By: Staff Writer
Namibia and Guinea Bissau qualified for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations from Group K on Saturday, with Mozambique narrowly missing out after the final round of qualifying matches.
Guinea-Bissau made it back-to-back Nations Cup appearances after a dramatic 2-2 draw at home to Mozambique.
Namibia secured their place at Egypt 2019 despite a 4-1 defeat away to the 2012 champions Zambia who had already been eliminated.
In Group K a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser from Frederic Mendy secured Guinea-Bissau top place in Group K after a 2-2 draw at home to Mozambique.
Mozambique were headed to the finals along with Guinea-Bissau as they came from behind to lead 2-1 thanks to an 89th-minute goal from substitute Nelson but they conceded an equaliser to Mendy four minutes into stoppage time and the 2-2 result left them level with Namibia on eight points.
Namibia, despite being thrashed 4-1 by Zambia in Lusaka, qualified in second place in Group K ahead of Mozambique on the head to head results between the two countries.
Namibia’s match finished minutes earlier and their players anxiously watched live action from the other game on an I-pad on the side of the field, before celebrating when they realised they had also qualified.
In Group J the 2019 AFCON, Egypt, were held to a 1-1 draw away to Niger, in the final qualifier of group match on Saturday.
Egypt had already qualified for the finals and faced a Niger team who had already been eliminated.
Egypt replaced Cameroon as 2019 hosts in January.
Pharaohs (Egypt) coach Javier Aguirre fielded an experimental Egypt side in Niamey with many top stars missing, including Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
After a goalless first half, the visitors took the lead as substitute Mahmoud Trezeguet struck just after the break to put Egypt ahead.
Niger missed a penalty eight minutes later, but they did get their equaliser thanks to Amadou Moutari in the 82nd minute.
Tunisia – who beat eSwatini 4-0 on Friday night  finished top of Group J on 15 points with Egypt second, two points behind.
