Matchday 4 of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers began this week, featuring all 48 teams vying for a position in next year’s championship.
There will be a total of 6 matches played by each team in the qualifiers, two against each other team in their Group. Only the top 2 teams from each of the 12 groups will advance, with the exception of Group A, where only one team will join already-qualified hosts Morocco.
So far many of the expected pre-qualifier favourites have managed strong showings, including Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast and DR Congo, who have won all their games. Arguably the biggest surprise so far has been Ghana, after failing to win a match in the first half of the qualifier. They were defeated at home by Angola, followed by losses to Niger and Sudan in away games.
With everything left to play for, let’s take a look at some of the latest results and highlights from the qualifier.
Cameroon Defeats Kenya 1-0 To Tighten Grip On Group J
Cameroon was able to come away with a 1-0 victory over Kenya at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium on Monday. The win keeps them at the top of Group J with 10 points and leaves Kenya in third place behind Zimbabwe with only 4 points.
The game-winning goal came in the 63rd minute when Boris Enow smashed a low free-kick from the edge of the box. The ball beat the Kenyan defense and slotted into the bottom right corner to break the deadlock.
Kenya tried hard to equalize but couldn’t get the breakthrough they were looking for. Their best chance came in the 54th minute when Michael Olunga’s left-footed shot narrowly missed the target. Alphonce Omija also had a great opportunity deep into stoppage time but missed a header wide.
With this win, Cameroon is extremely likely to qualify as one of the top two teams from Group J, while Kenya will have an uphill battle. With only 4 points in 4 games, they will need to chase down Zimbabwe who are currently on 8 points with two remaining matches. If they are to have any chance, they will need to win on November 11th when they meet Zimbabwe at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Alegria Beat Togo To Book AFCON Spot
Algeria extended their Group E lead with a 1-0 victory over Togo in a Group E clash yesterday to get their fourth win in four matches. They are now on 12 points and have successfully qualified for the AFCON 2025 tournament next year.
With the loss Togo seems unlikely to make it through, sitting on just 2 points through four matches which include two draws and two losses. Equatorial Guinea has the second palace slot in the Group with 2 wins and a draw and a loss for 7 points.
Algeria’s Ramy Bensebaini scored the only goal of the game via a penalty kick to give his team the win. It was only a few days ago that Togo lost 5-1 in Algeria, which should give Togo some hope moving forward.
Unfortunately for Togo, Equatorial Guinea beat Liberia 2-1 to extend their grip over 2nd place on Monday. Togo will face Liberia next and will need a victory to have any hopes of advancing. They will also require Algeria to beat Equatorial Guinea.
For Togo, this would be the fourth tournament in a row that they have failed to qualify for the next stage. Since losing key players such as Emmanuel Adebayor, the team has not looked the same when entering large tournaments. Their best AFCON result came in South Africa in 2013 when they made it to the quarter-finals.
AFCON 2025 Qualifier Matchday 4 Results
So far there have been seven games played in Matchday 4 of the AFCON qualifier. See below for a list of the scores:
Burundi | 0 |
Burkina Faso | 2 |
Kenya | 0 |
Cameroon | 1 |
Gambia | 1 |
Madagascar | 0 |
Liberia | 1 |
Equatorial Guinea | 2 |
Zimbabwe | 3 |
Namibia | 1 |
Algeria | 1 |
Togo | 0 |
Eswatini | 0 |
Mozambique | 3 |