cup of Nations titles between 2006 and 2010.
Egypt would require a surreal comeback in Cairo on Tuesday to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Ethiopia, bidding for a debut World Cup appearance, have the odds stacked against them, too, 2-1 down as they face the African champions, Nigeria, in Abuja this afternoon.
By the end of today, Ivory Coast will also hope to have built on their 3-1 lead over Senegal, who are deprived of the ambient advantages of a true “home” leg because they are still serving a ban following crowd unrest when they lost to the Ivorians in a play-off for the 2013 Cup of Nations.
Senegal, quarter-finalists at the 2002 World Cup, must attempt to erase the two-goal deficit in the neutral venue of Casablanca.
The tightest contests are those scheduled for Blida, Algeria and Yaounde, Cameroon.
If there is to be an African team making its debut at a World Cup, the likeliest candidate is Burkina Faso, who take on Algeria with a 3-2 advantage from the home leg.
It might have been a more comforting cushion had Aristide Bance, the former striker for the Arabian Gulf League leaders Al Ahli, converted both rather than one of the Burkinabe’s two penalties in Ouagadougou.
However, the Burkino Faco side have a deep reservoir of confidence, built up since February, when they finished runners-up to Nigeria in the Cup of Nations despite losing several key players to injuries, such as Alain Traore. They are in better health, now.
Cameroon have the best record in Africa for reaching World Cups, but they have seemed in a long-term slump; they failed to qualify for the most recent Cup of Nations.
Yet a win Sunday over Tunisia, in Yaounde, would guarantee Cameroon a seventh trip to the finals, and the self-styled Indomitable Lions have preserved, in spite of their waning reputation, a strong home record.
As ever, there are tensions within the Cameroon camp, explicitly articulated by Samuel Eto’o, the captain, who in a news conference this week said his colleagues were deliberately not passing the ball to him during the goalless first leg in Tunis.
Eto’o, who has a frosty relationship with Alex Song, among other senior Cameroon players, nonetheless remains the likeliest match-winner.
His recent run of goals for Chelsea, his English Premier League club, has unnerved Tunisia’s coach, Ruud Krol. “The fact that Eto’o is coming into form again is not good news for us,” the Dutchman said.
Nor would Krol like to witness another inspired goalkeeping display by Charles Itandje, the Lions’ goalkeeper, who was outstanding in Tunis.
“When the play-off draw was made, people were saying ‘Oh, lucky for Cameroon to play Tunisia’,” Eto’o told The National.
“Well, you know what? Tunisia are a very, very good team.
“They gave a us a terrific game in Tunis, and to be honest we were quite lucky to escape with a 0-0.”
What did that tell Eto’o about the broader prospects from the continent, eight months before Brazil 2014?
“Africa is growing as a force,” he said.
“But a lot the time the problem is that, perhaps, mentally people haven’t taken on the attitude that our teams are at the level that they really can beat any other country.
“You have to dream big to win the big things.
“If you only think small, you will only achieve little things.”
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
SPECS
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NBA FINALS SO FAR
(Toronto lead 3-2 in best-of-seven series)
Game 1 Raptors 118 Warriors 109
Game 2 Raptors 104 Warriors 109
Game 3 Warriors 109 Raptors 123
Game 4 Warriors 92 Raptors 105
Game 5 Raptors 105 Warriors 106
Game 6 Thursday, at Oakland
Game 7 Sunday, at Toronto (if needed)
Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
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Sonchiriya
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Producer: RSVP Movies, Azure Entertainment
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey
Rating: 3/5
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Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')
Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')
Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
MATCH INFO
Delhi Daredevils 174-4 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians 163 (19.3 ovs)
Delhi won the match by 11 runs
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.