Togo Sneak In The Back Door To Secure Afcon Spot

Togo have secured an unlikely qualification for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations after their 5-0 whipping of minnows Djibouti on Sunday night pushed them into position as one of the two best runners-up.


The Sparrow Hawks’ hopes of qualifying appeared pretty thin at the start of the final round of qualifiers, but a combination of their strong performance and results elsewhere going in their favour – most notably Mali whipping Benin – has seen them snatch one of two berths reserved for the best runners-up.

Togo defeated Djibouti 5-0 in Lome thanks to goals from Vincent Bossou, Mathieu Dossevi, Fo-Doh Laba and a late brace from Komlan Agbegniadan.

This saw them move into second place in Group A (up from third after Tunisia beat Liberia 4-1 to claim top spot and push the Lone Stars out of the top two) and their haul of 11 points and a goal difference of plus seven saw them oust Benin and join Uganda as the two best runners-up.

This is Togo’s first qualification to the AFCON since 2013 when they reached the quarterfinals.