(MENAFN- Arab Times) JOHANNESBURG Sept 6 (Agencies): Defending champions Nigeria suffered a stunning 3-2 home loss to Congo Brazzaville Saturday on matchday 1 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying competition. It was the first defeat in 47 home matches for the Super Eagles since qualifying started 48 years ago and the first time they conceded three goals at home in an eliminator. The Congolese Red Devils were not even supposed to be in south-eastern city Calabar having lost a preliminary tie against Rwanda. But the Rwandans were kicked out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player and Congo got a second chance. Celtic defender Efe Ambrose nodded Nigeria into an early lead at UJ Esuene Stadium only for Prince Oniangue to level within three minutes. Goals either side of half-time from Thievy Bifouma the second from a powerfully struck penalty gave Congo a two-goal lead before Gbolahan Salami snatched a late consolation. Defeat added to the problems haunting Nigerian football. FIFA will ban the country from world football if controversially-elected national football federation head Chris Giwa does not step down by Monday morning. A suspension would prevent Nigeria playing South Africa in Cape Town next Wednesday and lead to disqualification from the 2015 Cup of Nations. Coach Stephen Keshi did not have his contract renewed after a last-16 exit from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and guided the Eagles against Congo as a caretaker. Ghana were another World Cup team who failed to take advantage of playing at home as Uganda forced a 1-1 draw at Baba Yaro Stadium in Kumasi. Tony Mawejje put the Ugandan Cranes ahead on the stroke of half-time in the Group E game and Andre Ayew levelled from a 50th-minute spot-kick. Cameroon began life without Samuel Eto'o with a comfortable 2-0 Group D victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clinton N'Jie scored in first-half stoppage time and another France-based player Vincent Aboubakar added the second nine minutes from time. The Indomitable Lions always looked likely winners against the surprisingly poor Congolese Lions at a subdued Stade Mazembe in the southern mining city of Lubumbashi. Long-time Cameroon captain striker and talisman Eto'o 33 retired from international football last month after bagging 56 goals in an 18-year international career. Midfielder Alex Song was also absent as he is serving a three-match ban for being red-carded during a disastrous Cameroon World Cup campaign in Brazil. They lost all three group games and an incident in which Benoit Assou-Ekotto headbutted team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo during the 4-0 defeat to Croatia brought shame to African football. Repeated bonus rows did not help veteran German coach Volker Finke who opted to continue his two-year contract despite the World Cup fiasco. Finke rang the changes for Lubumbashi dropping 13 of the World Cup squad and introducing several youngsters like N'Jie. Barcelona youth team goalkeeper Joseph Ondoua made an impressive debut foiling the Congolese on the rare occasions they threatened to score. Algeria fielded eight of the team beaten after extra time by eventual champions Germany in the second round of the World Cup when winning 2-1 in Ethiopia. El Arabi Soudani scored on 35 minutes with a deflected shot and Yacine Brahimi doubled the lead six minutes from time at the national stadium in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia who spent three weeks in Brazil preparing for the Group B clash got a stoppage-time consolation goal through a Said Saladin penalty. Both teams were under new management with Frenchman Christian Gourcuff replacing Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic as Algeria coach and Portuguese Mariano Barreto succeeding Ethiopian Sewnet Bishaw. Shock 2012 African champions Zambia started disappointingly in Group F as they were held 0-0 by Mozambique at a near-full Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola. Earlier Mame Biram Diouf set Senegal on their way to an impressive 2-0 home victory over record winners Egypt at the start of the group stages of the African Nations Cup qualifiers. Guinea beat Togo 2-1 in Casablanca having been ordered to play at a neutral venue because of fears over the Ebola virus while South Africa put aside a dismal four years since they hosted the World Cup to beat Sudan 3-0 away in Khartoum. The remainder of the first round of qualifying matches across seven groups will played on Saturday. Senegal's pacey forward Diouf opened the scoring against Egypt in Group G when he ran onto a superb throughball from team mate Dame Ndoye and squeezed it past goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy in the 17th minute. The goal capped a superb week for the Stoke City forward after he netted a brilliant individual effort in the English Premier League against Manchester City last Saturday. Sadio Mane who joined Southampton last week netted the second in almost identical fashion in stoppage time at the end of the first half as Ndoye played an even better defence-splitting pass. Egypt who have won seven African Nations Cup titles but failed to qualify for the last two tournaments looked to Mohamed Salah for inspiration but he missed a series of half-chances in the second half. In Group A Sibusiso Vilakazi came off the bench at halftime to engineer a surprise away victory for the new-look South Africa who have Ephraim Mashaba back in charge and have undergone a major overhaul of their team with an emphasis on youth. Vilakazi took advantage of a defensive mistake by Sudan to slip home the opener in the 55th minute and then blasted home an angled right-footed shot for a second five minutes later. Debutant Bongani Ndulula scored South Africa's third 11 minutes from time with an easy tap-in and there were opportunities for more goals from Bafana Bafana who hosted the last Nations Cup finals but failed to get past the quarter-finals. Guinea's Seydouba Soumah scored early and Idrissa Sylla doubled the lead just after halftime before Togo pulled one back trough Jonathan Ayite in Group E. Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor was making his return after 18 months out of the team but the visitors could not conjure up an equaliser. All five of the African countries who played at the World Cup in Brazil begin their qualifying campaigns on Saturday with Nigeria Ghana and the Ivory Coast at home and Algeria and Cameroon playing away.
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