AFCON DAILY: Hard Fought Draw as Egypt and Ghana share the points, Nigeria Clinches a Victory Over Ivory Coast
In the fifth edition AFCON Daily, we’ve got match reports from the three thrilling games played on January 18th.
We also take a look and preview today’s games, which we speculate will offer us another magnificent night of African Football.
Equatorial Guinea 4-2 Guinea-Bissau
Equatorial Guinea bolstered their hopes of qualifying from Group A in a thrilling 4-2 victory over Guinea-Bissau.
Former Middlesborough and Birmingham City winger Emilio Nsue stole the headlines, as the Equatorial Guinea captain scored the first AFCON hattrick since 2008.
Despite their defeat, there were positives for Guinea-Bissau as they scored their first AFCON goal since 2017.
A defensive mix-up from Guinea-Bissau allowed Nsue to get in behind and make it 1-0 with 21 minutes on the clock, before the Djurtus equalised in the 37th minute thanks to an Esteban Orozco Fernández own goal.
After VAR denied a penalty for Guinea-Bissau before the break, Josete Miranda fired Equatorial Guinea ahead almost immediately after the restart to make it 2-1.
Five minutes later, Nsue doubled his tally thanks to a sumptuous cross from Basilio Ndong and completed his hattrick on 61 minutes after beating the Guinea-Bissau offside trap and rounding the goalkeeper.
Journeyman striker Zé Turbo restored some pride for Guinea-Bissau in extra time with a smart finish to make it 4-2.
This result sees Equatorial Guinea rise to the top of Group A with a real chance of qualification to the knockout stages. Guinea-Bissau’s chances of progression are all over.
Ed Dowling
Nigeria 1-0 Ivory Coast
Despite a frenetic but goalless first half, it was Nigeria who struck first via a penalty scored by captain William Troost-Ekong in the 55th minute. The away side dug-in deep to earn a clean sheet and the win. Before this win, Nigeria had never won in the Ivory Coast.
The first big chance of the game came in the 8th minute when Samuel Chukwueze sent a lovely through-ball to Victor Osimhen who could only put it over an on-rushing Yahia Fofana. The rest of the first half passed in a frenzy. It became an end-to-end affair, but neither side could find the clinical edge and went into halftime goalless.
However, the Super Eagles began the second half on the front foot. An Ousmane Diomande foul on Osimhen in the 52nd minute sent the referee over to the monitor. After a VAR review, the ref pointed to the penalty spot and Troost-Ekong stepped up to the spot. The captain fired at pace directly down the middle, giving Ivorian goalkeeper Fofana no chance.
A triple change in the 67th minute briefly breathed new life into the crowd and the home side, but the Ivory Coast could not find the equaliser.
In the end, the Troost-Ekong goal gives Nigeria all three points and puts them second in Group A on goal difference. The host nation now sits third going into their final group stage match against leaders Equatorial Guinea.
Julia Anderson
Egypt 2-2 Ghana
The Pharaohs secured a thrilling 2-2 draw against the Black Stars in yesterday’s match at Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in the second round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
In a game filled with defensive errors, the Pharaohs struggled to break down Ghana’s defense. Instead, they capitalized on two gifts from the opponent, while defensive mistakes also allowed the Black Stars to score two goals.
Mohammed Kudus scored the opening goal for Ghana in the third minute of injury time, just two minutes after Mohamed Salah left the field injured.
🇬🇭 Mohamed Kudus 🇬🇭
Ghana's starboy is your TotalEnergies Man of the Match with a great brace! 🌟 #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 | #EGYGHA | @Football2Gether pic.twitter.com/v4f21Wndt8
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 18, 2024
The second half kicked off with quick pace from both teams. Egypt appeared to score through their defender Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, but the referee disallowed it for offside.
Marmoush managed to score the equalizer for the Egyptian national team, taking advantage of a defensive error in passing, dribbling past the goalkeeper, and shooting into the goal in the 69th minute.
However, the Ghanaian national team was quick to reply with a shot by Kudus that found the net of El-Shenawy in the 71st minute.
Egypt managed to score the equalizer in the 74th minute, with a cross sent by Trezeguet and converted by Mostafa Mohamed into goal.
Egypt is now in second place with two points behind Cape Verde who are leading the group going into their game tomorrow against Mozambique. Ghana faces an uphill battle, holding out hope for a miracle in the third round of AFCON, particularly after crashing out of the group stages in the previous AFCON tournament.
Mohammad Joseph
What’s on Today?
Cape Verde vs Mozambique (14:00 GMT)
Group B leader Cape Verde will look to ensure qualification to the knockout rounds in a crucial match against Mozambique.
Beating Mozambique will be no mean feat, as the East African nation were minutes away beating serial winners Egypt last time out.
Both teams can be happy with their first performance at AFCON 2023 with Cape Verde beating Ghana 2-1 and Mozambique managing a famous 2-2 draw against Egypt.
These teams have never faced each other in the AFCON proper, they last faced off in 2021 with Cape Verde winning 1-0.
Senegal vs Cameroon (17:00 GMT)
The headline match of Group C kicks off today, with the defending champions Senegal facing five-time winners Cameroon.
Senegal’s impressive 3-0 win against Gambia was the perfect start for Aliou Cissé’s side, with Lamine Camara grabbing the headlines as the youngster scored a brace.
Cameroon struggled against the dark horses: Guinea who looked good value to beat the Indomitable Lions before Francois Kamano’s red card.
Rigobert Song will need to rely on a good performance from Manchester United goalkeeper André Onana against the potent Senegal attack, as Cameroon need a positive result to keep their AFCON dreams alive.
Guinea vs Gambia (20:00 GMT)
After their impressive performance against Cameroon last time out, Guinea will need a win against Gambia to bolster their knockout hopes.
Aside from Kamano’s reckless challenge in the first half that saw him dismissed, Guinea were very impressive in their opening AFCON game drawing 1-1 with Cameroon.
Tom Saintfiet’s Gambia side were outplayed by the defending champions last time out and will need a better performance if they are to get anything from this game.
Gambia will take some inspiration from the fact that they did beat Guinea 1-0 last time they played them, but without the suspended Ebou Adams this game will be a real test for the Scorpions.
Ed Dowling
