Morocco, Guinea and Congo all won their first-leg games in FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifying on Thursday, while there were upsets as Uganda won in Togo and Benin beat Burkina Faso.
Africa’s biggest teams are entering the competition in the second round, where 40 teams are vying for a place in a final group stage.
Africa’s five qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup finals in Russia in 2018 will emerge from that group stage.
Photo: AFP
Morocco beat Equatorial Guinea 2-0 at home in Agadir, despite losing defender Adil Karrouchi to a red card early in the second half.
Youssef El Arabi hit the opener from close range in the first half and Yacine Bammou scored in the 66th minute after Karrouchi’s straight red card.
Morocco head to Bata for tomorrow’s second leg.
Guinea won 1-0 in Namibia with forward Naby Keita’s 27th-minute goal.
Guinea also survived with 10 men for the final 40 minutes after Bamba Fousseni was sent off following a second yellow card.
They are strong favorites to progress with their home leg to come.
Uganda took some revenge after losing twice to Togo in qualifying for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, winning 1-0 away in Lome on Thursday.
Farouk Miya scored in the 39th-minute with a curling shot. Togo’s Mathieu Dossevi had a penalty saved in the second half.
Emmanuel Adebayor did not play for Togo after being dropped by coach Tom Saintfiet for failing to turn up for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in September.
There were calls from fans for the striker and goalkeeper Agassa Kossi to be selected for the return leg in Kampala.
Benin won 2-1 in a big upset over 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finalist Burkina Faso, with a winner six minutes from the end by Babatounde Bello.
Congo’s Ndombe Mubele scored twice in the final five minutes after coming on as a substitute to steal a 3-2 win over Burundi.
Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie had put Congo ahead in the fifth minute. Burundi surged back and Cedric Amissi’s double put the home team in front 2-1 with seven minutes to go.
Mubele turned the game again when he equalized in the 86th minute with a smooth finish from just inside the penalty area. His winner came two minutes later.
The tie went ahead at the Prince Louis Rwagasore Stadium in Bujumbura, despite a spate of recent killings in the capital that witnesses say are part of a government crackdown on supporters of the opposition. There was an attempted coup in Burundi in May.
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