Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana shocked in CHAN qualifying

Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria lost Sunday in shock-riddled final qualifying round first legs for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon.

Nigeria conceded three final-quarter goals to crash 4-1 in Togo, Ivory Coast fell 2-0 in Niger and a stoppage-time goal condemned Ghana to a 1-0 home defeat by Burkina Faso.

The Nations Championship is restricted to footballers playing in their country of birth, which deprived the three African powerhouses of their Europe-based stars.

But the Togolese, Nigeriens and Burkinabe also had to do without many professionals playing abroad who form the backbone of their national teams.

Return matches are scheduled for October 18-20 and the aggregate winners secure places at a 16-nation tournament set for January and February on dates to be announced.

Nigeria, runners-up to hosts Morocco in the previous final last year, made a great start in Lome with Ibrahim Sunusi netting on 11 minutes.

Nane Richard Yentoudie equalised soon after and scored again midway through the second half to trigger a late Togolese goal surge.

Marouf Tchakei converted a penalty to stretch the lead and Agora Ashraf struck in stoppage time to leave Nigeria facing a mammoth recovery mission next month.

Niger won 2-1 at home to the Ivory Coast in 2018 qualifying only to be eliminated on away goals and they now have a better chance of overall success having built a two-goal lead.

- Revenge for Sudan -
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