Nigeria kicked out of the AFCON Championship
Three time AFCON champions will not participate in the forthcoming continental competition in Gabon after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Egypt.
18-year old Egyptian striker, Ramadan Sobhi scored the solitary goal in the 65th minute to give the the Pharaoh a top group position with seven points with one match to play against bottom placed Tanzania after Chad withdrew from the competition sighting financial instability and all results from their matches erased.
To have any chance of qualification Tanzania would need to beat Egypt by a better score line than the 3-0 defeat they suffered in Egypt last June.
Tanzania would still have to beat Nigeria in their final match in September to have a chance of making it to Gabon.
Nigeria did not qualify for the last Nations Cup won by the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and they last won the AFCON competitions in 2013.
In another match, the desert foxes of Morocco became the first team to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations with a 2-0 win over Cape Verde.
The Indomitable Lions of the Cameroon took a big step towards qualifying by forcing hosts South Africa to a scoreless draw in the same day that saw Togo and Tunisia clash end in a 0-0 draw in a game that marked the return of Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor who had been in a self imposed exile.
Togo and Tunisia result left Liberia top of Group A in a major surprise and in line for its first appearance at the African Cup since 2002.
Liberia beat Djibouti 5-0, with Spain-based striker William Jebor netting a hat trick and due to this result Djibouti one of the world’s six lowest-ranked teams, was eliminated after conceding 15 goals in four games.
Sudan held current African champion Ivory Coast to a 1-1 draw with Max Gradel and Muhand El Tahir on the score sheet for both sides.
Ivory Coast however is still top and in position for the automatic qualification place from their group with two rounds of games to go in June and September.
While the likes of Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Algeria and Senegal all lead their groups, minnows Liberia, Zimbabwe and Guinea Bissau have provided the surprise stories and are also on course to qualify.
In other matches Rwanda defeated Mauritius 5-0, Namibia was thrashed 3-1 by Burundi, Malawi was gunned down 2-1 by Guinea, Angola received a 2-0 defeat from DR Congo, Uganda registered a goalless draw against Burkina Faso, Ethiopia finished 3-3 with Algeria, Niger was humiliated 2-1 by Senegal as Lesotho squeezed Seychelles 1-0.
Only one top team from the 13 groups will automatically qualify for the championship as two best losers from all groups join the host Gabon for the battle.
