Africa Zone Group 5 Overview:

Tunisia host Morocco in the only group where the two teams challenging for the top-spot, and a place in the World Cup Finals, come face to face. This is a repeat of the 2004 African Nations Cup final, which was won 2-1 by Tunisia’s 'Carthage Eagles'.

Tunisia are currently leading Group 5 in the Africa Zone, and with that win Coach Roger Lemerre has already carved a niche for himself in football folklore by becoming the first man to coach Continental Champions in both Europe and Africa, having previously guided France’s ‘Les Bleus’ to glory five years ago.

The odds favour Tunisia Coach Lemerre’s team, as a draw will be sufficient for Tunisia to qualify, while Morocco must win to qualify.
Tunisia have shown themselves to be more mentally and physically attuned under his coaching. With the Tunisian’s now happy to soak up pressure during a match, and counter-attack with speed and stealth. They will be even happier with the fact that they should be facing Morocco with a full strength squad.

For the Moroccan’s, a win is the only way that they will atone themselves for their shock failure to qualify for the previous World Cup Finals in Korea/Japan, something that they will not want to happen again.

Morocco’s coach Badou Zaki, the last goalkeeper to have been voted African Footballer of the Year, could have his World Cup dreams shattered in the harshest possible fashion. His Atlas Lions could finish the qualifiers as the only unbeaten country in Africa, and yet fail to book a place in the finals.

At the moment Morocco have five wins and four draws in the Group 5 qualifiers, yet if they do fail to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, the one thing they will not be lacking on Saturday is support. It is estimated that there will be at least 10,000 Moroccans flying out to Tunisia to support their National team for the match.

As an extra incentive to qualify, the Tunisia players have been promised a minimum reward of £60,000 ($100,000) each if they make it through to Germany 2006.

In the other matches in the group, bottom placed Malawi play Kenya, and Botswana take on Guinea at home who, with their third place guaranteed in the group, are themselves looking forward to their inclusion in the African Nations Cup, taking place in Egypt next year.

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