Senegal, Egypt seal finals place but Ghana face uphill battle

CAPE TOWN :A 96th-minute winner from Sadio Mane earned Senegal a 1-0 win over Malawi and a place at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco next year, but Ghana are in serious danger of missing out after a surprise loss to Sudan on Tuesday.

Senegal had 30 attempts at goal against their hosts but it took until the final seconds for Mane to seal victory with a 25-yard free kick that curled into the bottom corner of the net.

The 2021 winners, who recently parted ways with long-time coach Aliou Cisse, join Burkina Faso as the qualified nations from Group L in the 24-team finals with two more matches to play in the November international window.

Ghana slumped to a 2-0 loss against Sudan in neutral Libya as Ahmed Al-Tash and Mohamed Abdel Rahman scored within three minutes of each other in the second half.

Ghana look set to miss a first continental finals since 2004 having managed a paltry two points from their four games, five adrift of the qualification positions with a difficult trip to pool leaders Angola next up.

Angola sealed their place with a 1-0 win over Niger in Casablanca thanks to Zini's first-minute goal.

Record seven-time winners Egypt cruised to a place in the finals with a 1-0 win over Mauritania. Ibrahim Adel got the only goal of the game five minutes from the end.

Democratic Republic of Congo qualified following a 2-0 victory in Tanzania as Meschack Elia scored a brace, but defending champions Ivory Coast suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Sierra Leone after Amadou Bakayoko's 85th-minute winner.

The Ivorians remain top of their group and will be favourites to book their place next month.

Coach Avram Grant’s Zambia claimed an important 1-0 win over Chad to take a big step towards qualification thanks to Kennedy