Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania have made it to the finals of the Cup of Nations

Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania won the last three spots in next year’s African Cup of Nations finals. The qualifying tournament came to an exciting end on Tuesday.

Egypt and Botswana played to a strange draw, which gave Botswana the point they needed to qualify for the first time. In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania beat Guinea 1-0 at home.

Mozambique had to avoid losing their Lusophone match away to Guinea Bissau in order to make it to the next round. To their surprise, they won 2-1 and are going to the event for the second year in a row.

After losing at home to Mali last week, Mozambique’s dreams were in danger. A home win for Guinea Bissau would give them a chance to pass them in the Group I standings.

But Bruno Langa scored after nine minutes to make things harder for Guinea Bissau. The home team tied the game with a goal from Everton’s Beto before halftime, but Stanley Ratifo gave Mozambique the lead again in the 52nd minute.

Then they held on to make it to the finals in Morocco in December of next year.

To get a point away in Cairo, Botswana didn’t have much of a chance in their last Group C game. That being said, Omaatla Kebatho put them ahead after just eight minutes by taking advantage of bad defense.

Egypt rested Mohamed Salah during this international break, and Mahmoud Trezeguet tied the game seven minutes later. Botswana had a tough job ahead of them to keep their point.

Egypt had 82% of the ball and 29 chances to win after that, but they couldn’t do it.

If Egypt had won, Mauritania would have made it because they beat the Cape Verde Islands 1-0 at home, but they came in a point behind Botswana and didn’t make it.

Guinea and Tanzania played in a straight shootout for second place in Group H. Guinea needed a draw and Tanzania needed to win.

The only goal of the game was scored by Simon Msuva of Tanzania in the 61st minute. This put his country into the finals for the fourth time.

Following the 13 qualifying games played on Tuesday, none of the other spots were at stake as 21 of the 24 final spots were already set.

Dorgeles Nene, who is 21 years old, scored a hat-trick as Mali beat Eswatini 6-0 in Bamako. Simon Adingra scored a goal for champions Ivory Coast as they beat Chad 4-0 in Abidjan to celebrate being named one of the five nominees for this year’s African Footballer of the Year award.

Still, they came in second place in Group G, behind Zambia, who beat Sierra Leone 2-0 on the road.

Ethiopia shocked everyone by beating the already-qualified Democratic Republic of the Congo 2-1 on the road in Kinshasa. Mohammednur Nasir scored the game-winning goal six minutes into extra time.