Egypt was held to a 1-1 draw by visitors Kenya while Comoros stunned hosts Togo 1-0 in Group G of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Elsewhere on Thursday Mozambique scored twice in as many minutes to beat Rwanda 2-0 in a game interrupted by floodlight failure.
A sparse crowd watched Egypt’s stalemate with Kenya at the Borg El Arabia near Alexandria with fans preferring not to make the long trek to the watch the Pharaohs.
Both goals were the results of errors first Kenya gifted Egypt, who were without the injured Mohamed Salah, the opening goal with a poor back pass from Eric Ouma three minutes before half-time.
His weak effort saw substitute keeper Ian Otieno rush out of the area but he was beaten to the loose ball by Mahmoud ‘Kahraba’ Abdel-Moneim who then was able to pass into an empty net.
Kenya’s equalizer came in the 67th minute as goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy and defender Ahmed Fathi seemed to get in each other’s way trying to clear a ball that fell to Japan-based Michael Olunga to fire home.
In the 81st minute, Otieno let a shot slip under him but fortunately one of his defenders cleared the ball off the line, the resulting shot by Egypt was blocked by another defender before a third effort was deflected out for a corner.
There was a shock in the other Group G match in Lome as Claude Le Roy’s Togo succumbed to Comoros.
Comoros took the lead six minutes after half-time as Belgium-based Faiz Selemanie scored the only goal of the match that puts his side top of the group after just one match.
Mozambique’sGroup F win over Rwanda was played in damp conditions in Maputo.
The hosts took the lead when Mozambique after 27 minutes were awarded a penalty for handball and Telinho stepped up to convert as he squeezed his effort between the post and the goalkeeper’s despairing dive.
The second goal came just two minutes later after some good work down the left-wing and a cross that evaded the Rwandan defenders and allowed Edson Mexer to guide the ball home from close range.
A floodlight failure towards the end of the match only delayed the inevitable win for Mozambique.
The top two sides in 11 of the 12 groups will all advance to the 2021 finals in Cameroon.
Cameroon qualifies for the finals as hosts but is taking part in the qualifying campaign to gain competitive match practise which means just one team from Group F will progress to the finals.
2021 Africa Cup of Nations results
Thursday:
Mali v Guinea (Group A)
Ghana v South Africa (Group C)
DR Congo v Gabon (Group D)
Mozambique 2-0 Rwanda (Group F)
Egypt 1-1 Kenya (Group G)
Togo 0-1 Comoros (Group G)
Algeria v Zambia (Group H)
Wednesday:
Namibia 2-1 Chad (Group A)
Malawi 1-0 South Sudan (Group B)
Burkina Faso 0-0 Uganda (Group B)
Sudan 4-0 Sao Tome and Principe (Group C)
Angola 1-3 The Gambia (Group D)
CAR 2-0 Burundi (Group E)
Cameroon 0-0 Cape Verde (Group F)
Guinea Bissau 3-0 Eswatini (Group I)
Senegal 2-0 Congo (Group I)
Nigeria 2-1 Benin (Group L)
Sierra Leone 1-1 Lesotho (Group L)
