Ivory Coast enjoy goal feast but Cameroon labour to victory
Ivory Coast enjoyed a goal rout at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign but fellow African heavyweights Cameroon, Ghana and Tunisia made heavy work of home games against lowly opposition on Friday.
The Ivorians, who will host January’s Africa Cup of Nations, won 9-0 at home to the Seychelles in their Group F opener in a bright start to their bid for a place at the 2026 finals when the World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US
Teenage striker Karim Konate and substitute Hamed Traore both scored twice in a game that might have seen a bigger victory had it not been for some fine saves by Carlos Simoen.
GoaL! | Ivory Coast 9-0 Seychelles | Karim Konatépic.twitter.com/KdeTvvUbZ6 — FootColic ⚽️ (@FootColic) November 17, 2023
Tunisia captain Youssef Msakni was among the scorers as they won 4-0 at home to 186th ranked Sao Tome e Principe in Group H.
Cameroon, who have been to more World Cups than any other African nation, had to battle for a 3-0 win against Mauritius, 134 places below them in the Fifa rankings.
Bryan Mbuemo’s close-range finish on the stroke of halftime opened the scoring and the Indomitable Lions added two more late goals in their Group D game in Douala.
There was an even more laboured home win for Ghana, who finally broke the deadlock six minutes into stoppage time at home to Madagascar in Group I as former Spain international Inaki Williams scored his first goal for the Black Stars.
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