Egypt are on the verge of securing a place in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon after comfortably beating minnows eSwatini 2-0 in the cup qualifiers in Manzini on Tuesday. Ahmed Hegazi and Marwan Mohsen provided a goal in each half to almost ensure Egypt go to Cameroon while extinguishing the faint hopes eSwatini had of advancing. As it stood at the time of writing after the game, the Pharaohs were tied with Tunisia on nine points. Egypt have two games left while Tunisia have three. The loss keeps eSwatini at one point after four games. Niger too have a single point but have three matches left. Only the top two teams in the group will advance to the finals in Cameroon. If Niger fail to collect more than a point against Tunisia in a later game on Tuesday in the same Group J, the Pharaohs will book their seat at the Africa Cup of Nations for the 24th time in their history. Playing eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) for the second time in five days, Egypt had little trouble in the two games. Even in the second away game, and without the team's star Mohamed Salah, who missed the clash due to an injury received in the first leg, Egypt exerted almost total control. In their first leg match held at Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo on Friday 12 October Egypt crushed eSwatini 4-1. The worst part of the match was when Liverpool star Salah picked up a muscle tear after scoring direct from a corner. He missed traveling to eSwatini with the team as he had to fly to England to continue treatment. After scoring 44 goals in all competitions during his first season at Anfield, the striker has netted only three this term, with just one since August. Salah netted twice and missed two penalties when record seven-time African champions Egypt hammered Niger 6-0 last month in another qualifier. On Friday, Ahmed Al-Mohamadi, PAOK forward Amr Warda and Kasimpasa winger Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet also scored for Egypt and Sibonginkosi Gamedze snatched a late eSwatini consolation goal. The Pharaohs had the upper hand from the beginning especially in the first half in which all of Egypt's goals were scored. It took Al-Mohamadi only seven minutes to score, his first goal with the national team since 2010. Five minutes later, Egypt were ahead 2-0 when Warda finished into the net to score his first ever goal with the national team. Kasimpasa winger Trezeguet sent a left-footed strike into the bottom of the net to make it 3-0. Again, it was Trezeguet's first ever official goal with the Pharaohs. In the 45th minute, Salah made it 4-0 from a direct corner kick. But just five minutes from the whistle, eSwatini who rarely threatened Mohamed El-Shennawy's net all over the game, managed to pull one back through Sibonginkhosi Gamedze, who exploited on Al-Shennawi's out-positioning away from his goal, to find the net from the halfway line. In the 88th minute, the game's most annoying news came as Salah came out of the game after picking an injury in his calf muscles, before the final whistle gave Egypt the three points. In the second half, the Pharaohs relaxed a bit to give the opponent a number of chances to score from which Sibonginkhosi Gamedze scored, capitalizing on a mistake by goalie Mohamed Al-Shennawi who was standing way outside his area. Mexican Javier Aguirre has proved a good coach for Egypt thus far as he made only minor changes to his side that played Niger last month, switching his 4-3-3 tactic into a 4-2-3-1 scheme. Aguirre blamed the poor quality of the pitch for causing injuries. “The pitch of El-Salam Stadium is very poor. It does not help the players to perform normally,” he told a press conference after the game. On the Pharaohs' lacklustre display in the second half, Aguirre said it was not easy to maintain a top performance for the entire 90 minutes “but what is important is to win and secure the three points to qualify.” Besides Salah being stretchered off, Amro Tarek was forced off the field after 56 minutes because of a muscle injury. In a Group H match, Guinea defeated Rwanda 2-0 in Conakry through goals from Francois Kamano and Ibrahima Cisse to stay three points ahead of the Ivorians. Angola ended the perfect two-victory Group I record of Mauritania by recovering from conceding a third-minute goal to triumph 4-1 in Luanda. Angola and Mauritania have six points and Burkina Faso can join them if they win at home to bottom team Botswana Saturday. Cameroon laboured 1-0 Group B win over Malawi in Yaounde. Defending champions Cameroon are guaranteed a place among the 24 finalists next year as hosts, but opted to compete in the mini-league phase to gain competitive match practice. In other qualifiers, Gabon beat South Sudan 3-0 in Libreville, Togo snatched a late 1-1 draw with the Gambia in Lome and Cape Verde outplayed Tanzania 3-0 in Praia. South Africa easily brushed aside Seychelles with a comfortable 6-0 in their Group E contender last Sunday in Johannesburg. Boosting three points sees them top the group with high hopes to book a place in next year's African showpiece. Kenya inched closer to a first ever African Cup of Nations appearance in 14 years after blanking Ethiopia 3-0 at a fully packed Moi Sports Centre Kasarani on Sunday. First half goals from Michael Olunga and Eric Johannah sent Stars going before skipper Victor Wanyama added the third from the spot. The victory now takes Kenya to seven points in Group F and closer to the Cup of Nations after their victory against Ghana and the point away to Ethiopia. At the Mandela National Stadium Uganda reclaimed the top spot of Group L with a 3-0 home victory over Lesotho last Saturday. The Cranes now has seven points from three matches and return to the summit, dislodging Cape Verde who also beat Tanzania 3-0 in Praia. Tunisia moved a step closer towards qualification after a hard fought lone goal victory over Niger last Sunday in Rades, near Tunis. The victory, the third on the trot for the Carthage Eagles was made possible due to the efforts of Yassine Meriah, who scored the only goal on 17 minutes. China-based Ighalo bagged a treble as Nigeria crushed Libya 4-0 in Uyo to continue a Group E recovery after starting with a shock home defeat by South Africa while Morocco sneaked a 1-0 Group B win in Casablanca over the Comoros, ranked 104 places below them in the world and Zimbabwe upset Democratic Republic of Congo 2-1 in Kinshasa in Group G.
