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Deprived of the right to host the tournament and plunged into the mid-term qualifying competition, Cameroon earned their place in the African Nations Cup final and the opportunity to defend their title with a 3-0 win against Comoros, Saturday.
Eric Choupo-Moting, Christian Bbadogog and his substitute Clinton Njie scored for the reigning African champion, who negotiated heavy rains in Yaounde to join Morocco as two teams qualified for Group B.
The result applauded the Central African nation, which was excluded from this year's tournament by the African Football Confederation due to poor preparation and security risks. The tournament was likely to be completely missed until the result of Saturday in the last round of qualifying.
But the 3-0 win is perhaps not the last word in the saga of the 2019 African Cup in Cameroon.
The Comoros had already appealed to the Court of Arbitration for their participation in qualifying and wanted the African champion to be thrown out completely after being dropped as host. The CAS will rule on the record before the kickoff of the Africa Cup, which was held in Egypt in June.
This tournament is the first African Cup to be extended to 24 teams, paving the way for the qualification of some of the unannounced African teams.
At least three countries will make their debut in Africa Cup in Egypt. Madagascar and Mauritania had already qualified and Burundi joined them after holding Gabon 1-1 in Group C to collect the necessary point.
The draw of Burundi in a crowded stage of Prince Louis Rwagasore has earned him to oust Gabon and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a place in the tournament.
After a cautious start, Burundi scored Cedric Amissi's goal in the 76th minute. The goal of Omar Ngando eight minutes from the end worried Burundi. The victory of Gabon would have allowed the Gabonese to qualify instead.
Burundi has managed to clinch the second qualifying place in the group behind Mali and to write the story of a country that is trying to reach the highest tournament in Africa since 1976. In the streets of Bujumbura, shouts and applause took place and car horns kept ringing feast.
"It's a great day in the history of Burundian football," said coach Olivier Niyungeko.
The new host, Egypt, completed their qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw against Niger. Egyptian coach Javier Aguirre presented an experimental training not including Mohamed Salah. Salah still finished as the group's top scorer with four.
Egypt had already qualified for the African Cup when it was chosen as a substitute host.
But complications arose when Cameroon, who was playing in qualifying, suddenly found himself in the obligation to qualify after losing the tournament organization. The argument of the Comoros before the highest court of sport is partly due to the fact that the situation has changed in the middle of the qualifying competition.
Beaten by Cyclone Idai, Mozambique found no consolation in football on Saturday.
Wishing to win a chance to qualify, Mozambique led Guinea-Bissau 2-1 with a goal from substitute Nelson Divarbadon in the 89th minute, before conceding a tying goal to score the misplaced goal.
This meant that Guinea-Bissau and Namibia qualified as group K.
Nineteen of the 24 teams to qualify are known, and the remaining five spots will be decided on Sunday, when the tiny mountainous kingdom of Lesotho could become the fourth starter and Libya could believe that years of civil war will unfold again to the Africa Cup.
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