CAN 2025 (Q): Ivory Coast and Senegal ensure, Tunisia disappoints

Qualifications for the next African Cup of Nations continued this Friday evening, with several matches on the third day.

Ivory Coast, defending champion, hosted Sierra Leone for a match that looked rather affordable. However, the Elephants had to fight to win. Nicolas Pépé quickly opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, but Franck Kessié missed the opportunity to increase the score by missing a penalty in the 37th minute.

The Sierra Leoneans took the opportunity to equalize just before half-time thanks to Alhassan Koroma. Returning from the locker room, Kessié gave the Ivorians the lead again in the 51st minute before converting a second penalty in the 76th. Finally, Oumar Diakité concluded the match by scoring in the 87th minute, giving Côte d’Ivoire a 4-1 victory and a third success in this group G.

For its part, Senegal, for its first match after Aliou Cissé, largely dominated Malawi. Pape Gueye, served by Iliman Ndiaye, opened the scoring in the first half, before the Lions of Teranga unfolded in the second half with three goals scored between the 69th and 78th minutes by Sadio Mané, Boulaye Dia and Nicolas Jackson. Thanks to this 4-0 success, Senegal joins Burkina Faso at the top of group L with 7 points.

The surprise of the evening came from Tunis, where Tunisia lost at home against the Comoros. Despite their domination, the Carthage Eagles were surprised by a goal from Rafiki Said in the 63rd minute. This result allows the Comoros to come back to within one point of Tunisia in group A.

At the same time, Mali took first place in their group by beating Guinea-Bissau 1-0, thanks to a goal from El-Bilal Touré. Angola beat Niger 2-0 thanks to a penalty from Mabululu and a late goal from Milson. Finally, the match between Gabon and Lesotho ended in a 0-0 draw.