This archive report was first published on 7 September 2019.
Published on September 7, 2019, Angola and Togo made encouraging starts in their bids to reach the 2022 World Cup finals with positive away results in the first legs of their first-round ties.
Angola's Wilson Gaspar scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Gambia, while Togo drew 1-1 in the Comoros Islands. The return legs are set to take place on Tuesday.
Angola and Togo were surprise qualifiers for the 2006 finals in Germany but their current low rankings dictated participation in the first round of the African preliminaries for Qatar 2022 as part of the 28 bottom-ranked teams on the continent.
Angola's win was sealed after 32 minutes, with Wilson Gaspar scoring the decisive goal. The team survived a late onslaught by their west African hosts and head home with a handy advantage for the return match in Luanda.
Togo also took the lead just after the half-hour mark in their clash with Comoros in Moroni through Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba. However, debutant Ibroihim Djoudja snapped up a rebound after Togo goalkeeper Sabirou Bassa parried away a freekick to give the Indian Ocean islanders an equaliser just after halftime.
