PSL players featured prominently in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at the weekend as Robert Ng'ambi of Platinum Stars and Polokwane City's Esau Kanyenda scored for Malawi.

But the real drama came in Maputo where Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene saved a penalty from club mate Elias Pelembe as Zambia beat Mozambique 1-0 in Maputo to book a place in the 16-team tournament in Equatorial Guinea in January and February.

Kanyenda was among the veteran players recalled to resurrect Malawi's chance in Group B, where they beat Mali 2-0 in Blantyre on Saturday to still give themselves an opportunity of making the finals.

Downs' goalkeeper Denis Onyango kept a clean sheet as Uganda, who also had Geoffrey Massa of the University of Pretoria in their line-up, shocked Ghana with a 1-0 win in Kampala.

Ghana dropped Mohamed Awal of Maritzburg United from the line-up as regular defender John Boye came back from injury.

After losing two matches last month, Uganda are now back in with a shout of qualifying for the first time since 1978.

Togo, with Sadate Ouro-Akoriko of AmaZulu in the starting XI and SuperSport United's Dove Wome on as an early second-half substitute, saw their finals' hopes evaporate with a 4-1 thumping by Guinea. Botswana picked up their first points of the campaign in a goalless draw with Tunisia.

But it might have been a different story had Mogakolodi Ngele of Dikwena not squandered a chance for home success in Gaborone.