Kenya and Tanzania were eliminated from the qualifying competition for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, but it was not all gloom for East African sides on Sunday, after Uganda won in Mauritania to reach the tournament’s mini-league phase, which kicks off next month.
Despite dominating the third-round game, the Harambee Stars could only manage a 0-0 draw with Lesotho in Nairobi and fell 1-0 on aggregate.
The Crocodiles were given little chance of survival at Nyayo Stadium, having lost 11 consecutive Cup of Nations eliminators since defeating Zimbabwe in a 2002 qualifier.
However, even the presence of foreign-based stars like midfielder Victor Wanyama from English Premier League club Southampton could not lift the home side to victory.
Lesotho, who won the first leg 1-0 in Maseru, advance to the September-November mini-league phase where they will play Burkina Faso, Angola and Gabon.
Also on Sunday, star midfielder Elias “Domingues” Pelembe scored eight minutes from time to earn Mozambique a 2-1 triumph over Tanzania at Estadio Zimpeto in Maputo.
The Mambas won 4-3 on aggregate after having snatched a late 2-2 draw in Dar es Salaam two weeks ago.
Tanzania, who have never defeated Mozambique in five previous Cup of Nations qualifiers, fell behind in first-half stoppage-time when Josemar Machaisse scored.
Mbwana Samata, who plays for crack Democratic Republic of the Congo outfit TP Mazembe, leveled 13 minutes from time, but the Taifa Stars, who needed to score again to go through to the next round on away-goals, had their hopes of a historic victory dashed by the South Africa-based Domingues.
Tanzania are coached by Dutchman Mart Nooij, who was in charge of Mozambique from 2007 for four years.
Mozambique progress to Group F, where they are to face off against 2012 African champions Zambia, as well as Cape Verde and Niger.
Uganda followed up a two-goal home victory over Mauritania with a 1-0 win at the Stade Olympique in Nouakchott. The match turned into a tale of two substitutes, Mauritanian Karamogho.
Moussa Traore and Ugandan Robert Ssentongo.
Traore was introduced after 73 minutes with his team desperately seeking to break down the The Cranes defense only to be red carded just six minutes later.
Ssentongo came off the bench four minutes from time in place of Luwagga Kizito and snatched the only goal two minutes into stoppage-time.
Uganda, who needed the away-goal rule to squeeze past Madagascar in the previous round, go into Group E with Ghana, Togo and Guinea.
Botswana, Malawi and Rwanda each secured group places on Saturday, while Sierra Leone received a walkover two days earlier when the Seychelles withdrew from the tournament.
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