Cameroon were held to a shock draw away to unfancied Eswatini as African qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup resumed on Wednesday.
Bryan Mbeumo came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Indomitable Lions when the Brentford forward hit the woodwork with a curling effort from distance in the first half.
Eswatini are ranked 159th in the world, 110 places below the central Africans, but were able to hold on in the second half, with Mlamuli Makhanya tipping a header from Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar over the crossbar.
Cameroon remain unbeaten after five games but could be replaced as Group D leaders before they host Libya on Tuesday next week.
Elsewhere, Tunisia continued their unbeaten start with a hard-fought 1-0 win away against Liberia to move five points clear at the top of Group H.
Madagascar moved to the summit of Group I after coming from behind to win 4-1 away against Central African Republic (CAR) in Corentin Martins’ first match in charge.
The islanders lead Comoros and Ghana by a point.
There were nine qualifiers yesterday, with Comoros having a chance to regain top spot in Group I when they hosted Mali.
Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals resumed after a nine-month hiatus, with the final six rounds of group matches spread across March, September and October.
The nine group winners are guaranteed a place in the World Cup finals, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Cameroon have appeared at an African-record eight editions of the tournament but their task has got trickier after dropping two points in neutral Mbombela.
Mbeumo also had a shot deflected wide in the first half while Aboubakar was wasteful with efforts either side of the break.

Boxing will remain an Olympic sport after the International Olympic Committee unanimously voted for it to be included in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
The sport was not part of the programme for the next Olympics when the schedule was first announced in 2022.
But the IOC granted provisional recognition for World Boxing as the sport’s global body last month before voting for its inclusion at the ongoing session in Greece.
“I thank you for the approval of having boxing back. We can look forward to a great boxing tournament,” outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach said.
Boxing has featured at every Olympics since 1904, except 1912, but the IOC has run the sport at the past two Games after the International Boxing Association (IBA) was suspended in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.
The Russian-led IBA was then stripped of its status in June 2023 over a failure to implement reforms.
The IOC and the IBA clashed during last year’s Olympics in Paris over the participation of two boxers, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting.
The IBA banned the fighters during the 2023 World Championships saying they had failed gender eligibility tests, but the IOC allowed them to compete and both won gold medals in their weight classes.
World Boxing was formed in April 2023 and now has 84 members across five continents, including Great Britain.
“This is a great day for boxers, boxing and everyone connected with our sport at every level across the world,” said World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst.
“World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right and we are determined to be a trustworthy and reliable partner that will adhere to and uphold the values of the Olympic Movement.”
The IOC has said only athletes whose national federations are members of World Boxing by the time of the start of the qualification events for the 2028 Olympics can take part in Los Angeles.
The dates for the qualifying period are yet to be confirmed.

The World Happiness Report 2025, released yesterday, ranks Finland as the happiest country for the eighth consecutive year.

Other Nordic countries, including Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, also remain at the top in the same order.

Aino Virolainen, a digital commerce director who has lived abroad, expressed her desire to return to Finland.

“It’s where I want to raise my kids and grow old,” she said, citing the peace, trustworthiness, and clean, fresh environment as key reasons.

The rankings were based on people’s self-rated life satisfaction, with the study conducted in partnership with Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, emphasised that happiness is about trust, connection, and community, rather than just wealth.

“To build stronger communities and economies, we must invest in each other,” he stated.