Africa Cup of Nations 2013 qualifying: Results and fixtures

Ghana, Mali, Zambia, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco are through to the finals of the Africa cup of Nation 2013 to be held in South Africa. Ivory Coast will have to wait CAF decision after fan riots halted their game against Senegal played in Senegal.

Saturday results (aggregate scores in brackets)
• Botswana 0-4 Mali (agg: 0-7 , Mali go through)
• Malawi 0-1 Ghana (agg: 0-3, Ghana go through)
• Nigeria 6-1 Liberia (agg: 8-3, Nigeria go through)
• Uganda 1-0 Zambia (agg: 1-1, Zambia go through after 9-8 win in the
penalty shoot-out)
• Tunisia 0-0 Sierra Leone (agg: 2-2, Tunisia go though on away goals)
• Senegal 0-2 Ivory Coast (agg: 2-6, play is suspended after crowd
trouble)
• Morocco 4-0 Mozambique (agg: 4-2, Morocco go through)

Ghana became the first team to qualify for the finals, progressing comfortably with a 1-0 victory in Lilongwe giving them a 3-0 win on aggregate.

Afriyie Acquah fired home the winner for the Black Stars after just three minutes, from a corner.

Mali also booked their place in the finals, with a convincing 4-1 away win over Botswana giving them a resounding 7-1 aggregate victory.

Goals from Cheikh Tidiane Diabate, Modibo Maiga, Mahamadou Samassa and Abdou Traore secured an eight continental finals appearance for the Eagles.

Reigning African champions Zambia struggles

But Reigning African champions Zambia scraped through to South Africa after a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

Uganda were left heartbroken after dominating the game but failing to complete the task when Patrick Ochan missed the decisive spot-kick in sudden death.

Sunday fixtures
? Burkina Faso v Central African Republic (agg: 0-1)
? Togo v Gabon (agg: 1-1)
? Angola v Zimbabwe (agg: 1-3)
? Niger v Guinea (agg: 0-1)
? Algeria v Libya (agg: 1-0)
? Equatorial Guinea v Congo DR (agg: 0-4)
? Cameroon v Cape Verde (agg: 0-2)
? Ethiopia v Sudan (agg: 3-5)

Geoffrey Massa scored for Uganda on 27 minutes to level the aggregate score and the Cranes dictated the play with Tony Mawejje, Hassan Wasswa and Joseph Kizito all in impressive form.

But Uganda could not find a way through for a winner as Zambia keeper Kennedy Mweene produced a series of saves to keep his side in the tie.

The match went straight to penalties after 90 minutes and the omens looked good for Uganda when Zambia captain Chris Katongo missed the first kick.

But Uganda missed their second effort and penalties went into sudden death. And it was the unfortuante Ochan who missed his kick, ending Uganda’s hopes of reaching the finals for the first time since 1978.

Nigeria 6-1 Liberia

Nigeria who missed the last finals of the Cup of Nations and were held by Liberia in the opening leg. But they made light work of brushing aside the Lone Stars to qualify for next years final in South Africa.

Efe Ambrose struck in the first minute to set the Super Eagles on their way and Ahmed Musa doubled his side’s lead before the break after latching on to Emmanuel Emenike’s pass.

Three of the goals came from players at English Premier Leaguse side Chelsea, with Victor Moses scoring twice and Jon Obi Mikel also on the scoresheet after he struck from the penalty spot.

Ike Uche also found the scoresheet for Stephen Keshi’s team, while Patrick Wleh scored a consolation for the away side, who had captain Gebro Duncan sent off.

In Tunisia, a goalless draw in Monastir was enough to see Tunisia secure their qualification on the away goals rule.

In the final play-off tie to finish on Saturday Morocco completed a stunning comeback to seal their place in next year’s finals.

There did not appear to be any clear sign of a stunning comeback as Mozambique frustrated their opponents through the opening phase. But Abdelaziz Barrada, Houssine Kharja, Youssef Al Arabi and Nordin Amrabat were all on target to complete a stunning comeback.

Fan riot halts Senegal-Ivory Coast match

The match between Senegal and Ivory Coast has been abandoned after fans rioted at a stadium in Dakar.

Home fans started fires in the stands and threw objects on the pitch as Senegal were losing 2-0, a result which would have eliminated the team.

Ivory coast had won the first leg 4-2 and were on course to qualify. Senegal will likely face sanctions for the crowd riots.