Pico Lopes helps Cape Verde to seal AFCON qualification

Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto 'Pico' Lopes played the full 90 minutes as Cape Verde beat Burkina Faso 3-1 to become one of four countries to be added to the list of finalists for next January's African Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.

Former Manchester United midfielder Bebe opened the scoring with further goals from Joao Paulo and Cle ensurine their progress to January's finals in the Ivory Coast with a game to spare.

The top two teams in each of the 12 qualifying groups qualify for the finals. There are three more matches to complete the fifth rounds of qualifiers, which will all be played on Tuesday.

Elsewehere striker Kelechi Ihenacho scored a stoppage time winner as Nigeria beat Sierra Leone 3-2.

Guinea Bissau also qualified from Group A, as Sierra Leone’s hopes of catching them were ended, with Cape Verde coming through from Group B and Mali from Group G.

They join hosts Ivory Coast, holders Senegal, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia at the finals

Ghana would have qualified from Group E had they won in Madagascar but were held to a goalless draw and must wait for the last round of qualifiers in September to win their place.

Victory for both Mozambique and Tanzania also enhanced their chances of going to the finals with one group game left.

Algeria are the only country left with a 100% record in the qualifiers as they made it five wins out of five by beating Uganda 2-1 away with Mohamed El Amine Amoura netting both and Riyad Mahrez providing an assist.

Watch Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar in the Euro 2024 qualifier on Monday night from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live radio commentary with Game