4 teams qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco

Algeria did not delay in securing its qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals, achieving its fourth consecutive victory, and came at the expense of its host Togo 1-0 in Lomé, Monday, in the fourth round of Group Five competitions, to join Burkina Faso, Cameroon and host Morocco, which is participating in the qualifiers to remain competitive.

At the Kegi Stadium, the Swiss coach of the "Greens" team, Vladimir Petkovic, decided to rest a number of his stars, especially the veteran Riyad Mahrez and the French Lyon striker, Said Benrahma, giving the opportunity in the attacking line to the trio Yassine Benzia, Amine Gouiri and Mohamed Amoura.

The guests pressed from the beginning, and before a third of an hour had passed, they opened the scoring through a penalty kick awarded by the referee after Gouiri was obstructed by Maouna Amifor. Midfielder Rami Bensebaini took the penalty and shot it deceptively into the Togolese net (18).

The home team tried to remedy the situation as they stood up to the Algerians and threatened goalkeeper Alexis Guendouz's goal several times, but he excelled in keeping his net clean by stopping nine Togolese shots towards his goal, most notably from Belgian Cercle Brugge striker Ahweke Denke and Swiss Lucerne player Thibaut Kledji.

The Algerian team raised its score to 12 full points at the top, 5 points ahead of second-placed Equatorial Guinea, which defeated Liberia in the dying moments by defeating it 2-1 in Monrovia. Luis Asuy (20) and Dorian Hansa (90+4) scored for the winner, and William Gibson (53) scored for the loser.
As a result of the loss to Algeria, Togo's points froze at two in third place, compared to one point for Liberia in last place.

Cameroon qualified
Cameroon booked their place in the finals after beating hosts Kenya 1-0 in Kampala in Group D.

The Indomitable Lions owe their victory to DC United player Boris Eno-Takang, who entered the second half and scored the only goal of the match (63).

In the same group, Zimbabwe came close to the finals after beating their guest Namibia 3-1 in Johannesburg. Walter Musona (50 and 61) and Prince Dube (89) scored for the winners, while Godwin Essip (90) scored for the losers.

Cameroon, who won the continental title five times, the last of which was in 2017, raised its score to 10 points at the top, two points ahead of Zimbabwe, Kenya is third with four points, and Namibia is last with no points.

By also beating Kenya 4-1 in the first leg in the previous round, Cameroon have the advantage of two direct confrontations with their rivals, which means that even if they lose their last two matches, Kenya will not be able to deny them qualification if they win their matches in turn.

(AFP)