Ivory Coast have qualified for the last 16 at the African Cup of Nations by beating Namibia 4-1 to clinch second place in Group D behind Morocco.
But South Africa’s fate hangs in the balance after they lost to Morocco on Monday, with Moroccan captain Moubarak Boussoufa scoring the only goal in the 90th minute.
South Africa must wait to see if they are one of the four best third-place teams to progress.
Ivory Coast led Namibia 2-0 at 30 June Stadium in Cairo through goals by Max Gradel and Serey Die.
Gradel sprung the Namibian offside trap – although it was close – and hit an angled shot to give Ivory Coast the lead in the 38th minute.
Die doubled the lead with a long-range effort early in the second half that deflected off the head of Namibia defender Ryan Nyambe.
Joslin Kamatuka took advantage of a miscued clearance by Ivory Coast goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo to make it 2-1 with just under 20 minutes to go.
But the Ivorians scored twice more in the last six minutes with slick finishes by Wilfried Zaha and Maxwel Cornet.
South Africa paid for their conservative approach against Morocco, when they appeared to be playing for a draw.
Boussoufa was the first to react to a loose ball in the South African area and poked home his shot to settle the game right at the end.
Morocco finished the group stage with three wins from three games, all of them by 1-0.
Seven teams have reached the round of 16: Morocco and Ivory Coast joined host Egypt, Uganda, Madagascar, Nigeria and Algeria. The four best third-place teams are currently Guinea, Congo, Kenya and South Africa but three of the six groups still have games to be played.
Article culled from the Australian Association Press
