Ironically, South Africa, the 2010 World Cup hosts, have failed to qualify for the 2010 African Nations Cup Finals - which is being held in Angola no less.

And, it is a disturbing realisation for Bafana that were South Africa not automatic qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup by virtue of hosting the tournament, they would have joined Angola as early dropouts for the tournament.

The completion over the weekend of the first African qualifying round of fixtures for both the Nations Cup and the World Cup, has left the four other nations from the continent who participated in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, namely Togo, Ghana, Tunisia and Ivory Coast, all remaining in the running for a place in the South African-hosted event in 2010.

The 12 winners in the first round of African qualifying for the World Cup and the African Nations Cup are Cameroon, Guinea, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali, Zambia and Egypt.

They will be joined in the next qualifying round by the eight-best second-placed teams, who are Rwanda, Tunisia, Kenya, Togo, Gabon, Sudan, Malawi and Mozambique.

Angola and South Africa finished second in their respective groups, but while Angola were the "unlucky losers" in this respect as the ninth-best of the second-placed teams, South Africa were bottom of the heap as the worst-placed side.

The 20 remaining African qualifiers will now be divided into five groups, with the five group winners earning places in the 2010 World Cup and three teams from each of the groups - plus hosts Angola - comprising the field in the 2010 African Nations Cup.

* Meanwhile, Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana is hoping his players can keep their winning momentum going when his charges host highly-rated Ghana in a friendly in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Said Santana from the Free State capital where Bafana are preparing for the clash against the Black Stars: "I am pleased to be playing a side of Ghana's quality.

These are the types of friendly matches we need to give our players the necessary experience as we build and search for more talent for the Confederations Cup squad."

Santana again stressed that he would be finalising his squad to play at the Confederations Cup in December.

The Confederations Cup is the dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup finals and will be played in June next year in South Africa where Fifa and the 2010 Local organising Committee will use the tournament to iron out any problems ahead of the 2010 soccer showpiece 12 months later.

The competition features world champions Italy, hosts Bafana and the six continental champions Egypt, Spain, Iraq, New Zealand, Brazil and the United States.

Santana is on a good run at present.

Bafana have won their past two matches and not conceded a goal in both games.

- Supersoccer

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