Soccer-Angola, Togo make positive starts to World Cup qualifying campaign

Angola and Togo made encouraging starts in their bids to reach the 2022 World Cup finals with positive away results in the first legs of their first-round ties that put them closer to a place in next year’s group qualifying phase.

Angola defender Wilson Gaspar scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against the Gambia while Togo drew 1-1 in the Comoros Islands, with the return legs to come on Tuesday. Angola and Togo were surprise qualifiers for the 2006 finals in Germany but their current low rankings dictated participation in the first round of the African preliminaries for Qatar 2022 as part of the 28 bottom-ranked teams on the continent.

All those countries are involved in two-leg knockout ties to determine the 14 who advance to the group phase, where they will join the 26 top-ranked sides in the 40-team, 10-group second phase. Wilson Gaspar scored after 32 minutes for Angola, who survived a late onslaught by their west African hosts and head home with a handy advantage for the return match in Luanda.

Togo also took the lead just after the half-hour mark in their clash with Comoros in Moroni through Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba. But debutant Ibroihim Djoudja snapped up a rebound after Togo goalkeeper Sabirou Bassa parried away a freekick to give the Indian Ocean islanders an equalizer just after halftime. 

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