The group stage of Africa's World Cup qualifying campaign reached a pulsating finale on Tuesday as the continent's nine automatic qualifiers for next year's global showpiece were decided.
However, that wasn't all that was settled during the final gameweek of the round, as the four 'lucky losers' among the group runners up squeezed into the Second Round - to take place next month - with one set to represent the continent in the inter-confederation playoff.
Here are the big storylines that went down during the final fixtures of a fascinating programme of African football.
Cape Verde make history...
... but have chaotic Cameroon to thank.
Of course, Cape Verde's qualification for the 2026 World Cup is outstanding and deserves immense credit... as the world's media have lavished on the tiny island nation in the hours since they thumped Eswatini to progress as Group D winners.
It's an outstanding moment for the islanders -- to date one of only three debutants (alongside Jordan and Uzbekistan) to reach next year's tournament -- as they become the second smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup.
Considering they only featured at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time as recently as 2013, their rise to continental footballing prominence -- not least due to effective use of the country's expansive Diaspora in Portugal and beyond -- deserves celebration.
It certainly appears to be prompting appropriate festivities back in the carnivalesque hotbeds of Praia, and on the magical beaches of Santa Maria, but as locals anticipate an unexpected month rubbing shoulders with the elite, they ought to also raise a goblet of grogue to thank Cameroon for opening the door to their historical qualification.
The most successful African team ever in World Cup qualification -- with eight previous appearances -- Cameroon will have fancied their chances of progressing after being drawn into a fairly favourable Group D.
However, the Indomitable Lions made an absolute hash of qualification, winning just half of their 10 matches, and being held by Libya away, Angola in both matches, and even lowly Eswatini.
They could have kept the pressure on Cape Verde with a win in Praia last month, but were seen off by Dailon Livramento's second-half winner, while the highlight of their 0-0 draw with Angola on Monday was arguably FA President Samuel Eto'o's blazing row with some disgruntled supporters in the VIP section of the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.
Eto'o conquered Africa and Europe as a player, but his legacy as president of the federation is in danger of being one of impoverishment for the country's footballing structure. Certainly, his ongoing tension, if not bubbling animosity, with Belgian head coach Marc Brys, appointed over Eto'o's head by the country's sports ministry has established an unsettling, uneasy backdrop against which the national side have stuttered.
"[Some people] prefer Cameroon to be in difficulty," Brys told journalists in his post-match press conference, without explicitly naming Eto'o. "The management around us always does things to disrupt, sabotage things.
"If everything was normal in our journey, we would already have qualified."
Fortunately for both president and head coach, Cameroon aren't yet dead and buried, with a place in the playoffs now awaiting them. Clearly, they must improve dramatically to reach the tournament, but despite the Lions' immense 'basket case' potential, they have also demonstrated considerable capacity to overcome adversity.
Can Brys and/or Eto'o finally mastermind the most unlikely of qualifications?
Bafana breath a long, long sigh of relief
No one... with perhaps Nigeria as the only exception... will be as relieved to see the qualification campaign reach its conclusion as South Africa, who will return to the World Cup for the first time since 2010 after seeing off Rwanda 3-0 at home on Tuesday.
Bafana Bafana ultimately finished one point ahead of both Nigeria and Benin, although they were the best team in this group and actually won 21 points on the field, only to lose three following a FIFA sanction.
They only have themselves to blame, having fielded the suspended -- and thus ineligible -- Teboho Mokeona for the March victory over Lesotho, ultimately prompting FIFA to annul the victory, dock Bafana's points and award the minnows the victory.
Ultimately, victory over Rwanda means that South African fans may well opt to look back and laugh about their near costly mishap, although in the corridors of power at SAFA, the federation surely need an inquisition to understand how a prize as rich as a place at next year's tournament was almost jeopardised because of an administrative bungle.
It threatens to take away from the fine work being done by Africa Cup of Nations-winning head coach Hugo Broos, who oversaw Bafana's return to the AFCON and their third-placed finish last year, before following that up with World Cup qualification... ahead of the Super Eagles, no less.
Broos was hoisted aloft by his team after qualification was secured, and it's worth noting that, with South Africa featuring at the 2010 tournament as hosts, this is their first proper qualification in 23 years.
The Belgian vowed to resign if he missed out on the World Cup, but now he can look forward to the grandest challenge of his managerial career.
Morocco go perfect through qualification
While Senegal will be many neutrals' team to watch among the African cohort set for the World Cup, could it be Morocco, once again, who break new ground for the continent's national sides.
Just under three years after they became the first African team to reach the final four of the tournament, where they were defeated by France in Al Khor, Morocco have yet again made history for the continent.
Their victory over Congo-Brazzaville on Tuesday -- secured with Youssef En-Nesyri's goal just after the hour mark -- wasn't required to secure qualification (they'd wrapped up their place in US-CA-MX last month), but ensured that the Atlas Lions ended the qualification with a 100-percent record.
Indeed, Morocco's effort is all the more impressive when you dig deeper into their record, where they scored 22 and conceded just twice across their eight group games, while victory on Tuesday ensures they become the first side in history to go perfect through an African World Cup qualifying campaign.
Their victory also means they break the record set by Spain in 2009 of 15 consecutive wins in international football, with the 1-0 triumph Morocco's 16th victory in a row, a run stretching back to June 2024.
Next stop, however, is the Nations Cup on home soil, where Walid Regragui's side will be favourites to extend their run and win a first title since 1976.
"We've won 16 consecutive matches, no one's done it before," Achraf Hakimi said after the match. "We know that we weren't at our best level, but we need to be united to lift the AFCON."
Familiar faces set to represent the continent
With Africa's World Cup allocation increasing to nine guaranteed spots for next year's event, there were hopes that the tournament's expansion would open the door to some more unfamiliar faces featuring at the top table.
However, apart from the aforementioned Cape Verde, the nine sides already qualified are all among the continent's regular recent tournament qualifiers.
Four of the five teams present in Qatar will return -- Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal -- with Cameroon not yet ruled out. Egypt, present in 2018, secured their berth with a 3-0 victory over Djibouti, while Nigeria, who were also in action in Russia, have reached the playoffs.
Algeria and Africa's champions Ivory Coast missed the last two tournaments, but were present in both 2010 and 2014 - with the Elephants previously making their competition debut in 2006 - while South Africa have been present for three of the last eight tournaments.
Indeed, all of Africa's representatives for the last four editions are all either qualified or still in the running, ensuring that the continent's field in US-CA-MX will have a particularly familiar look and feel coming next year's showpiece.
It's perhaps unsurprising that the continent's traditional powerhouses have once again asserted themselves, although surely the likes of Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and even Madagascar may regret not making the most of the opportunities presented by an expanded tournament and four extra guaranteed places for Africa.