Ivory Coast, Ghana , Egypt progress in WCup qualifying

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Egypt, and Cameroon had few problems in progressing to the final round of World Cup qualifying in Africa on Tuesday.

African champion Ivory Coast beat Liberia 3-0 at home in Abidjan for a 4-0 aggregate victory. Striker Giovanni Sio scored twice in the Ivorians' comfortable second-leg win.

Ghana beat Comoros 2-0 to head through to the final group stage which will decide the five African teams at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Wakaso Mubarak and Jordan Ayew were Ghana's goal-scorers.

Egypt powered to a 4-0 win over Chad in Alexandria, overturning a 1-0 loss and a major surprise in the first leg in Chad. Egypt's team, distracted by violence and upheaval at home, moved a step closer to its first major tournament since winning the African Cup title in 2010.

Cameroon, under new interim coach Alexandre Belinga, was happy to settle for a 0-0 home draw against Niger. That allowed the Cameroonians to qualify for the next round after winning the first leg 3-0 last week.

Nigeria finally scored against Swaziland to eliminate the minnow and move on. Swaziland had held the Nigerians for over 140 minutes of football before Moses Simon and Efe Ambrose netted second-half goals in Port Harcourt to seal the tie 2-0 on aggregate.

Morocco and Tunisia also progressed, as did Libya with a 4-1 aggregate win over Rwanda, giving the conflict-wrecked nation a chance of a major sporting boost if it were to make the World Cup.

South Africa was surprisingly powerful in beating Angola 4-1 on aggregate, with an own goal by Manucho in Durban sealing Bafana Bafana's 1-0 win in the second leg.

___

Associated Press writer Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana contributed.