Last Updated: November 22, 2023, 03:00 IST
CAPE TOWN: Ghana and South Africa each suffered embarrassing defeats in World Cup qualification on Tuesday whereas prime contenders Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal and Zambia additionally discovered it powerful on the highway as all of them dropped factors.
On a busy day of 15 matches throughout the continent, there have been additionally wins for Burkina Faso, the Cape Verde Islands, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda.
But it was the Comoros, with a inhabitants of round one million, and Rwanda, ranked 140 in world soccer, who tore up the shape ebook in beating Ghana and South Africa respectively.
Ghana’s loss in Moroni was a harsh reminder of their humiliation nearly two years in the past when the Indian Ocean islanders beat them on the African Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon to ship then dwelling early. French-born attacker Myziane Maolida scored the sport’s solely aim this time, his second in successive matches.
Earlier South Africa had been crushed 2-0 in Rwanda on a water-soaked pitch in Butare as a twelfth-minute opener from Innocent Nshuti was adopted by a second for Gilbert Mugisha 14 minutes later.
It was Rwanda’s first victory of their final 11 dwelling matches and took them prime of Group C, the place they lead not solely South Africa but in addition Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Senegal, who’ve certified for the final two World Cups, went prime of Group B regardless of being held to a goalless attract Togo whereas Guinea misplaced 1-0 away to Botswana in Group G, the place Uganda additionally picked up factors by beating Somalia 1-0 after scoring early via Rogers Mato.
In Group D, Cameroon had been held to a 1-1 draw by hosts Libya whereas Mauritius drew 0-0 at dwelling with Angola however the Cape Verde Islands received 2-0 away at Eswatini.
Zambia misplaced 2-1 away towards Niger in Group E after conceding two early objectives earlier than captain Patson Daka pulled one again within the second half.
SHOT SPILT
Morocco, semi-finalists on the World Cup in Qatar a 12 months in the past, overcame 10-man Tanzania 2-0 in entrance of a 60,000 sturdy crowd in Dar-es-Salaam, scoring with a protracted-vary effort from Hakim Ziyech that the house workforce’s debutant goalkeeper spilt and an personal aim within the second half.
Burkina Faso recorded the most important victory margin of the day with the English-based pair of Bertrand Traore and Dango Ouattara each scoring within the 3-0 away win over Ethiopia.
Tunisia’s captain Youssef Msakni transformed a penalty two minutes from time to safe a 1-0 away win over Malawi in Lilongwe and make it two wins out of two in Group H the place Namibia picked up their first factors by beating Sao Tome e Principe 2-0.
The subsequent spherical of African qualifiers will likely be performed in June, with the continent now turning its focus to January’s Cup of Nations finals within the Ivory Coast.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Reuters)
