MALI 2002 - The African Cup Of Nations XXIII
   The qualification - GROUP 6

reports:

this group:

preview

week1

week2

week3

week4

week5

week6

other:

group1

group2

group3

group4

group5

group6

group7

about

group1

group2

group3

group4

group5

group6

group7

Group 6
A- Zimbabwe, B- RD Congo, C- Lesotho, D- Ghana
Ghana is clearly fancied here. RD Congo have their domestic problems and Zimbabwe looks inconsistent. But somebody will have to seize the second spot. Will it be Zimbabwe? And what role will Cosafa Cup giantkillers Lesotho play, real football minnows?

> match facts and/or reports

> schedule, table and results of this group

Lesotho - Ghana  3:3
dailysoccer.com/reuters:
Lesotho - Seth Lephoto 47, Majara Masupha 49, Molefe Makhele 61 
Ghana - Charles Amoah 27, Nawa Duah 80, 88 
Halftime: 0-1. Attendance: 5,000 
Zimbabwe - DR Congo  3:2
dailysoccer.com/reuters:
Zimbabwe: Luke Petros 6, 73, Peter Ndlovu 22 
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mayele Nono 29pen, Kambamu 
Wakanyenkele 67 
Halftime: 2-1; Attendance: 10,000 

RD Congo - Lesotho 1:1
The match ws postponed 2 days because of the late arrival of the referees
reuters: 1:0 Moro Nvula 57, 1:1 Mpakanyane 65, att. 50,000 
CAF: DRC: Moro Nvula 57. Lesotho - Mpakanyane 75

Ghana - Zimbabwe  4:1
1:0 Stephen Appiah 28, 2:0 Emmanuel Duah 42, 2:1 Benjamin Mwarawan 47, 3:1 Charles Amoah 48, 4:1 Charles Akunnor 78 pen., att. 50,000

Lesotho is the team of the weekend. The tiny nation began their surprise run at the Cosafa Cup (a competition for the Southern African nations) last year and were only stopped in the final by two clear Zimbabwe wins.This time they surprised even them and have collected three most valuable away points, winning 2:1 at Harare. 
It creates a very exciting group 6 situation with Ghana still favorites, despite allowing DR Congo back into the contest, losing to them 1:2 at Kinshasa. All teams are still in the race with a little advantage to Lesotho and Ghana. They are in the positive concerning the 'the-shot.com home-and-away indicator' which substracts the points lost at home from the points gained from away games and is especially important in African football: Lesotho +2, Ghana +1, D.R. Congo -2, Zimbabwe -3.

DR Congo - Ghana  2:1 
(halftime 2:0, in the last minutes red card Samuel Johnson + Congolese player?)
dailysoccer.com/Reuters:
Congo - Michel Dinsey 10, Mputu 13 
Ghana - Ayele Kwame 77 
Halftime: 2-0; Attendance 80,000
Zimbabwe - Lesotho 1:2
dailysoccer.com/Reuters:
Zimbabwe - Benjamin Mwaruwaru 
Lesotho - Masupha Majara, Leholohnolo Seema pen 
Halftime: 1-1; Attendance: 20,000 

A closer group than thought, with all four teams with chances to qulaify. Ghana's home based players want to confirm they are the right choice. A problem is the clash of dates with the parallel U20 youth championships where some talented players (Ismael Addo, Charles Taylor) are busy. Opponents of the plan are only waiting for a failure: there is much money and much reputation at stake for the European professionals and their managements as it could be the same for the new Black Stars suddenly exposed in an international deisplay. 
With Appiah and Duah two professionals have been reintegrated into the squad.

Ghana - DR Congo 3:0
 '17 Allotey, '49 Appiah, '84 Allotey, att. 20,000
Lesotho - Zimbabwe  0:1 
goal:Ndlovu ('88), att. 20,000

Ghana, shaken by a massive pull-out of professionals once again fielded a homebased squad to surprise Zimbabwe winning 2:1, despite arriving with a new coach once more. An open race for second place: all three with realistic chances.

Zimbabwe - Ghana  1:2 
(1:0 Mugeyi '15, 1:1 Owusu Ansah '39, 1:2 Boakye '89) *Ghana qualified

Lesotho - DR Congo  0:0
 

week 6
Jun 15-17, 2001

DR Congo - Zombabwe  2:1
within a few minutes DR Congo turned around a match which saw Zimbabwe leading and qualified for the Nations Cup *DR Congo qualified

Ghana - Lesotho  3:1 
already at halftime Lesothos chances had faded away. The outsiders would have needed aöö three points to beat out DR Congo in the race for the second spot beside Ghana.
1:0 Appiah '25, 2:0 Gyan '31, 3:0 Amoah '37, 3:1 Teela '63, att. 30,000