Ethiopia registered one of the shock results in the second round of qualifying matches for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations after stunning Côte d’Ivoire 2-1 at the Tigray Stadium in Mekelle on Tuesday.
Côte d’Ivoire‘s Serge Aurier netted the game’s first goal after only four minutes. However, the Ethiopians netted twice in 10 minutes through Surafel Dagnachew and Shimelis Bekele to go into the break ahead.
The Ivorians tried to find a way back after halftime but Ethiopia held on to record a memorable win and climb up to second in Group K behind Madagascar who thumped Niger 6-2. Madagascar, surprise quarterfinalists in AFCON2019, tops the group with a maximum six points from two games.
Borussia Dortmund’s Achraf Hakimi rounded off the scoring as Morocco beat Burundi 3-0 in Bujumbura to go top of Group E after recording its first win of the qualifiers.
Mauritania lies second behind Morocco after claiming a 2-0 win against Central Africa Republic.
Khama Billiat scored a brace as Zimbabwe beat 2012 African champions Zambia 2-1 to cut the gap on reigning AFCON champions Algeria to two points in Group H.
The final games of the second round of qualifying matches concludes later on Tuesday with Equatorial Guinea hosting Tunisia while Libya plays against Tunisia.
Following the conclusion of Tuesday’s matches, the 2021 qualifying campaign will take a nine-month break and resume in August 2020.
