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South Africa, Ivory Coast and Senegal all won convincingly on Tuesday to fill the last three automatic places reserved for Africa at the 2026 World Cup.
Senegal were the most impressive winners, hammering Mauritania 4-0, while Ivory Coast beat Kenya 3-0 and South Africa were also 3-0 winners, against Rwanda.
The trio will join Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia at the global showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Nigeria kept alive hopes of swelling the African representation to 10 nations by finishing as the four best-ranked runners-up.
They will meet in two single-match semi-finals and a final in Morocco during November and the winners advance to inter-continental play-offs in March with two World Cup places up for grabs.
Senegal finished with 24 points, two more than DR Congo, who edged Sudan 1-0 in Kinshasa through a Theo Bongonda goal.
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Ivory Coast topped Group F with 26 points, one more than Gabon. Gambia overwhelmed the Seychelles 7-0 to come third.
South Africa topped Group C with 18 points, one more than Nigeria, who hammered third-placed Benin 4-0 in Uyo with Victor Osimhen claiming a hat-trick.
It will be the fourth appearance by South Africa at the global showpiece. They qualified for the 1998 and 2002 tournaments and were automatic participants in 2010 as host nation.
