Both the Ivory Coast and Cameroon came into the day as big favorites at the Africa Cup of Nations, and both finished it happy just to avoid losing.
Ivory Coast got a late equalizer from Seydou Doumbia — shortly after Gervinho was sent off with a straight red card — to earn a 1-1 draw with Guinea on Tuesday at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo.
A short time later at the same venue, it was Cameroon who needed a late goal, this one from Ambroise Oyongo, to hold on for a 1-1 draw against Mali.
Photo: AFP
“We bounced back. It’s a good point for us,” said Ivory Coast captain Yaya Toure, who recently won his fourth African Player of the Year award. “We have a couple of games coming, and I hope we will do well in them.”
The draws leave all four teams in Group D with one point.
On Saturday, Ivory Coast face Mali, and Cameroon are to play Guinea.
Gervinho had been Ivory Coast’s best player, or least the one with the best chances, until a scuffle with Baissama Sankoh during an off-the-ball incident earned him a straight red in the 57th minute.
“With 10 men it was very hard,” said Ivory Coast coach Herve Renard, who led Zambia to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2012. “I think the players did very well in the different organization [after the sending off].”
Doumbia, who came on in the 66th minute as the tactics changed, scored from in front of goal in the 72nd after a pass from Wilfried Bony. Toure was the one who started the play.
Guinea had taken the lead in the 36th minute, when Ibrahima Traore crossed to Mohamed Yattara.
Traore then had a chance to double the lead in the 61st, but his shot hit the crossbar.
“We’re not happy, because we know we could win this game,” Traore said. “We’re going to keep working hard. At the end we will win and we will qualify, because as I said, we are not afraid of anyone.”
In the second match, Oyongo latched onto to a long pass from Raoul Loe in the 84th minute and beat Mali goalkeeper Soumaila Diakite in a fast-paced game that had several missed chances at both ends.
Sambou Yatabare had given Mali a surprising lead in the 71st minute, controlling the ball with his chest and scoring from a tight angle after a free kick on the other side of the field.
“The manner we played this match, especially the second half, it was the manner to win the game,” Cameroon coach Volker Finke said. “The goal of Mali was a matter of concentration. The players were not concentrated.”
Cameroon, who conceded only one goal in qualifying, had chances earlier in the game, but lacked quality finishing.
One of the more entertaining moments came in the 57th minute, when Cameroon forward Edgar Salli bounced the ball several times on his head to evade defenders, but was eventually brought down just outside the box.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Shahzad Khan was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
RSS