Mane seals Senegal 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 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 Musonda’s goal 20 minutes from the end.
Gabon are also on course after a 2-0 win over Lesotho in neutral Durban, with Shavy Babicka and Rody Effaghe grabbing goals in the second half.
Uganda beat South Sudan 2-1 in Juba and top their pool ahead of South Africa, who were held to a 1-1 draw in Congo despite Elias Mokwana scoring the opener. Both are expected to seal their places next month.
Rwanda beat Benin 2-1 in Group D with the other fixture on Tuesday between Libya and Nigeria postponed after the latter refused to play over travel chaos in the build-up.
Nigeria head the pool with seven points from three games, followed by Benin (six points from four games), Rwanda (five from four) and Libya (one from three).
Hosts Morocco, Cameroon and Algeria are the other teams already in the finals line-up.