CAF WCQ: Mali Picks Playoff Rounds Ticket; Ghana's Bid Surfers Setback

CAF WCQ: Mali Picks Playoff Rounds Ticket; Ghana's Bid Surfers Setback Mali progressed to the final round of African World Cup qualifying by beating 10-man Rwanda 3-0 on Thursday, while Ghana experienced a major setback in its quest to make it to Qatar next year, BSNSports.com.ng reports. Mali joined Senegal and Morocco to reach the playoffs that will take place in March. Thursday was the first of six days of qualifiers in Africa to bring the group phase to an end and decide the last 10. Mali's job was made much easier when Rwanda's Djihad Bizimana lost control of the ball near his penalty area and then dragged down Mali forward Ibrahima Kone to earn a straight red card in the eighth minute. Mali was dominant from then on and Moussa Djenepo hit a shot in off the post for the lead. Kone profited from a dreadful mistake from Rwanda goalkeeper Emery Mvuyekure, who gifted him the ball in front of goal, to make it 2-0 in the first half. Kalifa Coulibaly thundered a powerful volley home from way out for 3-0 and the Mali players danced around the corner flag to celebrate their progression to the final playoffs. Uganda earlier in the day drew 1-1 with Kenya in the same group and the Mali victory ensured Uganda was eliminated. Meanwhile, Ghana were held to a 1-1 draw by Ethiopia, a result that opened the door for South Africa to take a three-point lead over Ghana in Group G with just one game to go. That game definitely will be a showdown between the two in Cape Coast. A draw will take South Africa into the decisive 10-team playoffs and see Ghana miss a second straight World Cup. Only the group winners progress. Captain Andre Ayew swung in a curling left-foot free kick in the 22nd minute in Johannesburg to put Ghana ahead against Ethiopia. The Ghanaians missed a series of good chances in the first half and paid when Ethiopia skipper Getaneh Kebede was unmarked in the center to fire home the equalizer in the 72nd minute. Teboho Mokoena’s 26th minute goal handed South Africa a precious 1-0 victory over Zimbabwe as the Bafana Bafana inched closer to the play-off round of the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. South Africa hasn't been to the World Cup since hosting it in 2010. Elsewhere, Senegal left it late before scoring an additional time equalizer to play out to a 1-1 draw with Togo and remain unbeaten in the group round. Benin’s Les Squirrels moved top of their group with a 2-0 victory over Madagascar in Cotonou. The maximum haul sees them scale to 10 points, two ahead of DR Congo who earlier beat Tanzania 3-0 in Dar es Salaam. The two sides will face off in the final match day of the group on Sunday with Benin just needing a point to progress. Elsewhere, Namibia and Congo who were playing for pride in Group H shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw. Peter Shalulile scored the opner for Namibia in the first half before Guy Mbenza drew Congo level in the second half.