Asian and Caribbean upsets, tight battles in South America and a first-ever win for American Samoa were among the latest qualifying tales as the race for Brazil 2014 heated up.
Emmanuel Adebayor returned to the Togo side to help them become one of ten teams into the group stage of African qualifying for Brazil 2014, which also included Kenya, who eased by Seychelles.
Faed Arsene tells FIFA.com that Madagascar can ill afford an early exit on the road to Brazil 2014 as they aim to overturn Friday's 2-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea.
On the first matchday in the African Zone of Brazil 2014 qualifying, scores favoured the away teams as six out of the ten won on a goal-laden day for travellers.
The long journey for African representatives aiming to reach Brazil 2014 commences this weekend with 22 nations participating in Round One.
Tunisia are the heavyweight team in African qualifying Group B and will be hard to beat in a section also containing Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone and the winner of the first round tie between Equatorial Guinea and Madagascar.
