Nigeria will not be defending their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title in Equatorial Guinea in 2015 after sharing the spoils with South Africa in a final round of qualification match.
Ephraim Shakes Mashaba’s Bafana Bafana finished their Afcon 2015 qualification campaign on a high with a reassuring 2-2 draw against Nigeria at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium, Uyo, on Wednesday.
Second-half substitute Sone Aluko scored twice to cancel out Tokelo Rantie’s brace either side of the break, but it was insufficient for the Super Eagles to progress to the Afcon finals.
It will be the second time Africa’s flagship football event will be hosted in Equatorial Guinea that Nigeria will not be represented following another dismal performance on the heels of the 2012 tournament, co-hosted with Gabon.
Congo defeated Sudan in Khartoum to clinch one of the 14 automatic tickets available to all 28 teams in the final qualification tournament.
South Africa finished the qualifying series with 12 points from a possible 18, while Congo are runners-up with 10 points. Holders Nigeria are third with eight points, Sudan are bottom of Group A standings on 3 points.
DR Congo- third in Group D with nine points- edge Nigeria to the ‘best-loser’s’ berth.
Complete list of qualified nations for the 30th edition of Afcon:
Equatorial Guinea (host),
South Africa, Congo (Group A);
Algeria, Mali, (Group B);
Burkina Faso, Gabon (Group C);
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire (Group D);
Ghana, Guinea (Group E)
Cape Verde, Zambia (Group F);
Senegal, Tunisia (Group G);
DRC (3rd best placed team)