Freddie Kanoute was again outstanding as Mali reached the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals by beating Burkina Faso 3-1 on Friday, while Senegal finally found its scoring touch in a 3-0 rout of Kenya.
Kanoute scored his third goal of the tournament and assisted on another as Mali moved to the top of Group B with six points -- becoming the second team along with host Tunisia to reach the quarters.
"We shouldn't get too carried away," said Kanoute. "Although it's true that both the defense and the attack are playing equally well and we are building a solid group."
PHOTO: AFP
Senegal, which has four points, needs only to draw its remaining game, against Mali on Monday, to reach the last eight.
Kenya is eliminated, while Burkina Faso must now resoundingly beat Kenya, and hope Senegal loses to stand any chance of qualifying.
Despite Senegal's seemingly comfortable win -- all the goals came in the opening half-hour, including two by Mamadou Niang -- midfielder Salif Diao was furious with the performance.
"If we keep playing like that, we will get taken apart when we play bigger teams," the Liverpool midfielder said after the win in Bizerte.
"We're not going anywhere if this keeps up," he added. "I'm not happy at all. I'm disgusted at how we played."
Fellow midfielder Aliou Cisse, who plays for Birmingham City, said teams are not scared of facing the likes of Senegal -- the African Cup runner-up two years ago.
"There are no longer any small teams on the African continent now," Cisse said. "Everyone is waiting to take on the so-called big teams like Senegal."
Mali's and Senegal's clash will decide the group winner, with the runner-up probably facing host Tunisia in the quarters.
Meanwhile, in Tunis, Kanoute once again showed his class.
The Tottenham Hotspur player opened the scoring in the 34th minute, collecting a pass from Mahamadou Diarra and planting an angled drive past goalkeeper Abdoulaye Soulama.
"Of course I'm happy to score," Kanoute said. "But if I'm doing so well it's also down to the incredible workrate of the midfield."
Diarra got on the scoresheet three minutes later when he headed home. In the 49th minute, substitute Dieudonne Minoungou got Burkina Faso back in the game when he scored from close range. But a wonderfully cushioned pass from Kanoute sent Soumaila Coulibaly clear and he sealed the result in the 78th.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book