Cameroon face tricky start in World Cup qualifiers

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Cameroon will have to negotiate a tricky two-leg knockout tie against Somalia or Niger at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign following the African zone draw made in St Petersburg on Saturday.

(Reuters)

Somalia and Niger will meet in the first round and the winners play the Indomitable Lions over two legs in the second.

South Sudan, who joined FIFA in 2012, will face Mauritania in their first-ever World Cup qualifier, with the opening leg at home. The winners play Tunisia in the second round.

Nigeria will face Djibouti or Swaziland in the second round and African champions Ivory Coast must face Liberia or Guinea-Bissau.

Angola will meet South Africa in arguably the toughest of the second-round meetings.

The 26 lowest-ranked African teams take part in the first round and the winners join the remaining 27 African sides in the second stage, again played on a knockout basis with each tie over two legs played from Nov. 9-17.

This creates a potential pitfall for the established teams who run the risk of being eliminated because of a single shock result.

In the third round, the 20 teams are divided into five groups of four and the winners of each group qualify for the World Cup.

(Reporting by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ed Osmond)