Malawi

A stylish goal from Issiaga Sylla was enough to seal the points, but they were made to work hard by a side playing at just the third finals in their history.

Indeed, it was Malawi who had by far the better of the early chances and would have gone ahead had Yamikani Chester kept his composure and then kept his feet when twice through on goal.

Ibrahima Conte hit the post with a header before Sylla broke the deadlock, steering home first time after Jose Kante had been found by a good ball from Liverpool's Naby Keita.

Experienced Guinea goalkeeper Aly Keita was called on to deny Malawi captain Limbikani Mzava and Peter Banda before half-time as Malawi, ranked 129th in the world and unable even to name a full substitutes' bench, continued to threaten.

Guinea took greater control in a second half short on chances as they took a positive step towards qualifying from Group B.

However, the level of their performance did little to belie the 2.28 per cent chance of winning the tournament that Opta's predictor tool gave them before kick-off, and coach Kaba Diawara will hope for better when they face Senegal on Friday.

Despite dominating for large parts of the contest, Senegal were unable to break down Malawi's stern defence, with goalkeeper William Thole making a string of impressive saves. 

However, after Robert Saiz hauled Mane down just outside the area, the Al-Nassr forward stepped up and curled home the winner in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.

The 2021 winners of the competition joined Burkina Faso in qualifying for the tournament that takes place in Morocco next year, with both sides on 10 points in Group L. 

But in Group F, Ghana look set to miss the tournament for the first time since 2004 after slumping to a 2-0 defeat to Sudan at the Martyrs of February Stadium. 

Despite the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Antoine Semenyo and Inaki Williams in their ranks, two goals in three second-half minutes from Ahmed Al-Tash and Mohamed Abdel Rahman did the damage.

Ghana remain winless in their four qualifying games so far and sit five points adrift of the top two, knowing they must beat both group leaders Angola and then Niger next month to have any chance of reaching the finals.