Debutants line up for Tunisia

Three teams will make their debuts in the African Nations Cup finals for the first time after an extraordinary day of final qualifying matches.

Rwanda's victory was a massive shock

Rwanda - ranked 119th in the world - sensationally beat Ghana 1-0 at home in Group 5, in a match Ghana's Black Stars only needed to draw to go to Tunisia.

But Jimmy Gatete's 60th minute goal was enough to turn the group on its head and see Rwanda make it to the finals at the expense of one of Africa's most high-profile sides.

Joining them are Benin, who trounced Zambia's Chipolopolo 3-0 at home to end up as the surprise winners of Group 3.

Their victory was thanks in large part to Oumar Tchomogo's two goals, one of which was a controversial penalty after Sheffield United striker Laurent Djaffo went down in the penalty area.

And Zimbabwe made it a hat-trick of debutants without kicking a ball.

They go through as the best-placed runner-up after Gabon unexpectedly beat Sierra Leone - Zimbabwe's only competition for the spot - 2-0.

Meanwhile South Africa confirmed they would be making the long flight north with a 2-0 win over Burundi.

Tebeho Mokoena's goal after just 42 seconds put them on their way before Stanton Fredericks sealed the win. The result means South Africa's group rivals Ivory Coast - one of the top-ranked teams in Africa - will also not be going to the finals.

Ghana's Black Stars will be absent for the first time since 1990

Morocco, the 1976 winners, also got through with minimum fuss, taking a 1-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea.

And Burkina Faso made sure they were the winners of Group 4 after trouncing CAR 3-0, a great deal thanks to Moumouni Dagano's two goals.

The last team to confirm their place was Guinea, who overwhelmed Ethiopia 3-0 in Conakry in an evening kick-off.

The two teams were tied on points before the match and an Ethiopian victory would have seen them through.

Meanwhile, a number of matchers rendered more or less meaningless thanks to results elsewhere were also played out.

Angola beat Malawi 5-1; Congo drew 0-0 with Mozambique; Lesotho beat Gambia 0-0; and Chad drew 0-0 with Algeria.

Meanwhile the match between Sudan and Tanzania - neither of who could qualify was postponed indefinitely after Tanzania failed to turn up.

Final 16 qualifiers for 2004 African Cup of Nations:

Cameroon (holders)
Tunisia (hosts)
Nigeria
Guinea
Benin
Burkina Faso
Kenya
Mali
Morocco
Senegal
DR Congo
Egypt
South Africa
Algeria
Rwanda
Zimbabwe (best runners-up)