WRAPUP 3-Soccer-Benin refuse to get off bus after positive COVID tests

(updates with details of final matches)
* Benin game in Sierra Leone does not take place
* Six Benin players declared COVID-19 positive
* CAF must decide if game goes ahead on Wednesday
* Four more countries qualify for January's finals

By Mark Gleeson
CAPE TOWN, March 30 (Reuters) - The conclusion of the
African Cup of Nations qualifiers descended into farce on
Tuesday as Benin refused to play their decisive qualifier in
Sierra Leone after local authorities declared six of their
players to be COVID-19 positive.
Players initially would not leave the team bus after being
told the six were ineligible for the crucial Group L match in
Freetown where Sierra Leone needed to win while Benin required
only a draw for a place in next January's finals.
“A shame for African football what is currently happening,
we hope the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will take
responsibility and take action,” said a tweet from the Benin
Football Federation.
Negotiations led to the kick off being put back three hours
but the revised time passed without play starting. The Benin
federation later said its players had returned to the hotel
after “being blocked on the bus”.
There was no comment from CAF who must now decide whether
the game goes ahead on Wednesday.
Matches in African club competitions earlier this year were
dogged by players from visiting teams being disqualified by test
results, some delivered just before kick off, leading to
accusations that testing for the novel coronavirus was being
manipulated to offer home teams an advantage.

QUARTET QUALIFY
On the pitch the Cape Verde Islands, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau
and Mauritania all qualified for the finals on Tuesday, albeit
with contrasting fortunes.
Cape Verde needed only a draw away to Mozambique in Maputo
to prevent their hosts from qualifying but Faisal Bangal's own
goal handed the visitors a 1-0 win in Group F.
Ethiopia lost 3-1 to Ivory Coast but still qualified, while
Mauritania won 1-0 away to the Central African Republic in Group
E to secure their spot for a second straight tournament.
Guinea Bissau posted a 3-0 victory over Congo to catapult
above them into second place in Group I.
They had to win the game while their visitors needed only to
draw but Piqueti scored in the last minute of the first half and
Frederic Mendy and Jorginho Intima added two more after the
break to see Guinea Bissau to a third successive finals.
Ivory Coast beat Ethiopia in Abidjan to top Group K with 13
points but Ethiopia, with nine, qualified as runners-up when
Madagascar were held to a 0-0 draw by Niger at the same time.
The Malagasy, who reached the last Cup of Nations
quarter-finals on their debut, needed a home win to usurp
Ethiopia in the standings but despite their desperate onslaught
at home in Toamasina failed to beat veteran goalkeeper Kassaly
Daouda.
Ethiopia were a goal behind within three minute as Willy
Boly scored for the Ivorians followed by a 19th minute penalty
from Franck Kessie.
Getaneh Kebede pulled a goal back in the second half but the
hosts quickly re-established a two-goal advantage through Jean
Evrard Kouassi.
Former Fulham striker Aboubakar Kamara scored on the stroke
of halftime to ensure Mauritania qualified with a win in Bangui.