By David Gold
November 10 – 22 teams across Africa get their 2014 World Cup campaigns underway this weekend as they seek to be one of five sides from the continent to qualify for the competition being held in Brazil.
The 24 lowest ranked sides of the 52 countries in Africa begin qualifying in round one but Liberia have already progressed to the next stage as their opponents, Mauritius, have dropped out of qualification.
The Veteran Frenchman Claude Le Roy takes his new Demcoratic Republic of Congo side to play Swaziland, and along with Togo, who meet Guinea Bissau, they are the two former World Cup qualifiers to be competing at this stage.
Togo could be boosted by the potential return of the striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who could return from international retirement, while Mozambique, the highest ranked team of those participating in the first round, face the Comoros.
Namibia take on Djibouti, Kenya will be optimistic of qualifying against the Seychelles, while the East African neighbours Ethiopia and Somalia also face each other.
The 2012 African Nations Cup joint hosts Equatorial Guinea will be taking on Madagascar, whilst Lesotho play Burundi, Chad meet Tanzania and Eritrea face Rwanda.
There will also be a return to competitive football for Sao Tome e Principe, who last played a World Cup qualifier almost eight years ago, when they were crushed 8-0 by Libya, and they will hope for a better result when they face Congo.
The two legs of each tie will be played tomorrow and Tuesday (November 15) with the exception of Somalia-Ethiopia which is set for Saturday (November 12) and Wednesday (November 16).
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