- Morocco made it two wins out of two
- African champions Cameroon suffered a surprise home defeat to Guinea
- Though eliminated from Russia 2018 qualifying, Mauritania shone with Congo win
Monday 27 March
Mauritania 2-1 Congo
Côte d’Ivoire 1-1 Senegal
Tuesday 28 March
Egypt 3-0 Togo
South Africa 0-0 Angola
Luxembourg 0-2 Cape Verde Islands
Cameroon 1-2 Guinea
Morocco 1-0 Tunisia
The big match
Morocco 1-0 Tunisia
Buoyed by their quarter-final finish at the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations and Friday's 2-0 victory against Burkina Faso, Morocco grabbed another impressive win in Marrakech on Tuesday. Herve Renard's in-form charges made a determined start and opened the scoring with just 14 minutes gone, the unfortunate Hamza Younes heading into his own net from a Faycal Fajr free-kick. The Atlas Lions threatened several times to double their lead but were denied by goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha, whose saves were not enough to spare Tunisia a second consecutive defeat following their home loss to Cameroon on Friday.
Elsewhere
The African champions were unable to build on that Tunisia win as they slipped to a 2-1 reverse at the hands of Guinea in Brussels. Aboubacar Demba Camara put the Syli National in front with 21 minutes gone and Francois Kamano restored their lead in first-half added time, after Toko Ekambi had equalised just beyond the half-hour mark.
As for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations runners-up Egypt, they made light work of Togo in a 3-0 success. The Sparrowhawks held out until the interval but had no response after the restart as Mahmoud Kahraba, Ahmed El Sheikh and Mohamed El Neny all found the net. In Durban, meanwhile, South Africa and Angola played out a 0-0 draw in front of a bumper crowd at Buffalo City Stadium. Making nine changes to the side that beat Guinea-Bissau 3-1 on Saturday, the hosts were unable to find a way through.
Goals were no problem for Cape Verde Islands as they recorded a 2-0 victory a long way from home in Luxembourg. Admilson Barros and Julio Tavares made the difference with a pair of strikes before half-time. On Monday, finally, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal recorded a 1-1 draw in Paris, while Mauritania overcame Congo 2-1 in Nouakchott to post their second straight win this month.
The player
Having broken the deadlock against Gabon last week, François Kamano caught the eye again with his decisive effort for Guinea against Cameroon. The 20-year-old winger volleyed in all full pace to celebrate his third goal in 15 international appearances, adding to a string of excellent performances for Bordeaux this season.
The stat
17 – South Africa's goalless stalemate against Angola took their record unbeaten run to 17 games, a sequence which began on 24 October 2015 against the same opponents. Bafana Bafana have now lost just once against Angola in 13 meetings.
Did you know?
Sebastien Migne faced his first match in charge of Congo after serving as Claude Le Roy's assistant. The Frenchman's reign kicked off with a loss to Mauritania, who have already been knocked out of 2018 World Cup qualifying. Migne's own side lie bottom in Group E after two defeats in two games.
What they said
"Not everything was perfect. We created a lot of chances but only scored one goal, and it wasn't even us who scored because it was an own goal. We still have to improve our finishing, but our attitude and collective pressing were good,"
Morocco coach Herve Renard
By FIFA.com