Gabon started their tournament off in the same vain as their fellow co-hosts Equatorial Guinea. Gabon faced Niger in the opening game of Group C and looked much stronger than their inexperienced opponents. 27-year-old Stephane N'Guema produced a man of the match performance in front of his home crowd and sent a cross on the half hour mark to Saint-Etienne's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The 22-year-old sent his powerful header past the Niger keeper to give Gabon a well deserved lead. Gabon doubled their lead in first half injury time with N'Guema slotting home a parried shot to give the hosts a well deserved three points.
The best game so far, on paper, produced arguably the best game so far as Tunisia faced Morocco in a North African derby. Morocco were arguably the better team in the first half but a superb performance by keeper Aymen Mathlouthi kept the match goalless. Tunisia had less possession but still managed the take the lead when Khaled Korbi's 36th-minute free-kick went over everyone and into the net. It got better for Tunisia as Youseff MSakni tried matching Manucho's wonder-strike with a brilliant solo goal on 76-minutes to make it 2-0, a great way to score your first goal for your country. There was a tense ending to the game as Houssine Kharja pulled a goal back from a corner, but there was a clear offside in the build-up to the goal which the officials missed. Things threatened to boil over as the nerves kicked, however South African referee, Daniel Bennett, was able to keep things calm as the game finished 2-1.
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