Cape Town – South Africa emerged the winners of the opening round of fixtures from the Africa Nations Championship (Chan), scoring the most goals in their first game of group A at the weekend.
Bernard Parker and Hlompho Kekana were on target for the host nation as they brushed aside Mozambique, scoring three goals and ending round one as the team with the best goal difference, along with Libya in group C.
Bafana Bafana bettered fellow group A winners Mali's surprise 2-1 win over tournament favourites Nigeria, to lead the group with a superior goal difference of two.
Mozambique sank to the bottom of group A’s standings, along with Nigeria.
However, both have an opportunity to claim their first points of the competition when they meet in Wednesday's second game of the day.
Where group A managed a respectable seven goals from the opening round, group B could produce only three, thanks to a goalless draw between Morocco and Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Uganda edged Burkina Faso 2-1 and now lead the group, while Morocco and Zimbabwe settled for a point each.
Libya looked comfortable in their 2-0 win over Ethiopia in the opening round, sending the North African nation top of the pile in group C. Ghana earned three points by beating Congo Brazzaville 1-0 in Bloemfontein.
Group D proved to be the most fruitless from round one, managing just a single goal, following Gabon and Burundi's dull, goalless draw.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was the only team to get on the score sheet in the group, as Eddy Emomo dispatched a penalty past Mauritanian goalkeeper Brahim Souleymane to steal three points for the Leopards. – Sapa