Angola, Ghana, Tanzania Qualify For AFCON Tournament
Angola, Ghana and Tanzania have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament after finishing in the top two of their respective groups on Thursday, leaving only six more places to be decided in the next days for the 24-team tournament in Côte d’Ivoire in January 2024.
Ghana finished first in Group E on 12 points with Angola in second place on nine (9) points, two more than the Central African Republic, who had needed to win their final match to qualify for the first time.
The Central African Republic went ahead through stand-in skipper Louis Mafouta, Mohammed Kudus equalised for Ghana just before halftime. Ghana’s 19-year-old Ernest Nuamah then scored the winner from close range to seal the victory for the Black Stars.
Algeria 0-0 Tanzania
Tanzania forced an unlikely goalless draw away in Algeria to also go through in second place on eight (8) points.
The result denied already qualified Algeria the chance of being the only country to complete the qualifying campaign with a 100% record. Tanzania’s point also left neighbours Uganda falling one point short, despite beating Niger 2-0 away.
Algeria topped Group F with 16 points from six games with Tanzania on eight (8) and Uganda on seven (7).
Tunisia beat Botswana to finish first in Group J but needed a 60th-minute own goal from Alford Velaphi to break the deadlock before going on to win 3-0. The Tunisians had already qualified but edged Equatorial Guinea out of top place. Equatorial Guinea drew 1-1 away in Libya on Wednesday.
The newly qualified teams will join Algeria, Burkina Faso, the Cape Verde Islands, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia at the finals in the Ivory Coast, who qualified automatically as hosts.
Thursday’s CAF AFCON Qualifier results
Angola 0-0 Madagascar
Ghana 2-1 Central African Republic
Algeria 0-0 Tanzania
Niger 0-2 Uganda
Tunisia 3-0 Botswana.
QUALIFIED ✅
Ghana officially book their tickets to Côte d’Ivoire for a 24th #TotalEnergiesAFCON participation 👏#TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 pic.twitter.com/xPTmQnuBCV
— CAF (@CAF_Online) September 7, 2023
QUALIFIED ✅
Angola will be going to Côte d’Ivoire for a 9th #TotalEnergiesAFCON participation 🙌#TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 pic.twitter.com/wair1U61lB
— CAF (@CAF_Online) September 7, 2023
QUALIFIED ✅
Tanzania make history as they seal their qualification to their 3rd ever #TotalEnergiesAFCON campaign 👏#TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 | @Tanfootball pic.twitter.com/tcjTdNmcFP
— CAF (@CAF_Online) September 7, 2023
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