Djibouti suffered a 2-4 home loss to Niger to remain bottom of Group A of the World Cup qualifiers on Monday afternoon.
The hosts were looking to put behind their disappointment of last week when they lost 8-0 in Algeria. And the start was promising.
Djibouti drew first blood when they scored through Anas Ali in the 32nd minute of the second-round match at Stade Moulay Abdellah.
In the second half, Victorien Adebayor equalized for Niger five minutes after restart before adding his second goal of the afternoon in the 56th minute.
Niger were cruising upfront as Amadou Wonkoye scored Niger’s third goal in the 64th minute before Amadou Sabou sealed the comfortable win four minutes later.
The visitors finished with 10 men on the field of play when Hassane Adamou received marching orders for a foul with seven minutes remaining on the clock.
However, there was still some fighting spirit and pride remaining among the hosts.
Little wonder, Djibouti reduced the deficit courtesy of a goal from Houisen Warsama one minute into added time.
Ahead of the match, the hosts’ coach Julien Mette had retained just two players—Mbonihankuye Innocent and Daoud Wais—from the squad that got walloped in Algeria last week.
The coach dropped from the starting line up Mohamed Bourhan, Fouad Moussa, Samuel Akinbinu , Warsama Hassan, Abdi Hamza, Youssouf Ali, Batio Youssouf, Houssein Mahdi and Mahamoud Doualeh.
Players who earned their places in the starting line up were Farada, Robleh, Abdourahman, Siad, Idleh, Hassan, Mahabeh, Elabeh, Abdoul-Aziz
On the other hand, Niger coach Jean-Michel Cavalli had made four changes made to the squad that started the qualifying campaign with a 2-0 home loss to Burkina Faso.
Zakari Lambo, Moutari Amadou and Nasser Garba were relegated to the bench in favour of Djibrilla Mossi, Boubakar Hainikoye and Souley Salamoun in the starting line up.
Such changes worked for Niger but certainly not the hosts.
Niger have three points at par with second-placed Burkina Faso who are yet to face leaders Algeria who started the race with the 8-0 thrashing of Djibouti.
Starting line-ups:
Djibouti:Abonihakuye,Wais,Farada,Robleh,Abdourahman, Siad, Idleh, Hassan, Mahabeh, Elabeh, Abdoul-Aziz
Coach: Julien Mette
Niger: Dauda Kasaly, Djibrilla Mossi, Youssouf Oumarrou, Herve Lybohy, Souley Salamoun, Osumane Diabate, Mohamed Ali, Madjid Soumana, Mohamed Wonkoye, Zakari Adebayor, Boubakar Hainikoye
Coach:Jean-Michel Cavalli