Talisman Didier Drogba came off the bench to secure Ivory Coast a place in the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw against Malawi Saturday. The Group E result made sure the Ivorians would join Ghana and host South Africa in next year's tournament but the battle for three remaining berths from the region hung in the balance. Cameroon stayed ahead in Group A after dispatching Togo 3-0 in Yaounde, while African champions Egypt kept alive its hopes with a 1-0 away win in Zambia. With the Ivorians needing only a draw against bottom placed Malawi in their qualifier in Blantyre, coach Vahid Halilhodzic rested most of his key players for what was presumed a routine challenge. But after Malawi broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute through Jacob Ngwira, Halilhodzic was forced to introduce the might of Drogba, who had been left on the bench along with Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure. The Ivorian captain took just two minutes from his entry on to the field to score the equalizer and secure a second successive World Cup trip for the west Africans. Cameroon is one point ahead of Gabon in Group A while Egypt moved level with Algeria on 10 points in Group C. Hosni Abd Rabou scored with a thunderous long-range effort in the 69th minute to give Egypt a 1-0 win in Chililabombwe. Algeria is expected to restore its three-point lead when it hosts bottom-placed Rwanda in Blida Sunday, setting up a potentially thrilling deciding match in Cairo between Egypt and Algeria next month. Cameroon and Gabon are also set for an exciting finale in Group A after they both won their last home matches. Cameroon's Geremi scored after missing a first half penalty while Jean Makoun and Achille Emana added second half goals in its rout of Togo. Gabon ended Morocco's slim hopes with Hull City's Daniel Cousin among the goal scorers. Cameron and Gabon will both play their last qualifiers away next month. Six African qualifiers will be played Sunday, including Group B leaders Tunisia against Kenya. Nigeria, who trail Tunisia by two points, will face Mozambique. ‘Cannavaro should be clared' Fabio Cannavaro did not commit a doping offense and should be cleared because he took cortisone only to treat a wasp sting, the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor said Saturday. Prosecutor Ettore Torri will now recommend to an anti-doping tribunal, due to meet in the coming days, that the Italy captain should not receive any sanction. The tribunal will make the final decision. “The prosecutor asks for the Cannavaro case to be dropped,” a statement from the prosecutor's office said. “We can exclude (the possibility) that Cannavaro is responsible,” the statement added. “This office reserves the right to make further judgements in the future over other parties ... which were responsible.” It was not clear from the statement who those other parties might be. Australia, Netherlands draw In Sydney, Australia preserved an unbeaten record against the Netherlands when it held the world's No. 3-ranked team to a 0-0 draw in a football friendly Saturday. The Netherlands was the dominant side but was unable to capitalize on a number of scoring chances in both halves in a match played in front of a crowd of 40,537 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
