Egypt secured a crucial 1-0 win over Senegal in their 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff first-leg on Friday in Cairo.
The African champions rolled out the big guns in Sadio Mane, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ismaila Sarr amongst others, as Mohamed Salah picked out Egypt's eleven.
Billed as a repeat of last month's TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations final in Cameroon, the Teranga Lions saw a fourth minute own-goal from Saliou Cisse hand the Pharaohs a first-leg victory.
Ghana and Nigeria cancelled out each other in a goalless draw in the first leg of their play-off qualifier in Kumasi.
The Super Eagles featured Napoli's highly-rated forward Victor Osimhen up front alongside Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze too.
In response, the Black Stars who didn't qualify for the previous finals in Russia started Jordan Ayew and Thomas Partey as their go-to figures in attack and midfield
Although in light of the attacking talent on display from the two nations, the clash finished goalless as a host of chances went abegging.
Cameroon were handed a slender 1-0 loss by Algeria in the first-leg of their World Cup playoff qualifier in Douala.
The Indomitable Lions, who hosted a successful TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations last month, started their star men such as Andre Onana, Eric Choupo-Moting and Vincent Aboubakar.
Algeria weren't undone in this regard and called on Riyad Mahrez, Ismael Bennacer and Islam Slimani, who got the only goal of the game early in the first spell.
Morocco had to engineer a comeback late in the second half to steal a 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Leopards stunned the Atlas Lions with an early lead courtesy of Yoane Wissa, and a missed penalty through Ryan Mmaee.
However, Gent's Tarik Tissoudali came good for the North Africans towards the final stages to see his nation head into Tuesday's return-leg on equal footing.
Tunisia took a positive step towards qualification to this year's showpiece with a narrow 1-0 win over Mali at the Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako.
An own-goal in the middle of the first half from Moussa Sissako was all it took to separate the two nations ahead of the second-leg in four days time.
Sissako's day got worse after he got handed a straight red card in the opening half of this contest.