It’s been quite a month for Vakoun Bayo as he added a first senior international goal for Ivory Coast to his CV last night.

The striker scored the opener in a 4-0 win over Chad in an African Cup of Nations qualifier, which came hot on the heels of his four goals in Watford’s 6-2 romp at Sheffield Wednesday and then netting the winner against Oxford at Vicarage Road.

Bayo was called up by his country for the first time in six years, and picked up his third full cap when he came off the bench for the last 23 minutes of the 1-0 defeat at Zambia at the weekend.

Yesterday Bayo made his first start and grabbed the opening goal after 25 minutes in a win that means Ivory Coast have qualified for the finals which will be held in Morocco starting on December 21, 2025.

It was a doubly good day for Watford’s African strikers as Mamadou Doumbia also scored his first senior goal for Mali - and the first senior goal of his career.

The young forward came off the bench with 27 minutes remaining and grabbed the final goal in a 6-0 rout of Eswatini - a really well-taken curling effort into the corner.

 

It was the 18-year-old’s third full international appearance and with Mali winning their group he too could be at next year’s finals.

Edo Kayembe played 70 minutes as DR Congo were beaten 2-1 at home by Ethiopia, but they had already qualified for next year’s AFCON finals.

In the European Nations League, Ken Sema played the full 90 minutes as Sweden also ran out 6-0 winners against Azerbaijan with striker Viktor Gyokeres scoring four.

The victory secured the Swedes top spot in Group One of League C, and they will be promoted.

It wasn’t such good news for Georgi Chakvetadze, who played the first hour of Georgia’s 2-1 defeat away in the Czech Republic.

That result means the Georgians finish third in Group 1 of League B, and now face a relegation play-off.

Francisco Sierralta was an unused substitute as Chile beat Venezuala 4-2 to lift themselves off the bottom of the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying table.

Ryan Andrews was on the bench as England Under-20s drew 1-1 away in Poland in the Elite League.

Forward Kristian Shevchenko played the last 27 minutes for Ukraine Under-19s as they lost 1-0 against the Netherlands, while goalkeeper Gabriel Ortelli kept a clean sheet as Cyprus Under-19s beat Andorra 1-0 on Monday.

Ukraine finished bottom of their four-team group and miss out on qualification for the Under-19 European Championship finals in Romania next year.

Cyprus finished third in their group but did not reach the finals as the best third-placed team.