Tanzanian hopes of a first World Cup appearance suffered a severe blow this weekend when they lost 2-1 in Morocco.
The Taifa Stars had Aggrey Morris red carded at Stade de Marrakech before Abderrazak Hamdallah and Youssef El Arabi scored either side of half-time.
Amri Kiemba pulled one goal back and Mbwana Samata came close to equalising for the visitors, who upset Morocco 3-1 in Dar es Salaam three months ago.
Tanzania entered matchday 4 a point behind Group C leaders Ivory Coast, whose 3-0 win in the Gambia widened the gap to four points with two rounds left.
Lacina Traore, Wilfried Bony and reigning African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure scored for the ‘Elephants’ in Bakau.
Ivory Coast play in Dar es Salaam next weekend before hosting Morocco during September while Tanzania are away to Gambia in the final round.
Expected to pose the biggest threat to the Ivorians, Morocco won for the first time in the mini-league and trail the pacesetters by five points.
Cape Verde Islands, who caused a stir by reaching the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals, finally ended a nightmare World Cup run.
The ‘Blue Sharks’ defeated Equatorial Guinea 2-1 in Praia to collect their first Group B points after three consecutive losses.
Babanco and Djaniny scored for Cape Verde, most of whose footballers use nicknames rather than first and surnames.
Jonatas Obina netted for the Equatoguineans in a group topped by Tunisia, who retained a five-point lead over Sierra Leone by drawing 2-2 in Freetown.
A further six Africa zone fixtures are scheduled for Sunday and Egypt could become the first country to reach the final qualifying stage.
The ‘Pharaohs’ would take an unassailable Group G lead if they triumph in Zimbabwe and second-place Guinea do not win at home to Mozambique.
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