Ghana and Nigeria stunned in Cup of Nations qualifiers

CAPE TOWN, Sept 29 : West African giants Ghana and Nigeria both suffered chastening defeats in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Tuesday, while Algeria fought back from two goals down to avoid a shock loss to Burundi.

Tiny Cape Verde, who won legions of admirers with their gutsy exploits at this year's World Cup, also went down in a surprise loss at home to Rwanda.

But heavyweight contenders Egypt, Morocco and Senegal all won difficult away assignments, and there were home wins for Comoros, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia on a busy day of 17 matches in the preliminaries for the 2027 finals to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Ghana, one of Africa’s 10 representatives at the World Cup where they reached the last 32, surrendered a 2-0 lead in a stunning 4-2 home defeat by Gambia in Accra.

Gambia, whose population is under three million compared with Ghana's almost 35 million, hit back through a Muhammed Badamosi penalty and goals from Omar Colley and substitute Ebrima Colley, who struck twice.

Ernest Nuamah and Felix Afena-Gyan had put the Black Stars two goals ahead after 33 minutes, but their collapse prompted angry home supporters to throw bottles onto the pitch in the closing stages.

The result increased the pressure on veteran coach Carlos Queiroz after they opened their Group C campaign with a loss away to Ivory Coast last week.

Nigeria, who were semi-finalists at the last Cup of Nations finals in January, had seven Premier League players in their starting line-up but were comprehensively outplayed as they went down 3-0 in Guinea Bissau, where the margin of defeat might have been even bigger. 

Franculino Dju curled home the first-half opener and captain Mama Balde made it 2-0 in the 66th minute. Alvaro Djalo added