2012 ACN: Group B Game Three

Goal difference always plays apart in tournaments and this African Cup of Nations is no difference. Angola met Ivory Coast needing just a point while Sudan met Burkina Faso needing to win. Sudan also needed a three goal swing in order to progress at Angola's expense.

Poor defending from Angola allowed Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue to tap home a low cross on 32-minutes. At the same time, Eltaib Mudather had escaped an awful attempt at a tackle and put Sudan ahead. As it stood, Angola would still go through, but only on goals scored. Angola committed footballing suicide when reserve keeper, Costa, came for a ball that he was never going to get. Dany Massunguna got to the through ball first and headed the ball past the keeper, Bony Wilfried applied the finishing touch to make it 2-0 after 64-minutes. This set of score-lines would put Angola out on goal difference.

It got even better for Sudan when Mudather made it 2-0 with just eleven minutes to play to further put themselves into the next phase. Issiaka Ouedraogo pulled a goal back for Burkina Faso in injury time but it wasn't enough to prevent Sudan from winning their first ACN game since 1976. Table:

Ivory Coast      9
Sudan              4   0
Angola             4  -1
Burkina Faso   0

2012 ACN: Group A Game Three

Libya needed to win and hope Zambia lost to progress into the knock-out phase of the competition. Libya faced the disappointing Senegal and Elbusaifi Ihab put the underdogs after just four minutes. But Senegal responded and equalised six minutes with Ndeme Ndiaye headed them level. Ihab went one better, however, and put Libya back in front with seven minutes to play to leave Senegal pointless at the end of their campaign.

Meanwhile, Zambia were unaware of what was going on in Bata as they faced Equatorial Guinea at the same time. There was only one goal in the match and it came after 68-minutes, Christopher Katongo scoring his second of the tournament to put Zambia through at Libya's expense. Table:

Zambia                  7
Equatorial Guinea  6
Libya                     4
Senegal                 0

FA Cup Fifth Round Draw

Chelsea v Birmingham City
Crawley Town v Stoke City
Everton v Blackpool/Sheffield Wednesday
Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion
Millwall/Southampton v Bolton Wanderers
Norwich City v Leicester City
Stevenage Borough v Tottenham Hotspur
Sunderland/Middlesbrough v Arsenal

FA Cup Fourth Round

Watford 0-1 Tottenham: Rafael Van Der Vaart scores the only goal of the game four minutes before half-time. Watford were denied twice by the woodwork as Spurs squeeze through.

Everton 2-1 Fulham: Danny Murphy gave Fulham the lead on 13-minutes from the spot. A good header from Denis Stracqualursi headed Everton level on 26-minutes before Marouane Fellaini won the game with 18-minutes left.

QPR 0-1 Chelsea: Chelsea progress via a dubious penalty decision. Danny Sturridge went over far too easily but earned the spot-kick which Juan Mata converted just after the half-hour mark. The racism row between the clubs was very much highlighted by the fact that the teams didn't shake hands at the start of the match.

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United: Another match surrounded by the racism war saw Patrice Evra have a standard game despite getting fervently booed by the Anfield faithful. Daniel Agger gave the hosts the lead after David De Gea failed to collect a corner after coming for it on twenty minutes. Ji-Sung Park levelled for United after converting Rafael's pull back cross on 48-minutes. The game looked to be heading for a replay until poor defending allowed substitute Dirk Kuyt one-on-one with De Gea, the Dutchman blasted the ball home with three minutes left. The racism row was then highlighted with a police investigation into a Liverpool fan making a 'monkey' gesture at Evra.

Blackpool 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Hillsborough will witness a replay after a late minute penalty save Blackpool's blushes. Clinton Morrison put Wednesday ahead six minutes into the second half before Kevin Phillips converted the last minute spot-kick to force a replay.

Bolton 2-1 Swansea: Bolton came from behind to continue from where they left off against Liverpool. Luke Moore put the visitors ahead three minutes before half-time until former Swan, Darren Pratley, equalised on the interval. Chris Eagles then won the game for Bolton ten minutes after the restart to put them through.

Hull 0-1 Crawley: After a great cup run last year, Crawley created another cup upset with Matt Tubbs scoring 11-minutes into the second half to dump Championship side Hull out.

Leicester 2-0 Swindon: Jermaine Beckford scored both goals on four minutes then 52-minutes to put themselves into the fifth round.

Millwall 1-1 Southampton: St.Mary's will also witness a replay after Millwall scored a late equaliser. Rickie Lambert put the Saints ahead on half an hour before Darius Henderson equalised five minutes before the end to force a second leg.

Sheffield United 0-4 Birmingham: Last year's Carling Cup winners progress into the fifth round with a convincing win over Sheffield United. Nathan Redmond put the Blues ahead after 17-minutes before Adam Rooney made it 2-0 eight minutes from half-time. Wade Elliot made it three 12-minutes into the second half and Rooney added the fourth 13-minutes before the end.

Stevenage 1-0 Notts County: A Damion Stewart own goal after 11-minutes puts Stevenage into the next round.

West Brom 1-2 Norwich: Norwich repeat the scoreline from last week's Premiership match. Grant Holt put Norwich ahead on 34 minutes before Marc-Antoine Fortune equalised eight minutes into the second half. The winner came six minutes from the end with Simeon Jackson putting Norwich through.

Brighton 1-0 Newcastle: A Mike Williamson own goal with 15-minutes to play secures Brighton's cup shock over their Premiership opponents.

Sunderland 1-1 Middlesbrough: Barry Robson put Boro ahead after 15-minutes to begin a possible cup upset. But Frazier Campbell equalised 13-minutes into the second half to set up a replay at Riverside.

Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa: Arsenal progress on the back of a fortuitous comeback. Richard Dunne headed Villa ahead after 32-minutes before Darren Bent made it 2-0 just before half-time. Dunne then turned into the villain by conceding a penalty eight minutes into the second half, Robin Van Persie converted it. Poor defending allowed Theo Walcott in behind before Alan Hutton's clearance rebounded back off the winger and into the net to equalise three minutes later. Darren Bent was then also guilty of fouling Laurent Koscielny in the box and referee Mike Jones again pointed to the spot. Van Persie again stepped up and converted for a second time to make 3-2 on the hour mark.

2012 ACN: Group D Game Two

The first thrashing of the tournament came on the sixth day as Guinea played Botswana. Sadio Diallo started this game for Guinea and gave them the lead after just 15-minutes. Botswana were then given a penalty but Moussa Yattara initially saved Dipsy Selolwane's effort, however the linesman declared the keeper had infringed whilst saving it and Selolwane got a second chance. He stepped again and went the opposite way to level after 23-minutes. They were level for just four minutes before Diallo netted a second time to begin the onslaught. A quick free-kick out-foxed the Botswana defender and Abdoul Camara finished it off three minutes before half-time. Guinea managed a fourth just before the break when substitute Patrick Motsepe was sent off for a high, studs in challenge. The resulting free-kick was smashed in off the post by Ibrahima Traore to make it 4-1. Guinea then left it late to take any more advantage of the man difference with Mamadou Bah making it five with eight minutes to go and Ismael Bangour completed the rout four minutes later.

Ghana has almost made it into the knock-out by beating Mali. Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan put Ghana ahead on 63-minutes before Olympique Marseille's Andre Ayew made it 2-0 with 14-minutes to go. Ghana lead group D with six points, Mali and Guinea are together on three points with Botswana virtually out with no points and a much poorer goal difference.    

2012 ACN: Group C Game Two

Group C is already done and dusted bar the shouting, in extremely dramatic circumstances. The day kicked off with Niger against Tunisia. Youseff Msakni scored his second goal of the tournament after just three minutes before William N'Gounou equalised seven minutes later. But Tunisia guaranteed themselves progression at Niger's expense in the last minute of normal time, Issam Jemaa scoring the winning goal.

If that wasn't dramatic enough, then Gabon's competition with Equatorial Guinea for who can secure the biggest shock went into round two. Senegal were knocked out by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon retorted by eliminating Morocco. Houssine Kharja scored his second goal of the tournament after 23-minutes to give Morocco the lead. But a fantastic volley from Yann Bidonga on 76-minutes and a surprise swivelled goal from Daniel Cousin two minutes put Gabon ahead and looked to be through. However, the game wasn't completed and Morocco were given a dubious penalty for a harsh handball on 90-minutes, Kharja stepped up and converted to make it 2-2 with five minutes of injury time to play. If Morocco thought that they had salvaged themselves then they should have thought again. A horror tackle from Mehdi Benatia, who was extremely lucky to have only received a yellow card, meant Gabon had a 96th-minute free-kick from twenty yards. Bruno Zita stepped over the ball before dispatching a wonderful shot past Nadir Lamyaghri to earn Gabon their second win of the tournament, joining their co-hosts in the quarter finals.    

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.