Benin Republic’s ambitions towards qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations suffered a major blow following their 1-0 home defeat to Mozambique on Wednesday.
Geny Catamo’s first-half strike won the points in the keenly contested Group L encounter staged inside Stade de l'Amitie, Cotonou.
Still fresh from their 3-1 away loss to Senegal last time out, Michel Dussuyer’s Squirrels went into the fixture aiming to return to winning ways against the Mambas.
However, they were stunned in the 38th minute despite dominating ball possession as Catamo beat goalkeeper Saturnin Allagbe with a fine strike after he was teed up by Reinildo Mandava.
The hosts came out stronger in the second half as they aimed to restore parity, albeit Chiquinho Conde’s side remained resolute in defending to halt Benin’s attacking forays.
Mozambique could have doubled their advantage, but Stanley Ratifo could not convert Catamo’s floating cross.
With this result, Benin Republic occupy the base of their zone with no points after two matches, while the Mamba moved to second with four points from the same number of outings.
In Omdurman, Sudan's senior national team bounced back from their opening day loss to Mauritania to silence DR Congo 2-1 at the Al-Hilal Stadium.
Fuelled by that last result, the Secretarybirds took the lead in the 16th minute as Waleed Bakhet broke into the box to beat goalkeeper Joel Kiassumbua.
Lifted by their early lead, the hosts continued to push for more goals but they fluffed several scoring opportunities. For the Leopards, they were unable to get any clear-cut opportunities even with the presence of Yoane Wissa and Malango Ngita in attack.
The Congolese stepped up their performance in the second half but their biggest undoing was their inability to convert begging opportunities.
With four minutes left on the clock, Sudan killed off the fixture thanks to Mohamed Abdel Rahman who finished off a good counter-attacking move from Abdel Rahman.
Nonetheless, there was still time for Hector Cuper’s men to pull one goal back courtesy of substitute Jonathan Bolingi before the blast of the final whistle.
Elsewhere, Gabon continued their unbeaten run after playing a 0-0 draw with Mauritania at the Stade de Franceville.
The draw means the Mourabitounes who are unbeaten under new handler Amir Abdou lead Group I.
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