South
Africa sealed
their place at the 2015 African Nations Cup with a 2-1 win over Sudan in
Durban.
Goals
from Thulani Serero (38) and Tokelo Rantie (53) sealed the win and Bafana
Bafana held on despite Ibrahim Salah Mohamed Soliman's late consolation.
The
match took place in the hometown of the late Senzo Meyiwa, who was shot and killed
last month. South African players stripped off their team jerseys to show white
T-shirts with messages dedicated to Meyiwa.
"Well,
I just wish he was here with us," said new South Africa goalkeeper Darren
Keet, who replaced Meyiwa in the lineup. "That's what makes it the most
emotional. He's not here with us and everything is done."
South
Africa's players also wore black armbands and there was a moment's silence
before the game for Meyiwa. The Sudanese team even held up a picture of the
popular player before kickoff at Moses Mabhida Stadium in their own tribute.
As
Group A leaders, South Africa join already-qualified Algeria, Cape Verde and Tunisia,
alongside Equatorial Guinea, who took over as hosts from Morocco on Friday.
Also
in Group A, African champions Nigeria
gave themselves a fighting chance as they went level on points
with Congo after
a 2-0 win.
Ikechukwu
Uche opened the scoring and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama then saved a
penalty from Thievy Bifouma before Aaron Samuel sealed the win to
hand the Super Eagles a chance to qualify if they beat South Africa on
Wednesday.
In
Group D, unbeaten Cameroon
erased some of the memories of their horror show at the 2014
World Cup by sealing their progress to the final tournament with a 1-0
over Democratic
Republic of Congo thanks to Vincent Aboubakar's strike on
71 minutes.
Cameroon
have earned the top spot in the group, while Ivory Coast, who beat Sierra Leone
5-1 on Friday, are also in good position to advance.
Senegal
joined Tunisia as the teams to advance from Group G.
Stoke
City striker Mame Biram Diouf scored the only goal as Senegal held
off Egypt
1-0, meaning the 2010 champions will miss the finals entirely.
On
Friday, Tunisia
were held to a goalless draw away to Botswana
but still lead Senegal by a point at the top of the group.
Burkina
Faso and Gabon both advanced from Group C on Saturday.
Jonathan
Pitroipa scored three minutes into the match as Burkina Faso won 1-0 at Lesotho, while
the point Gabon
earned from a 0-0 draw at Angola
was enough to ensure they also reach the finals.
Zambia,
the 2012
champions, also secured their passage in Group F with a 1-0 victory over Mozambique.
Given Singuluma sent the Chipoloplo through.
Cape
Verde,
who had already qualified for the finals, defeated Niger 3-1 to
ensure the top spot in Group F.
Group
E remains up for grabs with all four teams still eligible to advance or miss
out on the finals.
Savio
Kabugo's early goal was enough for Uganda
to beat Ghana
1-0, while Guinea
won 4-1 at Togo.
Ghana
lead the group with eight points, while Uganda and Guinea -- who face each
other on Wednesday -- both have seven points, and Togo have six.
Malawi defeated Mali 2-0 on
goals from Robert Ng'ambi and Essau Kanyenda to go even on points with their
opponents in Group B. One of those teams will join Algeria, who
beat Ethiopia
3-1 on Saturday, in the finals after Wednesday's final round of qualifiers.
Source: http://www.espnfc.com
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