Angola's women in the recent World Championship
The preliminary round was completed today, and the quarterfinal for the men will be played on Tuesday; the women will follow on Wednesday. There was not much drama on the final group day, and most of the quarterfinals also seem rather easy to predict.
Among the men, the only real chance for another team to threaten the North African hegemony is through the game between Angola and the home team Morocco. The Angolans seem to be the strongest of ‘the rest’, and Morocco has not been very convincing so far. In today’s group game there was a 34-34 tie between Egypt and Algeria, with the Egyptians winning the group on goal difference. But with the somewhat ‘unusual’ format used, it seems the two teams will be on the same ‘half’ of the draw, so a rematch between them in the semi-finals will most likely decide who will play Tunisia in the final. And, of course, such a match-up would also be critical to the chance of grabbing a slot in the Olympic qualifying.
On the women’s side, there was a straight-forward situation in one group, with Tunisia winning the group and Morocco being the team failing to make the quarter-finals. The other group was more hard-fought, with Angola and Egypt clearly being top and bottom but with the other three teams being ‘bunched’ together in the middle. Perhaps it should be seen as a surprise that the Dem. Rep. of Congo grabbed the second place and, above all, that Cote d’Ivoire dropped to fourth place. This means they will face up-and-coming Tunisia already in quarterfinals. Perhaps this will be the game that settles who will be playing in the Olympic qualifying.
Women
Group A
1) Angola 8 pts (4-0-0) GD +33
2) Dem.Rep. of Congo 4 pts (2-0-2) +2
3) Cameroon 4 pts (2-0-2) -23
4) Cote d’Ivoire 3 pts (1-1-2) +3
5) Egypt 1 pt (0-1-2) -15
Group B
1) Tunisia 8 pts (4-0-0) +43
2) Algeria 6 pts (3-0-1) +20
3) Congo 4 pts (2-0-2) +19
4) Senegal 2 pts (1-0-3) -3
5) Morocco 0 pts (0-0-4) -79
Men
Group A
1) Tunisia 10 pts (5-0-0) +51
2) Morocco 8 pts (4-0-1) +9
3) Dem.Rep of Congo 6 pts (3-0-2) +6
4) Senegal 4 pts (2-0-3) -12
5) Congo 2 pts (1-0-4) -24
6) Gabon 0 pts (0-0-5) -30
Group B:
1) Egypt 9 pts (4-1-0) +53
2) Algeria 9 pts (4-1-0) +46
3) Angola 6 pts (3-0-2) +18
4) Cameroon 4 pts 2-0-3) +8
5) Cote d’Ivoire 2 pts (1-0-4) -56
6) Burkina Faso 0 pts (0-0-5) -59
Women’s quarterfinals: ANG-SEN, COD-CGO; TUN-CMR, ALG-CIV (To be played Wednesday, 18 January)
Men’s quarterfinals: TUN-CMR, MAR-ANG; EGY-SEN, ALG-COD (To be played Tuesday, 17 January)
N.B. these pairings have not been officially confirmed by CAHB yet, but they follow the published format.