Ivory Coast, Egypt and Morocco record opening wins in Afcon qualifiers
Ivory Coast started their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a 3-1 home win over Zambia on Friday.
The Ivorians took the lead in the 29th minute through Nicolas Pepe, but Zambia leveled matters just before the break through Fashion Sakala.
However, Ivory Coast restored their lead in the 65th minute through Wilfried Zaha, and Sebastien Haller sealed the win with a third goal in the 90th minute.
Egypt also got their qualifying campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 away win over Guinea.
The Pharaohs scored the only goal of the game in the 55th minute through Mohamed Salah.
Salah's goal was his 47th for Egypt, and it moved him level with Hossam Hassan as the country's all-time leading scorer.
Morocco completed the hat-trick of opening wins for North African teams with a 2-0 home win over South Africa.
The Moroccans took the lead in the 8th minute through Youssef En-Nesyri, and Hakim Ziyech doubled the lead in the 54th minute.
The win was Morocco's first in a competitive match since Vahid Halilhodzic took over as coach in August.
The other results from Friday's Afcon qualifiers were:
- Nigeria 1-0 Sierra Leone
- Senegal 1-0 Benin
- Mali 1-0 Congo
- Ghana 1-0 Madagascar
- Cameroon 1-0 Rwanda
- Tunisia 2-0 Equatorial Guinea
- Algeria 2-0 Djibouti
Komentar