South Africa, Ivory Coast and Senegal qualify for World Cup with facile wins

South Africa, Ivory Coast and Senegal all won convincingly on Tuesday to fill the last three automatic places reserved for Africa at the 2026 World Cup.

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Senegal were the most impressive winners, hammering Mauritania 4-0, while Ivory Coast beat Kenya 3-0 and South Africa were also 3-0 winners, against Rwanda.

The trio will join Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia at the global showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Nigeria kept alive hopes of swelling the African representation to 10 nations by finishing as the four best-ranked runners-up.

They will meet in two single-match semifinals and a final in Morocco during November and the winners advance to intercontinental playoffs in March with two World Cup places up for grabs.

Former Liverpool star Sadio Mane scored just before and after halftime for Group B table-toppers Senegal, with Iliman Ndiaye and Habib Diallo also netting for the Teranga Lions.

Senegal finished with 24 points, two more than DR Congo, who edged Sudan 1-0 in Kinshasa through a Theo Bongonda goal.