The Ivory Coast’s successful World Cup qualification journey continued with a 2-0 victory over The Gambia. They were one of five countries to achieve success away from home in Monday’s group matches, making them the leaders of Group F on six points.
Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, and Madagascar also secured away wins. In the match against Liberia, Equatorial Guinea captain Emilio Nsue scored the only goal for his team. Kenya moved up to third place with three points after a 5-0 win over Seychelles. This was despite Seychelles being another country banned from using their home stadiums.
Michael Olunga scored twice in the first six minutes as Kenya went on the offensive against Seychelles, securing their victory with a score of 5-0. Swiss striker Mauro RodrÃguez secured Guinea-Bissau’s victory against Djibouti, while Madagascar beat Chad 3-0 in an away match.
Mali’s Kamori Doumbia scored to give them the lead at home to the Central African Republic, but this lead was short-lived before Geoffrey Kondogbia equalised for CAR. Only the group winners will advance to the 2026 finals in Canada, Mexico and the USA, while four best-placed runners-up will get a chance to qualify for two playoff tournaments.
On Tuesday, there will be further qualifiers taking place which includes Morocco who were semi-finalists at last year’s World Cup in Qatar. They will visit Tanzania in Dar es Salaam in Group E.
Overall, these qualifying matches have been intense and exciting so far with some impressive performances from different teams.