CAPE TOWN: Senegal, Egypt, Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo secured a place at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco next year, but Ghana are in serious danger of missing out after a surprise loss to Sudan on Tuesday.

A total of eight nations have now secured places at the Afcon with Burkina Faso qualifying on Sunday and Algeria and Cameroon on Monday. Hosts Morocco are automatic participants.

A 96th-minute winner from Sadio Mane earned Senegal a 1-0 win over Malawi, Mohamed Salah-less Egypt beat Mauritania 1-0, Angola edged Niger 1-0 and DR Congo overcame Tanzania 2-0.

Senegal had 30 attempts at goal against their hosts in Lilongwe but it took until the final seconds for Mane to seal victory with a 25-yard free kick that curled into the bottom corner of the net.

The 2021 winners, who recently parted ways with long-time coach Aliou Cisse, join Burkina Faso as the qualified nations from Group ‘L’ in the 24-team finals with two more matches to play in the November international window.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan released Liverpool star Salah before the return match with Mauritania, fearing the artificial pitch in Nouakchott could heighten the risk of injury, but his side maintained their perfect Group ‘C’ record with Ibrahim Adel getting the only goal of the game five minutes from the end.

Angola wasted no time establishing a Group ‘F’ advantage over Niger with Ambrosini ‘Zini’ Salvador scoring the only goal in Casablanca within 60 seconds.

Ghana slumped to a 2-0 loss against Sudan in neutral Libya as Ahmed Al-Tash and Mohamed Abdel Rahman scored within three minutes of each other in the second half.

Ghana look set to miss a first continental finals since 2004 having managed a paltry two points from their four games, five adrift of the qualification positions with a difficult trip to pool leaders Angola next up.

Meschak Elia came off the bench to turn a Group ‘H’ showdown in Tanzania in favour of DR Congo by scoring on 87 minutes and again in added time in Dar es Salaam.

Ivory Coast remain top of Group ‘G’ despite suffering a shock 1-0 loss to Sierra Leone after Amadou Bakayoko’s 85th-minute winner.

Second-placed Zambia hold a three-point advantage over Sierra Leone.

After thrashing Congo Brazzaville by five goals at home, South Africa had to settle for a 1-1 Group ‘K’ draw when the teams met in central Africa.

Uganda won 2-1 away to South Sudan in the same section and they and South Africa remain on course to qualify.

Coach Avram Grant’s Zambia claimed an important 1-0 win over Chad to take a big step towards qu­al­ification thanks to Kennedy Musondas goal 20 minutes from the end.

Gabon are also on course after a 2-0 win over Lesotho in neutral Durban, while Morocco completed a statement 4-0 win over Central African Republic as Eliesse Ben Seghir scored twice.

Rwanda beat Benin 2-1 in Group ‘D’ with the other fixture on Tuesday between Libya and Nigeria postponed after the latter refused to play over travel chaos in the build-up.

Nigeria head the pool with seven points from three games, followed by Benin (six points from four games), Rwanda (five from four) and Libya (one from three).

Tunisia were held to a 1-1 draw by Comoros with two points separating the North Africans at the top of the pool and Gambia in third.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024