The story of Mauritania's rise to the fringes of the top tier of African soccer nations - i.e. those that win entry to the Africa Cup of Nations - is one of the global game's more interesting tales, sketched in part here.
Cameroon was expected to challenge for the one guaranteed AFCON 2017 berth available from this qualifying group (the runner up also has a shot), but few would have picked Mauritania as the team most likely to deny the Indomitable Lions another shot at Africa's premier international tournament.
Still, Mauritania is just a point behind Cameroon in the standings and has claimed maximum points from its two home games in this group to date (against South Africa and Gambia).