AFCON 2019 Qualifiers Roundup: South Africa, Tanzania, 22 Other Teams Qualify

Mbaye Niang scored twice as Senegal finished with five wins and a draw to top Group A with 16 points. Madagascar finished second with ten points.

Equatorial Guinea finished their campaign with a resounding 4-1 win over Sudan, in a match between two sides already out of contention for the Nations Cup finals.

Mohamed Mokhtar opened the scoring for the hosts after 15 minutes but the lead lasted just four minutes as Emilio Nsue equalised from the spot and added another penalty before half-time.

Pablo Ganet, added a third goal four minutes into the second half. The win was completed when West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang scored his first goal for the Nzalang Nacional in the 85th minute.

In group B, Morocco who are already through to the finals were held to a goalless draw by Malawi. The closing minutes were marred by crowd trouble at the Bingu Stadium in Lilongwe, as fans threw
missiles onto the pitch.

Despite the problems the referee allowed the game to continue to the end.

The other game in the group saw Cameroon defeat Comoros 3-0 to keep the defence of their Africa Cup of Nations crown alive.

Group C saw Burundi qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time in their history with a 1-1 draw at home to Gabon in Bujumbura.

Cedric Amissi scored in the 76th minute for Burundi but an own-goal from Omar Ngando eight minutes from time made it a tense finish as Gabon searched for the victory they needed.

Burundi finished second in Group C, behind group leaders Mali who have already qualified. They beat South Sudan 3-0 in their final group game.

Gambia hopes qualification hit a brick wall as they forced group leaders, Algeria to a 1-1 draw on Friday in Group D.

Algeria led through a Mehdi Abeid goal in the 42nd minute but The Gambia got an equaliser in second-half injury time through Mamadou Danso.

On Sunday Benin beat Togo 2-1 to book a place in the group stages of the tournament. Steve Mounie struck the winner for Benin six minutes from time after Emmanuel Adebayor’s goal 12 minutes earlier had cancelled out David Djigla’s 13th-minute opener.

In Group F, Jeffrey Schlupp scored eight minutes from time to give Ghana a 1-0 home win over Kenya in Group F. Both teams had secured qualification last year.

Zimbabwe beat Congo Brazzaville 2-0 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on Sunday to top Group G.

First-half goals from captain Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat sent the Warriors to their fourth
AFCON finals.

Elsewhere in the group, Bakambu’s second-half goal saw DR Congo beat 1-0 Liberia. A draw was all Liberia needed to qualify for the tournament but Cedric Bakambu’s strike ended their dreams.

In Group H, despite playing a goalless draw away at Central African Republic, Guinea finished winners of the group with one point ahead of Ivory Coast who thrashed Rwanda 3-0.Nicolas Pepe, Eric Bailly and
Maxwel Cornet were on target for the Elephants.

Angola and Mauritania qualified from Group I after both teams recorded 1-0 wins over Botswana and Burkina Faso respectively. Angola and Mauritania finished on 12 points but the Palancras Negras had a
superior goal difference of +2.

In Group J Tunisia easily beat eSwatini 4-0 with goals fromn Syan Ben Youssef, Anice Badri, Naim Sliti and Yassine Meriah. Tunisia have already qualified from the group, while eSwatini have already been eliminated.

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations hosts, Egypt, were held to a 1-1 draw away to Niger, in the final qualifier of Group J on Saturday. Egypt had already qualified for the finals and faced a Niger team who had
already been eliminated.

After a goalless first half, the visitors took the lead as substitute Mahmoud Trezeguet struck just after the break to put Egypt ahead. Niger missed a penalty eight minutes later, but they did get their equaliser
thanks to Amadou Moutari in the 82nd minute. Tunisia finished top of Group J on 15 points with Egypt second, two points adrift.

Guinea-Bissau and Namibia qualified for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations from Group K with Mozambique narrowly missing out after the final round of qualifying matches.

Guinea-Bissau made it back-to-back Nations Cup appearances after a dramatic 2-2 draw at home to Mozambique. Namibia secured their place at Egypt 2019 despite a 4-1 defeat away to the 2012 champions
Zambia who had already been eliminated.

In group L, Tanzania beat rivals Uganda 3-0 in Dar es Salaam on Sunday to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time since 1980.

The Taifa Stars secured the victory they needed to join already-qualified Uganda at Egypt 2019 from Group L. Lesotho drew 0-0 in Cape Verde which confirmed Tanzania’s qualification as runners-up to Uganda
in the group.

The group draw for AFCON 2019 will take place on April 12 in Cairo, with the tournament proper starting on June 21.

By Johnny Edward.