Overview
- Mohamed Salah scored twice in a 5-0 victory over Malawi on Friday to reach 70 goals and become Egypt’s all-time leading scorer, a landmark that capped Ali Maher’s first match in charge.
- Ali Maher’s debut win in Cairo put Egypt top of Group B and marked back-to-back five-goal qualifying games for the Pharaohs for the first time since 2003.
- Morocco maintained a perfect start in Group A with a 5-1 home win over Niger on Friday as Achraf Hakimi scored twice, assisted Youssef En-Nesyri, and was credited with reaching 20 assists for the national side this century.
- Tunisia suffered a shock 2-0 home loss to Libya that left the Eagles of Carthage bottom of their group and prompted blunt criticism from coach Moïn Chaabani about the squad’s mentality and prospects.
- Other notable third-round results included Nigeria’s 3-1 home win over Tanzania with Tolu Arokodare scoring twice and Algeria’s 1-0 victory over Togo by Rami Bensebaini, the latter extending Algeria’s long unbeaten run in AFCON qualifying.