Day six of the Africa Cup of Nations had Ivory Coast beaming, Mali fuming and Algeria left out in the cold by their national media and accused of gamesmanship by organizers.
Friday’s lone action came from Cabinda where competition favorites Ivory Coast became the first of the 15 Nations Cup teams to reach the quarter-finals.
They did it the hard way, defeating a severely depleted Ghana 3-1 with 10 men.
The Elephants were down a player on 56 minutes when Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue was red-carded for a vicious tackle from behind on Opoku Agyemang.
By then Lille forward Kouassi “Gervinho” had already put them in front. Siaka Tiene scored direct from a free-kick after 67 minutes and Chelsea striker Didier Drogba completed the win in the final minute.
Ghana got a stoppage-time consolation goal via an Asamoah Gyan penalty after he had been fouled by Souleman Bamba.
Victory lifted the title favorites to four points from two matches.
Ghana or Burkina Faso will join them in the last eight in Group B which was reduced to three teams with Togo’s defection following the deadly attack on their team bus.
Down in Luanda, what should have been a routine training session degenerated into high drama, farce and recrimination.
Everything began normally at the Escoqueirus Stadium when Algeria turned up to prepare for tomorrow’s must-win Group A clash with hosts Angola, but waiting reporters were astonished when, a quarter of an hour later, the Mali team bus rounded a corner and parked outside the stadium.
Utter confusion then reigned as first Mali players, including Real Madrid midfielder and national team captain Mahamadou Diarra and 2007 African Footballer of the Year Frederic Kanoute, were made to wait in the coach for more than half an hour.
Then they were told they could enter the ground, only to find the doors locked.
Diarra and some of his fellow teammates attempted to gain access by clambering through an open window, while Kanoute and Mali’s Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi tried to talk their way in at the main gate, but to no avail.
After more than an hour and as dusk fell, Keshi led his charges away, furious at having missed a vital chance to prepare for their last group match against Malawi in Cabinda tomorrow.
Keshi said: “I’m fed up. How could this happen, to get the boys in a bus and travel to a ground and be told you can’t train? I don’t know whose fault it is.”
Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita added defiantly: “They can do what they like, but we’re still going to qualify [for the quarter-finals].”
The Africa Cup of Nations organizing committee (LOC) laid the blame firmly with Algeria.
LOC media officer Virgilio Santos said: “This mix-up had nothing to do with us. What happened was this: Mali were supposed to travel to Cabinda today, but delayed their trip until Saturday. Algeria were supposed to train at the stadium until 17:00, but when they saw the Mali team turn up they decided to make life difficult for Mali and they didn’t leave the pitch until 18:15, which made Mali angry.”
In a separate subplot the Algeria team were cold shouldered by their local press who were angry at being refused entry to watch the training session.
The Desert Foxes’ press pack formed a human wall and turned their backs on the players as they left the stadium.
The relationship between the two sides is fraught after coach Rabah Saadane took exception to the criticism that followed his side’s opening 3-0 defeat to Malawi.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two