The Africa Cup of Nations qualification cycle restarted on Thursday with the kind of opening-day results that mostly confirmed existing hierarchies while hinting at a few emerging cracks. DR Congo, riding the momentum of their first-ever World Cup knockout stage appearance, dispatched Equatorial Guinea 2-0 in Kinshasa through Chancel Mbemba's fourth-minute header and Yoane Wissa's late finish. The scoreline flattered the visitors — the Congolese hit the woodwork twice and had two goals ruled offside. The subtext in Kinshasa was as loud as the football. The Stade des Martyrs was capped at 20,000 after sanctions for fan violence during World Cup qualifying against Senegal a year ago. Libya's home match against Botswana in Tripoli was played behind entirely closed doors for the same reason. These aren't isolated incidents — they're a recurring governance problem that strips home advantage from federations that can't control their own stadiums. In Bouake, Ivory Coast handled Ghana with a comfort that bordered on embarrassment. Malick Yalcouye's first-half screamer opened the scoring, though Lawrence Ati-Zigi will want that tape burned — the near-post strike was saveable. Franck Kessie converted a second-half penalty to seal a 2-0 win. The real story was Ghana's impotence: no shot on target until the 75th minute, 39 percent possession, and a team that increasingly looks like it's running on fumes from a golden generation that has moved on. Ghana's trajectory is the most watchable storyline in Group C. Having already failed to qualify for AFCON 2025 in Morocco, this opening defeat extends a slide that now spans multiple cycles. The Black Stars aren't rebuilding — they haven't started building. For a federation that reached the World Cup quarterfinals in 2010, the distance traveled is striking. Cameroon beat Comoros 3-1 in a match that went largely to script, while Tunisia — perpetual contenders who rarely dominate — were held 1-1 by Uganda. Mauritania's 3-1 win over the Central African Republic in Casablanca featured a gorgeous chip from Dawda Camara, and Namibia ground out a 1-0 win over Congo (Brazzaville) through Bethuel Muzeu's solitary goal. The best drama came from Tripoli, where Botswana's Tumisang Orebonye scored twice in the first half to put his side on course for a rare away upset. Libya pulled one back through Maruwan Alhibeeshi's 87th-minute thunderbolt, then rescued a 2-2 draw when Mothusi Cooper's clumsy stoppage-time challenge gifted Ezoo El Mariamy a penalty. Botswana will feel robbed; Libya will take what they can get in an empty stadium. Opening matchdays in AFCON qualifying rarely produce shocks — the structure rewards consistency, and the big federations have the depth to grind through group stages. But the margins are narrowing. Namibia, Mauritania, and Botswana are no longer easy points. Ghana's decline opens Group C. And the stadium-ban issue — now affecting multiple nations simultaneously — is a structural problem that CAF has not solved and shows no signs of solving.
