By Mark Gleeson
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast, Senegal and South Africa on Tuesday completed the list of group winners in African qualification and the lineup of nine automatic qualifiers for next year’s World Cup.
Ivory Coast beat Kenya 3-0 at home in Abidjan to finish one point ahead of Gabon in Group F, while Sadio Mane’s double put Senegal on course for a 4-0 win over Mauritania in Dakar and a two-point lead over runners-up Democratic Republic of Congo in Group B.
South Africa topped Group C, shrugging aside a three-point penalty but needing a helping hand from Nigeria to book their first World Cup appearance since hosting the 2010 finals.
Morocco and Tunisia qualified last month while Egypt and Algeria made sure of their progress with one round left to complete last week.
Ghana and Cape Verde booked their places with home wins on Sunday and Monday respectively.
The completion of the group phase of the qualifiers also settled the four best runners-up — Cameroon, DR Congo, Gabon and Nigeria — who will playoff next month to decide a single winner to go on to the inter-continental playoffs in March where the last two World Cup berths will be decided.
IVORY COAST SCORE EARLY
Captain Frank Kessie had the Ivorians ahead after seven minutes but they squandered a hatful of chances before teenager Yan Diomande added a second in the 54th minute.
Amad Diallo buried an 84th minute free-kick into the corner for the third goal amid a torrential downpour.
Gabon were a point behind going into Tuesday’s last fixtures and without suspended Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the home game against Burundi, which they won 2-0 with two late efforts.
Senegal took until first-half stoppage time before talisman Mane curled in a long-range free-kick to give them the lead and he added a second three minutes after the break.
Iliman Ndiaye dribbled his way through for a superb third in the 64th and Habib Diallo added the fourth near the end.
South Africa beat Rwanda 3-0 in Nelspruit to finish first in Group C as Benin, who had a two-point lead going into the final round, tumbled from top to third after being thumped 4-0 by Nigeria, for whom Victor Osimhen grabbed a hat-trick.
South Africa finished on 18 points, with Nigeria runners-up ahead of Benin on goal difference as both ended with 17 points.
South Africa had three points deducted last month after being found guilty of fielding a suspended player in an earlier qualifier in March, a mistake they admitted.
POINTS DEDUCTION LIKELY TO BE FORGOTTEN
But that will be largely forgotten now as Thalente Mbatha scored after five minutes, Oswin Appollis netted the second in the 26th minute and Evidence Makgopa made it 3-0 in the 72nd with a header from a corner.
For Nigeria, Osimhen opened his account in the third minute from a through pass by Samuel Chukwueze, who then crossed for the striker to head home a second in the 37th.
Osimhen completed his hat-trick soon after halftime, heading home a chipped pass from Moses Simon, but the best goal was the last — thrashed in on the volley by Frank Onyeka.
Morocco were the only side to finish the qualifiers with a 100% record, wrapping up their Group E campaign with a 1-0 home win over Congo for a record-setting 16th straight victory.
Algeria secured qualification last week and were hoping to celebrate in front of their fans in Tizi Ouzou on Tuesday but they made heavy weather of it and needed two late penalties from Mohammed Amoura to beat Uganda 2-1.
Amoura went top of the scoring charts in the African qualifiers with 10 goals as Algeria finished their Group G campaign with 25 points.
They handed a debut in goal to Luca Zidane, the son of France World Cup-winner Zinedine Zidane, but he was beaten after six minutes as Steven Mukwala gave Uganda a shock lead.
(Reporting by MarkGleeson; Editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)
