Guinea finished top of Group Eight with Eleven points

Guinea booked their place at the Nations Cup as they swept to a 4-0 victory over the Cape Verde Islands in their Group Eight qualifier on Sunday.

Guinea finished three points ahead of Algeria and Gambia to become the 12th team to reach the tournament being held in Ghana next year.

Pascal Feinduono opened the score with a 19th minute penalty after Fode Mansare had been brought down.

Mohamed Cisse made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute and five minutes later defender Ibrahima Camara added the third after a mazy dribble through the opposing defence.

The fourth goal came on the stroke of half-time from Ismael Bangoura.

The Cape Verdians squandered a penalty in the 62nd minute when Mario Soares missed.

Guinea reached the quarter-finals of the last African Nations Cup in Egypt in 2006.

In Sunday's other Group Eight game, Assan Jatta scored twice in the last 15 minutes to give 10-man Gambia a 2-1 win over Algeria.

The defeat means the former African champions miss out on a second consecutive edition of the African Nations Cup.

Jatta equalised in the 75th minute, after Rafik Saifi had scored the opening goal for Algeria in the 56th minute, and netted the winner four minutes from the end.

Gambia had defender Ousmane Jallow sent off for the last 14 minutes and also saw Algeria goalkeeper Lounes Gaououi save a penalty they were awarded in the 70th minute.

Gambia and Algeria both finished on eight points, three behind Group Eight winners Guinea, who beat the Cape Verde.

Algeria's defeat allowed South Africa the security of qualifying for the 2008 finals in Ghana as one of the three best second-placed finishers from the preliminaries.