Morocco and Sudan seal final places
Reuters - Sunday 09 October 2011, 22:37
Morocco and Sudan were
confirmed on Sunday as the last two qualifiers for next year's
African Nations Cup finals as the 16-team field for the
tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon was completed.
Morocco made sure of top place in Group D with a 3-1 win
over Tanzania in Marrakesh while Sudan qualified without kicking
a ball.
They had been beaten 2-0 at home by Ghana on Saturday but
had to wait until the completion of Sunday's matches before
being confirmed as one of the two best runners-up who qualify
along with the 12 group winners.
Libya picked up the other runners-up berth on a dramatic
Saturday when all but two places were finalised.
Morocco took a 21st-minute lead through Arsenal striker
Marouane Chamakh before Adel Taarabt, who had been restored to
the side after walking out on the team in mid-year, and Mbark
Boussoufa scored in the second half to take the North Africans
to 11 points.
They finished three points ahead of 2010 World Cup finalists
Algeria and the Central African Republic.
Algeria beat the Central African Republic 2-0 in Algiers
with first-half goals from Hassan Yebda and Foued Kadir but are
among several heavyweights who miss out on next year's finals.
Manchester City's Toure brothers, Kolo and Yaya, scored the
goals as the Ivory Coast finished with the only 100 percent
record in the Nations Cup qualifiers.
Yaya Toure's stoppage-time goal gave the Ivorians a modest
2-1 win over Burundi in Abidjan on Sunday to ensure six wins out
of six in their group.
The Ivorians had already made sure of their qualification
berth by the halfway mark of the campaign.
Kolo Toure opened the scoring in the 77th minute but Burundi
equalised through Dugary Ndabashinze with five minutes left only
to have a credible result snatched from them on the stroke of
full-time.
In the same group, Rwanda won their first game of the
campaign with a surprise 1-0 away triumph in Benin. Meddy Kagere
scored after just seven minutes.
In Sunday's other match, qualified Senegal beat Mauritius
2-0 away with goals from Dame Ndoye and Papiss Demba Cisse.
The list of 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers are Angola,
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali,
Morocco, Libya, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia.
They and the co-hosts make up the field of 16 for the
tournament from January 21 to February 12.