Thursday 26 January 2012

2012 ACN: Group B Game Two

After Equatorial Guinea's shock result yesterday, it became the second worst ranked team's turn to produce a surprise result of their own. Angola faced Sudan knowing that a win would almost certainly put them through and Manucho got them off to the perfect start with his second goal of the tournament after just four minutes thanks to some poor defending. Sudan fought back and Mohamed Youssif Basheer scored his country's first proper Africa Cup of Nations goal since 1976, equalising 13-minutes before half-time. Angola would again take the lead just four minutes into the second half with Manucho dispatching a penalty. But Basheer kept Sudan's hopes of qualifying alive with a second equaliser 17-minutes before the end of the match.

Ivory Coast have indeed 'coasted' into the knock-out phase without hitting anything like top gear. They followed up their 1-0 win over Sudan with Chelsea's Salomon Kalou scoring after 15-minutes to take the lead against Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso hit the bar in the second half which could have maybe earned them a point but Lyon's Bakary Kone sealed his team's fate by heading the ball into his own net nine minutes from the end. The Elephants are now guaranteed to progress while Burkina Faso are out. Sudan must beat Burkina Faso and hope Ivory Coast beat Angola for Sudan to progress via goal difference.

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