Six African teams made their grand entrance in the first round of CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on Thursday.
While the logic of the FIFA World Ranking was respected in the first two fixtures of the day, Somalia (currently the lowest-placed African team at the 202nd spot) pulled off a significant upset by clinching a last-gasp 1-0 success against Zimbabwe (112th), courtesy of a goal by Anwar Sidali Shakunda.
The result was the Ocean Stars’ first win in a World Cup qualifying campaign.
🇸🇴 Somalia fans, we’ve got the highlights from your first ever #WorldCup qualifying win.
🍿 Grab your popcorn & enjoy pic.twitter.com/huS7WiK62G
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) September 5, 2019
Prior to that excitement, the day had kicked off with a first-ever World Cup encounter between Seychelles and Rwanda. The Rwandans’ resounding 3-0 away victory brought an undesirable eight-match winless streak in qualifiers to an end.
Ahead of Tuesday’s return leg in Kigali, the challenge facing The Pirates, who have yet to record a qualifying win in 14 attempts (12 losses, two draws), appears daunting.
Sudan, meanwhile, lived up to their status of pre-match favourites against Chad – they had won four of the six previous matches between the countries – by disposing of their western neighbours 3-1 away from home, Ramadan Agab’s impressive hat-trick doing the damage.
Culled from FIFA
