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South Africa and Ghana kept alive hopes of competing at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil after play-off victories in Morocco on Thursday.
Ghana recovered from falling behind after just four minutes to edge the Ivory Coast 2-1 in Casablanca.
South Africa then held on after conceding in added time and having captain Refiloe Jane sent off to beat Nigeria 2-1 at another venue in the Moroccan commercial capital.
The two winners join Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Papua New Guinea and Venezuela or Ecuador in a six-nation tournament during November and December with the top two finishers progressing.
They will join two representatives from the North, Central and Caribbean region and one each from South America and Europe with the winners of three match-ups qualifying for Brazil.
By reaching the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-finals, Cameroon, Malawi, Algeria and Morocco secured the four World Cup places reserved for the continent.
Quarter-final losers Ghana, South Africa, Ivory Coast and Nigeria were then given a second chance in the play-offs.
Losing to South Africa completed a disastrous WAFCON for Nigeria, the highest-ranked team in Africa, who exited after losing three of five matches, including to lowly ranked Malawi.
Ines Konan converted a fourth-minute penalty for Ivory Coast, but second-half goals from Princess Marfo and Josephine Bonsu, from another spot kick, won the play-off for Ghana.
Thembi Kgatlana and Jane scored after half-time to build a two-goal advantage for South Africa, which was halved three minutes into added time when Christy Ucheibe netted off a penalty.
On Saturday, Morocco face Algeria for third place in the WAFCON and, on Sunday, Malawi meet Cameroon in the final. Both matches are in Rabat.
Malawi is ranked 153rd in the world and is making their first WAFCON appearance. Cameroon have been runners-up three times, most recently in 2016.
