Kudus winner sees Ghana secure World Cup spot

Kudus tapped in a square pass from Thomas Partey in the 47th minute to secure victory in front of an expectant crowd, although Ghana would have qualified even in defeat as closest rival Madagascar was beaten 4-1 in Mali at the same time.

The Black Stars are the sixth African nation to confirm participation at the finals, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

They have been to four previous tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals in 2010.

Ghana had a three-point lead going into the final round of Group I fixtures, with Madagascar’s slim hopes resting on beating Mali away and Ghana losing at home, but that unlikely permutation was never on the cards after Mali scored in the 10th minute.

It was the first of two goals for Lassine Sinayoko, with the others coming from Dorgeles Nene and Gaoussou Diarra.

Ghana finished with 25 points, with Madagascar second on 19 and Mali third on 18.

In the group’s other game, Central African Republic won 3-2 away to condemn Chad to a winless campaign with a single point from its 10 qualifiers.

Substitute Karl Namnganda scored a stoppage-time winner in Ndjamena as Central African Republic ended its campaign with eight points.

Already-qualified Egypt, which booked its berth last week, rested captain Mohamed Salah but still finished its Group A campaign unbeaten as it overcame Guinea Bissau 1-0 in Cairo. Mohamed Hamdi headed home the winner in the 10th minute.

Egypt won eight of its 10 group games to finish with 26 points with Burkina Faso finishing second in the standings, after concluding its campaign with a 3-1 victory over Ethiopia in Ouagadougou with a hat-trick from Scotland-based attacker Pierre Kabore.

Burkina Faso will be hoping to finish as one of the four best runners-up, which will advance to a play-off competition next month.

Also in Group A, the small Red Sea state Djibouti threatened to record its first win of the qualifying campaign when it took the lead against Sierra Leone but ended up losing 2-1.

Earlier in the day, surprise package Niger secured second place in Group E by beating Zambia 1-0 away and look set for next month’s play-offs.

Daniel Sosah, scoring for a third successive qualifier, bagged the second-half winner.

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