Early September steps

 

The Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers began in September with Ethiopia earning a 0-0 draw in Tanzania, who later came from behind to defeat Guinea 2-1 in Ivory Coast, while Angola broke the deadlock in stoppage time to win in Ghana and Malawi lost 3-2 to a late goal at home to Burundi. Egypt won 3-0 at home to Cape Verde before travelling to Botswana where Trezeguet scored 2 goals in their 4-0 win while South Africa needed added time to salvage a 2-2 home draw against Uganda and there were 1-1 draws for Burkina Faso who scored in stoppage time away to Senegal and for Liberia who did the same in Togo. Ademola Lookman scored a double as Nigeria sent Benin home 3-0 losers while in an Asian Cup qualifier play-off match in Indonesia, João Pedro scored a hat-trick as East Timor swept Mongolia aside 4-1 and Sri Lanka scored late in extra time to draw 2-2 before eliminating their hosts Cambodia in a penalty shootout. In World Cup qualifiers in the Asian section, the UAE came from behind to celebrate a 3-1 victory in Qatar and Bahrain stunned their Australian hosts 1-0, but were thumped 5-0 by Japan on their return home with doubles from Ayase Ueda and Hidemasa morita while Kuwait and Indonesia achieved 1-1 draws in Jordan and Saudi Arabia respectively and South Korea, who were held to a goalless draw by the travelling Palestinians, bounced back with a 3-1 win in Oman.

In South America Venezuela were taken apart 4-0 in Bolivia who also triumphed 2-1 in Chile while Paraguay drew 0-0 in Uruguay before beating Brazil 1-0 at home and Colombia overcame world champions Argentina 2-1 in front of their jubilant home crowd.

In a World Cup qualifier in the Oceania section, Tonga enjoyed a 3-1 win over Cook Islands in Samoa.