NO HEAD-TO-HEAD RULE FOR EAGLES. November 14 Ties Are Winner Takes All Affair

The dreaded head-to-head rule which ultimately denied Nigeria a place at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany will not apply in Nigeria’s hunt for a ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

There will be no complications in deciding which country between Nigeria and Tunisia qualifies for South Africa 2010, as all Shuaibu Amodu’s team need do is get a win over the Harambee stars of Kenya on November 14 while they hope Tunisia slips in their fixture against Mozambique, by either losing or getting a draw.

If the above scenario is achieved, that is Nigeria winning and Tunisia drawing, both countries will tie on 12 points with Nigeria scaling through on goals difference.

As it is now, both Nigeria and Tunisia have the same goal-difference and a win for Nigeria with Tunisia not winning will automatically lift Nigeria above the North Africans in goals difference which is the first option FIFA is considering in determining the group winners in case of tie as against the head-to-head rule used four years ago.

In the battle for Germany 2006 both Nigeria and Angola tied on points with the Eagles also having a better goals difference. But the almighty head-to-head rule, which was FIFA’s first option then handed the ticket to the Angolans.

The following are the options FIFA will apply in order of importance in case of a tie
1. The goal difference in all group matches
2. The greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
In case a tie still exists between two (2) or three(3) teams the following will be considered:
1. The greatest number of points obtained between the teams concerned
2. The goal difference between the teams concerned
3. The greatest number of goals scored between the teams concerned.

Furthermore, in the case of a tie still persisting a draw will be made by the Organising Committeee that could be replaced by a play-off match with possible extra time and penalty kicks.

The play-off is FIFA’s last resort to determine the team to qualify for the World Cup when other means are intricately locked.

Instructively, the regulations for determining the qualified countries for both the FIFA World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations are no identical.

The 2010 Nations Cup finalists will be decided by:
1. Greatest number of points during their direct encounters
2. Highest goal difference during their direct encounters
3. Greater number of goals scored during their direct encounters
4. Greater number of away goals scored in their direct encounters.

The overall goal difference for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations only applied when a perfect tie appears during the direct encounters or when more than two (2) teams possess the same number of points.

Cameroun, Gabon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Angola have confirmed their places at the Nations Cup while six more countries will join them when the qualifiers round off in November.