JOHANNESBURG, March 27, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - African 2026 World Cup qualifying
facts and figures after matchday six:

Chart-topper Salah

Prolific Liverpool scorer Mohamed Salah has also netted regularly in World
Cup qualifying, topping the charts with six goals for likely qualifiers
Egypt.

The 32-year-old began with a bang, netting four times in a 6-0 matchday one
rout of minnows Djibouti in Cairo. He also netted in away matches against
Guinea-Bissau and Ethiopia.

Wolfsburg striker Mohamed Amoura bagged a matchday six hat-trick for Algeria
in a 5-1 hammering of Mozambique in Tizi Ouzou and shares second place on
five goals with five others.
Shocks galore

Group C consists of South Africa, Rwanda, Benin, Nigeria, Lesotho and
Zimbabwe, and it has produced the most shocks so far.

Minnows Lesotho forced a draw in Nigeria, hosts Rwanda adapted much better to
a rain-saturated pitch to beat South Africa, and middleweights Benin came
from behind to defeat Nigeria.

There was another unexpected result in the section this week when
Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Tawanda Chirewa scored in added time to snatch
a 1-1 draw for Zimbabwe in Nigeria.
Popular scorelines

A 1-0 scoreline was the most common during the first six rounds with 33 of
the 151 matches settled by a solitary goal.

Sharing second place were 2-1 and 2-0 results with 21 of each. Draws
completed the five most frequent scorelines with 19 1-1 stalemates and 15 0-0
deadlocks.

One-sided scorelines were rare with just three 5-0 results and two 6-0 and 5-
1 scorelines. The most lopsided outcome was African champions Ivory Coast
trouncing the Seychelles 9-0.
Successful seeds

Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia have justified being seeded
first in groups by leading them with four matchdays remaining. There will be
two in September and two in October.

Two more, Cameroon, whose eight World Cup appearances is an African record,
and Senegal both occupy second places, one point behind Cape Verde and
Democratic Republic of Congo respectively.

The other two first seeds, Mali and Nigeria, lie fourth. Both are six points
behind the leaders of their groups, Ghana and South Africa.
Perfect Morocco

Shock 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco are the only country among the 52
currently involved boasting a perfect record after five victories.

The Atlas Lions twice beat Tanzania 2-0 in Group E, Zambia 2-1, Congo
Brazzaville 6-0 and Niger 2-1. It assisted Morocco that they hosted away
fixtures against the Congolese and Nigeriens.

Congo did not explain why they ceded home advantage. Niger did so because
they do not have a FIFA-approved stadium.