Morocco defeated Mauritania 4-1 away on Saturday to put the north Africans among the early pace setters in 2010 World Cup qualification. Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria were also winners for a second successive weekend to take early leads in their respective African qualifying zone groups. African Footballer of the Year Frederic Kanoute scored both goals as Mali won 2-1 away in Chad while a scrambled goal in the last minute from Everton defender Joseph Yobo gave Nigeria a 1-0 away win in Sierra Leone. Burkina Faso went to the top of Group Nine with a 2-0 home win over Burundi. Tarik Sektioui blasted home an early free-kick to give Morocco the lead in Nouakchott before Hibernian midfielder Abdessalam Benjelloun added a second in the 37th minute. Two more goals in the second half from Youssef Safri and Houssine Kharja ensured an easy triumph with Mauritania reducing the margin through a late penalty from Dominique da Silva. Tunisia and South Africa, beaten in their opening matches last weekend, picked up their first points against unfancied opposition. Tunisia was 2-0 victor in the Seychelles while South Africa beat Equatorial Guinea 4-1 in Pretoria. Kenya beat Guinea 2-0 and the Cape Verde Islands was 1-0 winner over Tanzania. On Friday, Egypt beat Djibouti 4-0. – Reuters __
