Africa Round Three Draw

Luxor, Egypt, was the site for the draw for the CAF Third Round today.  The biggest question was against which power team Egypt would be placed.  Another burning question was which lower-ranked team would be granted the chance to play a Tunisia in shambles, having recently replaced their coach following what they thought was their elimination.  Tunisia, of course, were revived by the disqualification of Cape Verde only two days after having seen their dreams crushed by a 2-0 loss at home to those same Blue Sharks.

The draw gods were out in full force today.  Top seed Cote d'Ivoire were drawn against the very same Senegal team they eliminated in a two-legged playoff to reach the 2013 African Cup of Nations finals.  On that occasion, the second leg in Dakar had to be stopped early due to riots from the Senegalese fans.  Because of this, Senegal will not be able to play the second leg in Senegal and must find a neutral venue.  Africa's two most populous countries Nigeria and Ethiopia face off over two legs.  The resurgent Ethiopia, African champions as recently as 1962, look to undo their 2-0 loss in the 2013 African Cup of Nations to Nigeria, African champions as recently as 2013.  Eternal powers Ghana and Egypt face off, with Ghana trying to make it three straight appearances at a FIFA World Cup finals and Egypt trying to get back for the first time since 1990.  Algeria avoided a North African derby with Egypt, but they do run into the best incarnation of a national team that Burkina Faso have ever produced.  Burkina Faso, finalists at the 2013 African Cup of Nations, try to deny Algeria a second straight finals appearance while looking for their first ever appearance.  Lastly, Cameroon would have had a rematch of their shocking loss in a two-legged qualifying series for the 2013 African Cup of Nations to Cape Verde, but Tunisia have stepped into the shoes of the Blue Sharks, giving Cameroon the best possible draw for which they could have hoped.

The five home-and-away aggregate-goals series are listed below with the home team for the first leg listed first.  The first legs will be played between 11 and 15 October 2013.  The second legs will be played between 15 and 19 November 2013.  The teams' current ELO ratings are listed.

21 Cote d'Ivoire - 63 Senegal
103 Ethiopia - 30 Nigeria
76 Tunisia - 62 Cameroon
38 Ghana - 34 Egypt
65 Burkina Faso - 59 Algeria

If I have to pick the five winners (and I do), I am going with Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and Algeria, which would be the exact same five African teams that qualified for South Africa 2010.

News Reports:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2174867/index.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_box_2

Video of Draw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDaW4ThB6_Y