By Mark Gleeson
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Benin, the Cape Verde Islands, Gabon and Mozambique made up a quartet of unfancied sides who took over at the top of their World Cup qualifying groups on Thursday as the African preliminaries for the 2026 finals neared the halfway mark.
Cape Verde lead Group D after Yannick Semedo’s late goal gave them a 1-0 home win over Mauritius, with 10 points to Cameroon’s nine.
Two goalkeeping errors from Ismail Watenga plus the first- half sending off of Denis Omedi enabled Mozambique to post a comfortable a 3-1 win over Uganda in Cairo and take top place in Group G.
Mozambique, with four victories from five matches, have a three-point advantage over group favourites Algeria, who play Botswana away on Friday.
Benin let slip a two-goal lead against Zimbabwe but moved top of Group C, with nearest challengers Rwanda and South Africa both playing on Friday.
Steve Mounie and Francisco Doku put Benin ahead after 35 minutes but Marshall Munetsi pulled one back on the break.
Veteran striker Knowledge Musona equalised in the 59th minute in Durban, South Africa, where Zimbabwe hosted the match because their own stadiums were not up to the required standards.
The 34-year-old Musona might have sealed a dramatic comeback triumph but his late sliding effort was blocked by Benin goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou.
There was a last-gasp equaliser from new cap William Wilson as Kenya drew 3-3 away against the Gambia in Abidjan.
Australia-born Wilson, 23, slammed home the last kick of the match as the Kenyans twice came from behind to share the points in Group F in new coach Benni McCarthy’s first game in charge.
Gabon lead the group, however, after a double from Denis Bouanga inspired them to an easy 3-0 home win over lowly-ranked Seychelles,
Namibia were 1-0 away winners over Malawi in Group H with Prins Tjiuezu’s first-half goal ensuring they kept up the pressure on leaders Tunisia, who won away in Liberia on Wednesday. Tunisia are two points ahead of second-placed Namibia in the standings.
Sierra Leone marked their first win of the qualifiers in new coach Mohamed Kallon’s debut as they beat Guinea Bissau 3-1 in Monrovia in neighbouring Liberia.
Sierra Leone joined Guinea Bissau on five points, both well behind Group A leaders Egypt on 10.
There will be 11 more qualifiers across Africa on Friday in the continent’s campaign to determine a minimum of nine representatives at next year’s finals in North America.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)
