Wayne Lumbasi
The qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations are off the mark with three matches played across the continent on Wednesday.
The Black Stars of Ghana got the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign to a good start with a convincing win over Madagascar on Wednesday, June 1.
Felix Afena-Gyan and Osman Bukari scored their debut goals for the Black Stars with Mohammed Kudus also on the scoresheet as Ghana recorded a 3-0 at the Cape Coast Stadium.
In the Group E match, Angola survived a scare from the Central African Republic to keep pace with Ghana at the top of the log. Angola needed a late surge to see off a spirited Central African Republic team that was just 19 minutes away from glory in Luanda.
For 70 minutes, the host Angola found the Central African Republic a hard nut to crack. However, their dominance on the day was finally rewarded when M’Bala Nzola equalized for Angola, eight minutes after he replaced Yano. The comeback was completed when the second goal arrived four minutes later courtesy of Gelson to put Angola ahead for the first time in the game.
Libya opened their 2023 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign on Wednesday by pipping Botswana 1-0 in the opening Group J match on Wednesday. The Mediterranean Knights held on to their advantage to ensure they began the qualification campaign on a bright note even though Botswana created some anxious moments for the home side.
With this win, Libya tops the group temporarily with three points, ahead of the match between Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea, which will be played on Thursday. The Libyan national team will face Equatorial Guinea away on June 6 for the second round of AFCON 2023 qualifiers.
São Tomé and Príncipe national team has been reinstated into qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations after previously being disqualified.
The team was forced to forfeit their first leg in the preliminary round of qualifying against Mauritius because star forward Luís Leal, scorer of the only goal in a 1-0 São Tomé victory, was judged to have had an invalid Covid-19 test when Mauritius appealed to CAF that the date of his test results were more than 72 hours before the first leg.
The second leg ended in a 3-3 draw to give São Tomé an initial 4-3 victory on aggregate.
