Ivory Coast on Monday began their campaign in the Africa Cup of Nations’ toughest group with a 1-0 win over South Africa.
Mali provided the biggest victory so far at the tournament in Egypt by beating debutant Mauritania 4-1.
In Cairo, Ivory Coast edged an early crunch game in group D against South Africa when Jonathan Kodjia finished neatly from a cross by Max Gradel in the second half.
Photo: AFP
The striker’s goal was enough, although Nicolas Pepe hit the crossbar with a free-kick for Ivory Coast in the first half and was denied again near the end when another free-kick was saved by Ronwen Williams.
Pepe’s late effort was heading for the top corner until Williams got his fingertips to it, just managing to push it over the crossbar.
The group has three former champions in Ivory Coast, South Africa and Morocco, and has been dubbed the “group of death.”
Morocco on Sunday beat Namibia 1-0.
Mali’s victory over Mauritania — to go to the top of group E — started and ended with two of the best goals of the opening four days of the African Cup.
Abdoulay Diaby weaved through Mauritania defenders and unleashed a shot from a distance into the top-right corner for 1-0. Adama Traore underlined Mali’s dominance with his left-footed curler into the top-left corner to end the scoring.
In between, Moussa Marega scored a penalty and Adama Noss hit a low shot from the edge of the penalty area to make it 3-0.
El Hacen El Id converted the second penalty-kick of the game to give Mauritania their first-ever Cup of Nations goal and cut the lead to 3-1.
Traore scored the fourth point just two minutes after that to make certain that there was no chance of a comeback for the newcomers.
Mauritania are the third team making their debut at the Cup of Nations this year, but are the first to look a little out of their depth.
The other debutants are Burundi, who pushed Nigeria all the way before losing 1-0, and Madagascar, who drew 2-2 with Guinea.
Earlier in the same group, Tunisia gave up their advantage with a goalkeeper error to draw 1-1 with Angola.
Youssef M’Sakni gave Tunisia the lead in the first half from the penalty spot after a strange tackle by Dani Massungona.
Massungona launched himself star-shaped — arms and legs spread out — to try and block a run by Naim Sliti, but only succeeded in chopping Sliti down for the penalty, which Tunisia captain M’Sakni converted.
Angola’s late equalizer dampened Tunisia’s start on another hot day at the African Cup.
It came when Tunisia goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustafa dived to save a shot, but pushed the ball straight to the feet of Djalma Campos, who scored into an empty net.
Action in the last of the six groups started yesterday, when defending champions Cameroon played for the first time. Cameroon faced Guinea-Bissau and Ghana opened against Benin.
Manchester United on Tuesday confirmed Michael Carrick as interim manager until the end of the season, tasking him with leading the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. “Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honor,” said Carrick, 44, who won 12 major trophies in his 12-year playing career at United. The former midfielder previously had an unbeaten three-game stint as caretaker boss at Old Trafford in 2021. Carrick then took on his first permanent managerial role at second-tier Middlesbrough in October 2022 and was sacked in June last year after the club finished 10th in the
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
Yassine Bounou on Wednesday saved two penalties, while Youssef en-Nesyri netted the decisive spot-kick as hosts Morocco secured a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Nigeria following a 0-0 draw in a tense Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Rabat. Morocco, seeking their first continental title in 50 years, are to face 2021 winners Senegal in Sunday’s decider in Rabat, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place playoff tomorrow. The 120 minutes before the shoot-out had few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was Morocco who created more opportunities, although they were denied by some fine saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Nigeria
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday sparked defending champions Oklahoma City to victory, while Anthony Edwards led Minnesota’s last-minute fightback to beat San Antonio. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points while adding eight assists and five rebounds in the Thunder’s 124-112 home victory over Miami, improving the NBA’s best record to 33-7 after outscoring the Heat 70-53 in the second half. “We locked in defensively. We were finally able to get some stops,” Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins said. “We were able to get out in transition a little bit, get going offensively and find the flow.” Jalen Williams scored 18 points, while
RSS