African qualifiers' magic: Mozambique take the lead directly from a corner! (VIDEO)

Even though African football is nowhere near as attractive as European or South American, it still occasionally provides the fans with an unbelievable and memorable moment. Today, it happened thanks to Mozambique attacking midfielder Pepo Santos, who scored a screamer only three minutes into the game.

Namely, Os Mambas earned a corner from the right side, and the player of the Portuguese third-tier side, Caldas, netted the popular "Olimpico" - a goal directly from a corner!

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However, Pepo took care not to be remembered only by the corner-kick banger, completing a brace in the 16th minute and assisting for Stanley Ratifo's goal in the added time, seconds before the break.

Thanks to the 30-year-old born in Portugal, Mozambique awaited the break with a 3-1 lead. Given that Uganda's Denis Omedi was sent off in the 38th minute, Os Mambas are on the verge of a vital triumph that will launch them to the top of their qualifying group with three points clear from Algeria which face Botswana in Francistown tomorrow at 16.00.

2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS - AFRICA

Round 5

Wednesday

CAR - Madagascar 1-4 (1-2)

/Gambor 9 - Raveloson 17,21, Randrianantenaina 49, Rafanomezantsoa 89/

Eswatini - Cameroon

Liberia - Tunisia 0-1 (0-1)

/Mestouri 4/

Thursday

Mozambique - Uganda 3-1 (3-1)

/Pepo 3, 16, Ratifo 45+3 - Shaban 7/

19:00: (1.18) Cape Verde (7.00) Mauritius (16.0)

19:00: (2.75) Malawi (2.60) Namibia (3.00)

19:00: (3.40) Sierra Leone (3.10) Guinea B. (2.30)

19:00: (3.20) Zimbabwe (3.10) Benin (2.40)

22:00: (1.01) Gabon (15.0) Seychelles (45.0)

22:00: (2.90) Gambia (3.05) Kenya (2.65)

22:00: (2.55) Libya (2.90) Angola (2.90)

Friday

00:00: (5.90) Comoros (3.50) Mali (1.67)

16:00: (7.75) Botswana (3.70) Algeria (1.53)

16:00: (1.20) Equatorial Guinea (5.90) Sao Tome (20.0)

19:00: (1.08) Burkina Faso (11.0) Djibouti (25.0)

19:00: (1.12) DR Congo (8.50) South Sudan (22.0)

19:00: (4.45) Rwanda (2.85) Nigeria (2.10)

19:00: (1.25) S.Africa (5.40) Lesotho (15.0)

22:00: (13.0) Burundi (4.50) Ivory Coast (1.33)

22:00: (1.02) Ghana (16.0) Chad (50.0)

Saturday

00:00: (12.0) Ethiopia (4.70) Egypt (1.33)

00:00: (1.05) Guinea (13.0) Somalia (40.0)

00:30: (22.0) Niger (10.5) Morocco (1.10)

***odds are subject to change***