Tanzania come from behind and score late to beat Equatorial Guinea 2-1 in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Elsewhere Zimbabwe and visitors battled out a goalless draw in Group H.
The National Stadium in Dar es Salaam was about half full for Tanzania’s Group J win over Equatorial Guinea.
Tanzania enjoyed most of the ball in the first-half and created several good chances but it was Equatorial Guinea who scored first after 15 minutes.
Former West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang’s scored after 15 minutes when he hit a powerful yet speculative effort from 35 yards that keeper Juma Kaseja should have tipped over the bar.
Captain Mbwana Samatta was the hosts biggest threat and he will feel he should have scored just before half-time but keeper Felipe Ovono denied him with the second part of a smart double save.
Simon Msuva grabbed the equaliser on 68 minutes with cheeky move to nip in front of Ovono, who was poised to catch a cross, and head the ball against the post before hooking the rebound into the net.
Salum Abubakar scored a spectacular winner in injury time with a fierce shot from outside the area that flew past Ovono.
Abubakar’s celebration saw him run down one of the exits and it almost looked as if he was going to run out of the stadium.
Hosts Zimbabwe dominated possession in the first half of their Group H game at the National Sports Stadium in Harare but Botswana held firm.
The closest the Warriors came to scoring in the first-half was a long range freekick from Knowledge Musona whose effort was tipped over the bar on the half hour mark.
Zimbabwe’s dominance continued after the break but some poor passing and some resolute defending by Botswana ensured the game ended goalless.
The top two sides in 11 of the 12 groups will all advance to the 2021 finals in Cameroon.
Cameroon qualify for the finals as hosts but are taking part in the qualifying campaign to gain competitive match practice which means just one team from Group F will progress to the finals.
2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying results
Friday:
- Morocco v Mauritania (Group E)
- Zimbabwe 0-0 Botswana (Group H)
- Tanzania 2-1 Equatorial Guinea (Group J)
- Tunisia v Libya (Group J)
Thursday:
- Mali 2-2 Guinea (Group A)
- Ghana 2-0 South Africa (Group C)
- DR Congo 0-0 Gabon (Group D)
- Mozambique 2-0 Rwanda (Group F)
- Egypt 1-1 Kenya (Group G)
- Togo 0-1 Comoros (Group G)
- Algeria 5-0 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)
BBC
