AFCON Daily: Calamity for Ghana, stumbling starts for Egypt, Nigeria
Welcome to AFCON Daily, the Sport’s Gazette’s one-stop-shop for Africa Cup of Nations action.
In this edition, we’ve got match reports from the three jaw-dropping games played on January 14th as well as previews for today’s three fixtures.
Cape Verde 2-1 Ghana
Garry Mendes Rodrigues’ last-gasp winner gave Cape Verde a famous 2-1 win over Ghana at the Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny.
Jamiro Monteiro opened the scoring for Cape Verde before a VAR check disallowed a scorching strike from Ghana’s Majeed Ashimeru.
The Black Stars rebounded through Alexander Djiku in the second-half, but Rodrigues sealed a Blue Sharks win in the 92nd minute.
Djiku was a bright spot in a bleak Black Stars performance
Cape Verde opened the scoring in the 17th minute, with Montero pouncing on the loose ball after Richard Ofori had parried Borges Cabral’s strike.
Ashimeru looked to have levelled the scores in spectacular fashion in the 36th minute, but his long-range effort was disallowed after Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer was adjudged to have obstructed the keeper’s view from an offside position.
Cape Verde then burst through on goal on the brink of half-time, but Djiku’s last-ditch sliding tackle averted the danger.
The centre-back traded defensive heroics for attacking enterprise in the second-half, heading home the leveller from a Jordan Ayew corner in the 56th minute.
Ofori diverted efforts from Cabral and Rodrigues in the later stages to keep Ghanaian hopes alive, but a piece of calamitous defending meant the Ghanaian goalkeeper was out of frame as Rodrigues caressed a stoppage time winner into an empty net.
Jonny Coffey
Egypt 2-2 Mozambique
A late Mohamed Salah penalty prevented Mozambique from creating AFCON history in a 2-2 thriller.
The Pharaohs couldn’t have wished for a better start in Abidjan, as Mostafa Mohamed’s turn and shot in the 2nd minute found the bottom right corner.
Salah had failed to control Mohamed Hamdi’s cross properly, but Mohamed managed to pick the ball up and finish emphatically within the box.
Mostafa Mohamed (R) celebrates his goal
After a dominant first half for Egypt, Mozambique grabbed an unexpected equaliser on 54 minutes after Domingues’ whipped cross was met by Nacional forward Witi, who powered a header beyond Mohamed El-Shenawy.
Excitement turned to delirium three minutes later when Clésio Baúque surged through the Egyptian defence and slotted home to give Mozambique a shock lead.
Chiquinho Conde’s side defended resolutely for the next 40 minutes, until substitute Pachoio Lau Há King was adjudged to have fouled Mohamed in the Mozambique box.
The Mauritanian referee pointed to the spot, and with help from the post, Salah converted in the 97th minute to spare some Egyptian blushes.
Winless in their AFCON history, Mozambique’s hard-fought point against record winners Egypt was a shock result on a shocking day at AFCON 2023.
Ed Dowling
Nigeria 1-1 Equatorial Guinea
Nigeria’s first afternoon at AFCON 2023 ended in frustration, as The Super Eagles slipped to a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea.
Iván Salvador gave The National Thunder the lead, but Victor Osimhen answered shortly after.
The Super Eagles dominated possession throughout, but a lack of incision and several smart saves from Equatoguinean goalkeeper Jesús Owono combined to leave them two points adrift in the race for Group A’s top spot.
Nigeria’s Group A rivals Ivory Coast defeated Guinea-Bissau 2-0
Nigeria made the stronger start of the two sides.
A cross found Zaidu Sanusi at the back-post in the 10th minute, but the left-back skewed his effort wide.
Equatorial Guinea showed a more clinical edge in the 36th minute, breaking the deadlock through a smartly taken Salvador goal.
The Equatoguinean party was short-lived though, as Osimhen headed home Ademola Lookman’s floated cross just two minutes later.
The Super Eagles produced a moment of flowing football at the end of an otherwise uninspiring first half, but it was foiled when Owono pushed Moses Simon’s effort onto the post.
The Equatoguinean goalkeeper’s heroics continued in the second-half, denying Sanusi and Osimhen early on.
Nigeria’s frustrations were compounded in the 69th minute, when exciting young midfielder Alhassan Yusuf was forced off with injury.
Osimhen then spurned a chance to take the lead in the 76th minute, firing wide after running onto Alex Iwobi’s slicing through-ball.
The Super Eagles couldn’t find a winner in a frenzied final stage, despite coming close in a 97th minute scramble.
Jonny Coffey
What’s on today?
Senegal vs Gambia (14:00 GMT)
The defending champions kick off their tournament against Gambia, the lowest-ranked team at AFCON 2023.
Despite a late scare, Pape Matar Sarr has been passed fit and will strengthen an already formidable Senegalese midfield.
It took a 97th minute Mané penalty to give Senegal a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe in their opening group game at AFCON 2021, so needless to say ‘The Lions of Teranga’ will be aiming for a more convincing start this time round.
Senegal celebrate the last-minute victory
Gambia faced an off-pitch scare ahead of the tournament when pressurisation issues forced their national team flight to Yamoussoukro into an emergency landing just nine minutes after take-off.
Thankfully, The Scorpions have now arrived safely and will be hoping to defy the odds as they did in the 2021 edition, when they reached the quarterfinals as debutants.
Cameroon vs Guinea (17:00 GMT)
Five-time champions Cameroon begin their campaign against Guinea in what looks to be an evenly matched game at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium.
Cameroon will be without goalkeeper André Onana, who travels late after opting to play in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford yesterday.
Onana celebrates a United goal
They will also be without captain Vincent Aboubakar, who sustained a thigh injury in training on the eve of the tournament.
Guinea are also contending with injury issues ahead of their opening fixture.
Serhou Guirassy came off in their warmup game against Nigeria on 8th January and it remains unclear whether he will be fit enough to lead their line.
Only Harry Kane has outscored Guirassy in the Bundesliga this season
The last two meetings between these sides have produced two Guinean wins, but Cameroon’s AFCON pedigree cannot be doubted, so expect a close-fought contest.
Algeria vs Angola (20:00 GMT)
Algeria begin their quest for continental supremacy in immaculate form. Outside of a 5-4 loss to Senegal on penalties in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) final in February, they have not lost a game inside 90 minutes since November 2022.
They also comfortably dispatched Burundi 4-0 in their final warm-up game on 9th January.
Algeria last won AFCON in 2019
Standing in their way will be Angola, who are unbeaten in their last five matches, and their last five opening matches at AFCON.
With just one goal conceded in their last six internationals, the Angolans will hope to silence an Algeria attack led by Riyad Mahrez.
Emile Nuh
