Without Mohamed Salah, who was rested, Egypt defeated Ethiopia (1-0) on Friday night in the CAN 2023 qualifiers. In Bamako, Mali enjoyed a comfortable victory over South Sudan (4-0).
The sixth and final round of the CAN 2023 qualifiers began last Wednesday and continued on Friday with three matches on the schedule. Although these matches had no stakes, they served as a test for the upcoming qualifying stages of the 2026 World Cup.
In Bamako, Mali hosted South Sudan at the 26 March Stadium. It turned out to be a show of force from the Eagles, who won with a scoreline of 4-0. Being too strong for an offensively limited South Sudan team, the Malians wasted no time in making their mark.
Striker Ibrahima Koné, from UD Almeria, opened the scoring after ten minutes of play. And at the half-hour mark, midfielder Kamory Doumbia from Stade Brestois doubled the lead.
In the second half, at the 57th minute, Doumbia scored his second goal of the evening to make it 3-0. As if this wasn’t enough to overwhelm South Sudan, Nene Dorgeles added a fourth goal for his side. With this victory, Mali finishes first in Group G with 15 points, far ahead of their opponents of the evening, who finished last in the standings with 3 points.
In the other matches of the day, Egypt secured a narrow victory over Ethiopia (1-0) in their final game of Group D. The only goal of the match was scored by Mostafa Fathi, the forward from FC Pyramids, in the 37th minute.
On the other hand, Burkina Faso, with a reshuffled lineup due to the absence of Bertrand Traoré and Yago, and with Edmond Tapsoba and Blati Touré remaining on the bench, failed to break the deadlock against the modest team from Eswatini (0-0). Nevertheless, it has no consequences for the Stallions as they have already qualified for the final phase of the CAN.
