Day eight of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday dished up a five-goal thriller in Lubango, a potentially massive blow for Ghana and a costly ticking off for a champion.
On the pitch, Cameroon fought back from a goal down to snatch a late 3-2 win over Zambia to maintain their pursuit of a fifth title.
Zambia gave Paul Le Guen’s men an almighty fright when Jacob Mulenga put them into an eighth-minute lead, only for Geremi and Samuel Eto’o to put Cameroon back in business.
Zambia captain Christopher Katongo scored from the spot to level with nine minutes left on the clock, but substitute Mohamadou Idrissou headed home the 86th-minute winner to save the Indomitable Lions from a Cup exit.
With the final round of Group C matches on Thursday, Gabon, who fought out a dour goalless draw with Tunisia in the first half of a double-header, lead the pool with four points. Cameroon, stunned by Gabon in their opening game, have three points, Tunisia two points and Zambia one point.
After Cameroon’s third triumph over Zambia in four Nations Cup clashes, Le Guen, who took over Cameroon when they were last in their qualifying group, said: “We can become better, but we started from a low base.”
The former Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Rangers boss added: “We found ourselves in difficulty because Zambia play really well. The first half was very tough for us. Afterwards things got better, but I know they’re good, and that we were fortunate to win and to take the three points.”
Down in Luanda, Ghana star Michael Essien injured his right knee training and could miss their make-or-break Group B clash against Burkina Faso today.
Ghana’s media officer Randy Abbey said: “Michael suffered a right-knee injury in the training session this morning. He was taken to a local hospital for a scan, and we’ll get the results back tomorrow and then have a clearer idea of whether he can play.”
Ghana are one point behind Burkina Faso and the four-time champions need a win to avoid being eliminated after the first round of the biennial African showpiece.
Defending champions Egypt, meanwhile, announced they were fining Borussia Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan after he reacted angrily to being substituted during his team’s 2-0 win over Mozambique on Saturday.
Zidan refused to shake the hand of his replacement, Ahmed Eid, as he left the pitch after 60 minutes. He also threw his wrist band and kicked a chair in the dugout in frustration.
Egypt coach, Hassan Shehata, said Zidan would be fined and that the player apologized to the entire squad on Sunday.
“Zidan felt that he wasn’t playing well, that’s why he was upset. It wasn’t because of the substitution,” Shehata said.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS