By Mark Gleeson
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -Tiny Cape Verde Islands kept up top place in their World Cup qualifying group as they won away on Thursday, while Algeria and Tunisia moved closer to qualifying for next year’s finals with victories of their own.
But Ghana suffered a setback as they dropped unexpected points after giving up a last-minute equaliser away in Chad.
Cape Verde, who draw most of their side from migrant communities across Europe, scored a goal in either half to beat Mauritius 2-0 away with Jovane Cabral and Diney ensuring they stayed top of Group D with 16 points, one ahead of Cameroon, who had a 3-0 win over tiny Eswatini in Yaoundé.
Cameroon, who have been to an African record eight previous World Cups, strode into a three-goal lead in the opening 28 minutes but proved unable to add more thereafter.
Libya’s 1-0 away win in Angola, where Ezzedine El Mariamy scored early in the second half, keeps them in third place in Group D with 11 points.
Hazem Mastori’s fifth-minute goal, followed by second half efforts from Ferjani Sassi and Elias Saad, saw Tunisia beat Liberia 3-0 at home to open a seven-point lead in Group H while Algeria are five points clear in Group G after edging Botswana 3-1 in Tizi-Ouzou with two second half strikes from Baghdad Bounedjah.
Ghana led in Ndjamena through captain Jordan Ayew’s 17th minute tap-in from Mohamed Kudus’ cross but were sloppy late in the game and allowed bottom-placed Chad to take their first point in Group I.
The draw allowed Madagascar to move to within three points of Ghana after beating the Central African Republic 2-0 in Casablanca. The Malagasy, up to 13 points, are among 13 African countries forced to host their home games on neutral territory because their own stadia are not up to international standard.
Mali’s 3-0 victory in Berkane over Comoros Islands means they are four points behind the leaders and must beat Ghana away on Monday to have any hopes of coming back to win the group when the last two rounds of qualifiers are played in October.
The 41-year-old striker Kei Kamara, a long-time Major League Soccer stalwart, opened the scoring for Sierra Leone in their Group A clash against hosts Guinea-Bissau, but it ended 1-1 when Mama Balde equalised in the 74th minute.
Sao Tome e Principe had lost nine successive World Cup qualifiers going into their home game against Equatorial Guinea in Oudja, Morocco, and would have had high hopes of breaking that streak when two goals from Ronaldo Lumungo had them leading at half-time, but they lost 3-2.
Friday will see a further 14 qualifiers across the continent, with Morocco set to become the first African side to book their berth at the 2026 finals in North America.
The winners of the nine qualifying groups automatically head to the World Cup with the four best runners-up advancing to a playoff in November, with the potential of a further place at the finals.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
