Ivory Coast maintained their unbeaten start to the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying matches with a 2-0 win away over The Gambia.
On Monday, Mali was defeated at home by Central African Republic.
Equatorial Guinea won its second group match, while Guinea-Bissau claimed their first win in the competition.
Ivory Coast is on track
Christian Kouame gave the Elephants the lead on the stroke at halftime. He steered in from the center of the box, after Oumar Diakite’s shot was saved by Gambia goalkeeper Modou Jobs.
Simon Adingra, a Brighton winger, had cleared a Kouame volley off the line after the midfielder’s powerful strike.
Seko fofana secured the victory in a game played in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with a powerful long-range shot in the 85th minutes.
West Africans are now ahead of Gabon in Group F based on goal differential, after beating Seychelles by a score of 9-0 on their opening day on Friday.
Kenya have moved up to third place in their group after beating Seychelles 5-0 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Michael Olunga netted two goals in the opening six minutes, with Masoud Jma scoring on the stroke at halftime.
Kenyans Rooney Onyango, Benson Omala and Emmanuel Ngai scored in the second-half to put their campaign on track following their first defeat by Gabon.
Mali is a home-team in Group I
On Monday night, there were two Group I matches. Mali, the group’s leader, was held to a draw of 1-1 in Bamako with Central African Republic.
After 76 minutes, Kamory Dombia gave the Malians the lead. Three minutes later CAR levelled through Geoffrey Kondogbia.
After losing to Ghana in their opener, Madagascar got their first point with a Njiva Rakotoharimalala hat-trick and late Loic Lapoussin goal.
Comoros hosts Ghana, which also has three points.
Emilio Nsue, a former Middlesbrough player and Birmingham City City’s striker Emilio Nsue scored a header in the ninth minute to help Equatorial Guian win 1-0 in their away match against Liberia.
In Monrovia, the hosts were unable to recover from Nohan Kenneh’s dismissal in injury time in the first half for his second bookable offense.
Tunisia, which plays Malawi on Tuesday, is three points behind the National Thunder in Group H.
Guinea-Bissau won a 1-0 victory away from home against Djibouti, in Cairo, Egypt. This was despite the fact that Houboulang Medes, the defender, had been dismissed eight minutes before.
Mauro Rodriguez scored the lone goal in the last six minutes of the half after pouncing a bad clearance within the penalty area. The West Africans now have four points, just two behind Egypt, the group leader.
Africa will have nine guaranteed qualifiers to the finals of 2026 in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. All group winners are assured a place at the event.
