It was a case of stalemate all round in Tamale in Wednesday's Africa Nations Cup Group D games, with a wonder strike by Elrio Van Heerdeen saving South Africa against Angola and a late Tunisia fightback earning them a point against Senegal.
Angola were in the driving seat against the 2010 World Cup hosts after a thumping header from Mateus "Manucho" Goncalves, the teenager who after the competition heads to Old Trafford to take up his new contract with Manchester United.
Later Manucho cleared the ball off the line when South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena thought he had equalized but it was Van Heerden who saved the day for Carlos Alberto Parreira's men.
The substitute latched on to a pass from Teko Modise, drifted past a defender and fired a shot over goalkeeper Luis Joao to earn a point.
"We just had too keep going, had to create chances. We worked very hard, we'll be better in our next game against Tunisia," South Africa's goal hero said.
For Parreira the "Bafana Bafana" deserved more than a point given their endeavor.
"I knew we were capable of getting a good result but this one doesn't do justice to the shape of the match," he said. "We had a greater share of the play than Angola but we weren't able to score."
"If we want to qualify we'll have to now win one of our remaining two games. Any one of the four teams in the group can still qualify," Parreira said.
In the first act of the Tamale double header, Tunisia snatched a late goal to share the spoils 2-2 with Senegal.
The 2004 champions punished Senegal for squandering a multitude of chances when Majdi Traoui unleashed a rocket that flew past motionless goalkeeper Tony Sylva seven minutes from full-time.
This meeting came with a fair amount of history attached to it.
When the pair last met, at the 2004 African Nations Cup, Senegal seethed after claiming host status had played a part when they lost 1-0 in an ill-tempered quarter-final.
Four years on and Issam Jemaa gave the north Africans an early lead they held until first-half stoppage time when Bayal Sall equalized and a fierce Senegalese onslaught paid off when Diomansy Kamara put them ahead on 66 minutes.
But the Teranga Lions were punished for a host of missed chances when Traoui produced the equalizer seven minutes from time.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday said that he will probably be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury caused him to miss eight games earlier this season. Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of their 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets. He did not appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining. “At the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player said he expected to undergo an MRI
The chaotic scenes which tarnished Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final will forever overshadow a tournament that had until that point been a great success for hosts Morocco, on and off the pitch. Everything appeared set up for Walid Regragui’s Morocco side to cement their status as Africa’s preeminent footballing force as the continent’s top-ranked team made it to the final against Senegal in Rabat. Home advantage unquestionably brought extra pressure on the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, but it also perhaps played into their hands for the controversial penalty award at the end of normal time in the
RSS