Asamoah Gyan scored twice as Ghana beat Mauritius 7-1 in the first round of African Cup of Nations qualifying on Sunday. Cameroon needed a last-minute winner from Vincent Aboubakar to edge Mauritania 1-0. Seven-time African champion Egypt beat Tanzania 3-0. Ghana, Cameroon and Egypt join Tunisia, Mali, Algeria and Senegal as some of the early group leaders.
Defending African champion Ivory Coast drew 0-0 with Gabon at home in a friendly. Gabon automatically qualified as the 2017 African Cup host but has been included in the qualifying competition as the fourth team in Group I. Its games don’t count toward the group standings.
Cameroon’s hard-fought victory over minnow Mauritania didn’t spare coach Volker Finke from some tough criticism from the home fans in Yaounde. Supporters chanted “Finke, go home!” as the Cameroonians again struggled under the German coach, having been knocked out in the group stages.
Egypt had to wait for an hour before breaking the deadlock against Tanzania. Rami Rabia headed Egypt in front in the 60th minute and Bassem Morsi and Fiorentina’s Mohamed Salah added two more goals in the next nine minutes, with Salah’s an exquisite lob to round off the victory.
Emmanuel Adebayor ended a tumultuous week by scoring in the 89th-minute to give Togo a 2-1 win at home against liberia. Also Sunday, Congo battled to beat Madagascar 2-1 and Republic of Congo and Kenya drew 1-1. Ethiopia lesotho 2-1. In Ivory Coast’s group, Sudan beat Sierra leone 1-0.