24 April 2000 03:39 PM - (SA)
Congo score record nine goals
Johannesburg - The Democratic Republic of
Congo created history on Sunday when they humiliated Djibouti 9-1 in the second
leg of a World Cup preliminary-round tie.
It was the biggest winning margin in an African qualifier, bettering a 7-1 victory by
Egypt over Namibia in 1996 and the 6-0 drubbing of Botswana by Ivory Coast four
years before.
Jacques Yemweni led the goal romp with a hat-trick at the 80 000-capacity
Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa as the Congolese brutally erased memories of an
embarrassing 1-1 first-leg deadlock.
A 10-2 aggregate success took DR Congo into the mini-league second phase. A
draw to divide the 25 qualifiers into five groups will be made on April 28 at the
Zurich headquarters of world governing body Fifa.
Congo were ahead within 60 seconds against the little East African nation
competing in the World Cup for the first time and Shabani Nonda from French club
Rennes helped himself to two goals within three minutes on his debut.
Angola were also in clinical form as they thrashed Swaziland 7-1 in Luanda with
an 18th-minute strike from Helder Vicente triggering a goal avalanche that
continued until the final minute when Issac Lokuli claimed his second.
Not all minnows were dismissed so lightly with the weakest football nation on the
continent, Somalia, restricting African Nations Cup holders Cameroon to a 3-0 win
in Yaounde.
Indomitable Lions coach Pierre Lechantre rested some regulars and Canon
Yaounde striker Robert Mba Jama grabbed the chance to score twice inside 12
minutes during the first half before Salomon Olembe added a third.
Ghana survived a couple of scares to defeat Tanzania 3-2 in Accra after taking a
one-goal lead into the match. John Lungu scored twice to bring the visitors level
after 54 minutes only for Dan Addo to snatch the winner.
A couple of first-half goals from teenage striker Mamadou Zongo steered Burkina
Faso to a 3-0 victory over Ethiopia, who had harboured giantkilling ambitions after
a 2-1 first-leg victory. -
Sapa-AFP