Africa has started the journey to the kickoff of the 2017 Afcon qualifers with games around the continent.

Friday saw the start of 26 games, with Tunisia destroying Djibouti 8-1 at home in Radès. The Group A opener means the Carthage Eagles have a great start ahead of their second game with Liberia in September while Djibouti play Togo. 

The most stunning result so far was recorded in Morocco, where Guinea play their home games due to the continuing fears of Ebola contagion back home.

Angola lapped up the celebrations as they smashed Central African Republic 4-0 in Group B while Cape Verde in Group F got their groove on with a 7-1 demolition of Sao Tome and Principe.

In the same group, it was truly a feast of goals for some, but Morocco could just manage a 1-0 win against Libya.

Shocker in Morocco

Swaziland stunned Guinea 2-1 in Casablanca with captain Tony Tsabedze getting both goals for a side ranked 117 places below opponents who reached the 2015 quarter-finals in Equatorial Guinea.

The loss was a second straight one for new coach Luis Fernandez, who replaced French compatriot Michel Dussuyer as coach. It was a completely unexpected result in a match moved from Conakry to the Stade Mohammed V in the Moroccan commercial capital because of Ebola epidemic fears.

Swaziland had never won an away Cup of Nations qualifier in 20 previous attempts stretching back to the 1986 eliminators.

But they got precious recent practice in the Cosafa Cup southern Africa championship, defeating Tanzania and Lesotho and drawing with Madagascar.

Bafana clutch

At the Moses Mabhida Stadium, it was a goalles draw as Gambia parked the bus against South Africa (snapshot pictured above). Gambia were gutsy, but for the hosts, it was a case of missed chances.  

Cranes soar

Uganda defeated Botswana 2-0 in their opening match of Group D at the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala on Saturday.  

A goal each in the second half from Geoffrey Massa and Brian Umony were enough to give Uganda the victory after having dominated the entire match.  Uganda came into this match as favourites following their decent home record, having won seven out of seven fixtures.

Zimbabwe late winner

Saturday saw Khama Billiat’s stunning 82nd minute goal getting Zimbabwe a 2-1 win over their hosts, Malawi, in their Group L matchup in Blantyre.

The win put Zimbabwe second in the group on three points whereas Swaziland are top after the north African heroics. Despite going into the game amid financial problems and enduring a bus break-down on Friday afternoon while travelling to Blantyre, it was the cash-strapped Warriors who lived up to their name.

Eagles begin well

The Super Eagles, three-time African champions, started their quest to return to the tournament with a 2-0 win over Chad in Kaduna on Saturday.

Nigeria coach, Stephen Keshi handed debuts to Anderson Esiti and Kingsley Madu while usual suspects, Vincent Enyeama, Ogenyi Onazi, Ahmed Musa and Kenneth Omeruo all got starting berths.

But the two goals came in the second half within a minute of each other, with strikes from Gbolohan Salami and Odion Ighalo (penalty). Group G still has Egypt and Tanzania still to play.

Fennecs return?

El Arbi Soudani scored a goal in each half to help Algeria to a 4-0 win over the Seychelles at Blida’s Stade Mustapha Tchaker on Saturday evening.

Eager to get their 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign off to a positive start following their disappointing exit from this year's showpiece, head coach Christian Gourcuff named his strongest available line-up.

Lions cruise

Sadio Mané found the net as Senegal beat Burundi 3-1 at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor in Dakar as the Lions of Teranga kicked off their campaign for a place at the Gabon finals.

Moussa Konaté gave Senegal the lead with a penalty on the quarter-hour mark, but Fiston Abdul Razak levelled matters on 59 minutes. Stoke striker Mame Biram Diouf restored Senegal’s lead four minutes later, with Mané wrapping up the win in the first minute of injury time.

Zambia miss great chance

Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene (above pictured) saw his stoppage-time penalty saved as Zambia drew goalless at home with Guinea Bissau.

The Group E result left the two sides tied on one point apiece with the other two sides in the group, Congo and Kenya, playing each other on Sunday.

Zambia coach George Lwandamina described the start to the campaign as sad.

"It is a sad beginning because we wanted to win this match. Our boys did all they could but we could not get a goal to wrap up the game because our opponents decided to defend in numbers. In short, they parked the bus. But there are lessons to be learnt and we shall make changes where necessary in our next match," Lwandamina said.

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Afcon 2017 qualifying results

Friday, June 12
Tunisia 8-1 Djibouti
Morocco 1-0 Libya
Guinea 1-2 Swaziland 

Saturday, June 13
Angola 4-0 Central African Republic
Mali 2-0 South Sudan
Uganda 2-0 Botswana
Burkina Faso 2-0 Comoros
Zambia 0-0 Guinea-Bissau
Cape Verde 7-1 Sao Tome and Principe
Nigeria 2-0 Chad
Algeria 4-0 Seychelles
Senegal 3-1 Burundi
Malawi 1-2 Zimbabwe
South Africa 0-0 Gambia

Sunday. June 14
Ghana v Mauritius
Mozambique v Rwanda
Cameroon v Mauritania
DR Congo v Madagascar
Togo v Liberia
Congo v Kenya
Equatorial Guinea v Benin
Ethiopia v Lesotho
Niger v Namibia
Gabon v Ivory Coast
Egypt v Tanzania
Sudan v Sierra Leone

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