Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia are among the teams feeling optimistic of securing a place at 2010 World Cup finals, following the weekend's qualifying matches.
The Super Eagles still have work to do following their 3-0 defeat of Kenya, as they face their chief rivals in Group B, Tunisia, in their next two matches.
But striker Victor Obinna Nsofor, who scored two of Nigeria's three goals, told the BBC's African sports programme Fast Track that the win took a weight off their shoulders.
"We feel very much better now, because the last two or three weeks had a lot of pressures," he said.
"We're going to Tunisia with a big relief in our heads that we can beat them there, and once we beat them I believe the World Cup ticket is ours."
Ghana's 2-0 away win over Mali in Group D was a huge boost as they aim to qualify for the World Cup finals for a second time.
Right after the match we all started looking forward to the next game
Zambia striker Jacob Mulenga
Striker Matthew Amoah, who scored the Black Stars' second goal in Bamako, told BBC Fast Track that the result showed the depth of Ghana's talent.
"We lost a lot of players to injury like Stephen Appiah, Asamoah Gyan and others, but in Ghana we have very good players and the boys who took over did very well," he said.
"I hope that we'll continue and do the same in Sudan - we're taking it match by match."
Zambia continued their bid for a first-ever World Cup finals appearance with a 1-0 win over Rwanda, and will next play away to Algeria, who they share the Group C lead with.
"We've already started planning the game - right after the match we all started looking forward to the next game," said striker Jacob Mulenga.
"It's the first time I've seen everyone so serious after a match, no-one thought about anything else except the next game and we're trying to plan well."
The qualifying campaign continues on the weekend of 19-21 June, with the five group winners going to the World Cup and the top three in each group making it to the Africa Cup of Nations.
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