Mighty Nigeria surrendered first place in a 2006 World Cup qualifying group to Angola on Sunday after being held 1-1 by minnows Rwanda.
The top-versus-bottom clash in the central African city of Kigali took a dramatic turn nine minutes into the second half when Rwanda striker Jimmy Gatete completed a dazzling dribble with a chip over goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama into the net.
Spurred by a capacity 30 000 crowd that included President Paul Kagame, Rwanda held the advantage until caught napping by a 79th-minute counterattack that culminated in Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins equalising.
Both teams squandered chances to collect maximum points in a lively end to an often drab encounter with Nigeria sorely missing midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha and striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who said they were tired after the English Premiership season.
Another Premiership performer, former African Footballer of the Year Nwankwo Kanu, led Nigeria, but struggled to exert any influence on midfield and made way for Ayo Makinwa in the second half.
Angola edged Algeria 2-1 in Luanda through goals from Flavio Amado and Fabrice ‘Akwa’ Maieco to join Nigeria on 14 points in Group 4, and go top thanks to a superior head-to-head record having downed the Super Eagles 1-0 last year.
Zimbabwe remain third, thanks to a 1-0 victory over Gabon in Harare through a hotly disputed penalty converted by veteran striker Peter Ndlovu seven minutes into the second half.
Togo overwhelmed Zambia 4-1 in Lome to take a two-point lead over 2002 qualifiers Senegal in Group 1 with France-based striker Emmanuel Adebayor opening and closing the scoring.
Cherif Toure and Kader Coubadja were the other Togolese scorers while Gift Kampamba struck an early equaliser for Zambia, who trailed 2-1 at half-time and had coach Kalusha Bwalya sent off for interfering with an assistant referee near the end.
Senegal could only draw 0-0 with Congo in Brazzavile while Mali secured their first pool win at the seventh attempt, defeating depleted Liberia 4-1 in Segou with Dramane Coulibaly scoring twice.
Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana moved within three points of group two front runners South Africa via contrasting home wins.
The Congolese hammered Uganda 4-0 in Kinshasa while Ghana came from behind to pip Burkina Faso 2-1 in Kumasi.
Shabani Nonda, one of many France-based players in action around Africa, scored twice for the Democratic Republic of Congo with Ngasanya Ilonga and Matomona Zola the other marksmen against Uganda, who have gone six matches without a win since beating the Congolese in the first round.
Moumouni Dagano gave the Burkinabe Stallions a shock 30th-minute lead over the Black Stars, Juventus midfielder Stephen Appiah levelled from a second-half penalty and Matthew Amoah grabbed the winner six minutes from full-time.
Guinea climbed two places to second in group five after shading Kenya 1-0 in Conakry — courtesy of a goal midway through the second half from Sambegou Bangoura. The visitors lacked leading scorer Dennis Oliech, who refused to travel because of a cash dispute.
Morocco lead the pool with 15 points followed by Guinea and Tunisia with 11 each and Kenya with nine. Tunisia, who have a game in hand, host suspect travellers Guinea next weekend.
Egypt were the most convincing winners of the 10-match programme, scoring three goals in each half to sink Group 3 strugglers Sudan 6-1 in Cairo with Abdel Halim Ali and Amr Zaki claiming two each.
Côte d’Ivoire, seeking a first appearance at the quadrennial showcase of international football, lead a section labelled ”The Group of Death” with 16 points, followed by Cameroon (14) and Egypt (13). – Sapa-AFP