Alexandria, Egypt, March 23, 2005 – Cameroon and Sudan will have the honour of playing the opening match at the 2006 men’s World Championship second round tournament (Africa Pool B) when it starts in Alexandria on Thursday.

Following the opening ceremony, the first match of the tournament will start at 18.00 (local time) followed by a match involving the tournament favourite Egypt and RD Congo at 20.00.

Friday sees Sudan, who are participating in this tournament having won the (Africa Pool A) first round tournament in Sudan in February, play RD Congo at 18.00 followed by a match between the two favoured teams in the tournament, Egypt and Cameroon at 20.00.
Pic: Sudan on their way to beating Ghana, Uganda and Eritrea at the (Africa Pool A) first round tournament in Sudan in February
The final day on Saturday will start at 12.00 (local time) with Cameroon playing RD Congo, followed by Egypt playing Sudan.

The winner of the tournament will confirm a spot in the final round in Japan, joining hosts Japan and defending champions Brazil.

Egypt, who participated in the 2003 World Cup, are the hot favourites for the three-day competition with their Serbian coach Veselin Vukovic completing a thorough preparation programme following the end of their local league at the end of February.

Cameroon, semifinalists in both the 2003 African Nations championship and the 2003 All Africa Games, will use seven European based professionals in their line up aiming to collect their first ever ticket to the World Championship final round, while RD Congo, will depend mainly on the experienced players of their local league.