Downpour spoils South Sudan World Cup debut

AFP, JOHANNESBURG: Torrential rain spoilt the World Cup debut of South Sudan in Juba Wednesday with play abandoned early in the first half after they levelled at 1-1 against Mauritania. Officials hope to resume play Thursday morning at the national stadium in the capital city of the youngest African nation, which gained independence from Sudan four years ago.
South Sudanese supporters last month celebrated a first victory for the national football team — 1-0 at home to Equatorial Guinea in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
That success raised hopes that their World Cup debut, in the first leg of a first-round eliminator against rivals 55 places higher on the world rankings, could bring more success. But a capacity crowd packed into the rudimentary Juba stadium on a grey East African afternoon were silenced after just three minutes when Boubacar Bagili scored for the Mauritanians.
The gloom lasted only two minutes, though, before Dominic Abui Pretino equalised, sparking wild celebrations as the weather worsened. The match officials abandoned play soon after with no sign of the downpour ending. Tanzania beat Malawi 2-0 in Dar es Salaam, Burundi edged the Seychelles 1-0 in Roche Caiman and Comoros and Lesotho drew 0-0 in Moroni in other first legs.
Mbwana Samata and Thomas Ulimwengu transferred to Tanzania their good form with CAF Champions League finalists TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Samata put the Taifa Stars ahead after 19 minutes off a pass from Ulimwengu, who scored the second goal four minutes later at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium.
The slow-starting Malawians came closest to scoring before Samata darted on to a pass across the box and pushed the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Simplex Nthala. A surprise returnee to the national team after a lengthy ban, Nthala gifted the second goal to Tanzania by spilling a low cross.