After five draws in the opening six games, it was refreshing to see Group D begin with two winning results. Ivory Coast were expected to walk over Togo with the amount of past and present Premiership quality on show, but they needed a late goal from Gervinho to win 2-1. Algeria and Tunisia also looked to be heading to the second goalless draw of the tournament, but a screamer from Youssef Msakni in injury time gave Tunisia the valuable three points.
Togo looked much quicker out of the blocks and Kolo Toure also cost Ivory Coast within the opening two minutes when his failed pass back put Emmanuel Adebayor in. But the Spurs striker couldn't convert chance after the defence got back to recover to force him wide. But Ivory Coast's class shone through as they took the lead with their first chance after just eight minutes. Arsenal's Gervinho jinxed his way through the defence before the ball sprung loose. It fell into the path of Manchester City's Yaya Toure who smashed it home via a deflection.
This seemed the set the tone of the game and would it become a question of how many. But this wasn't the case as Togo dealt with the lively Gervinho while Adebayor continued to threaten his former Arsenal teammate, Kolo Toure. A minute before half time and it was almost deja vu when Yaya Toure found himself in the same sort of space he scored from. But this time his shot cannoned off the post and Togo were spared.
Straight from that miss, Togo went up the other end and won a corner. The Ivory Coast defence didn't deal with it properly and Jonathan Ayite crept in to stab it home with virtually the last kick of the half. Togo though they should have taken the lead just before the hour mark. It was another corner which got turned in. But the referee disallowed it because he felt substitute Salomon Kalou was still entering the field of play.
The speed and flow of the game decreased as the second half progressed but both teams had chances to win it. Yaya Toure had a shot smartly saved by Kossi Agassa while Togo were seeking to create another chance from another corner. The winner finally came two minutes from time when Yaya Toure's free-kick flew over everyone until Gervinho managed a smart flick with the outside of his foot to score from an acute angle. Togo did get a corner in the dying seconds, but it was easily defended and Ivory Coast held onto the three points.
The second match between Algeria and Tunisia was just as easily anticipated and on paper looked to be a heated but talented affair from the two rivals. But, like many of the opening eight games, it failed to really hit the highs of international football.
Also like many of the games so far, a lot of fouls caused the match to be very stop-start. Tunisia were dealt a blow just after the quarter of an hour mark when Issam Jemaa had to be substituted after picking up an injury. The fouls continued to to hamper the game but Algeria came the closest to breaking the deadlock when Islam Slimani smashed the crossbar from a header just before the half hour mark.
The first half would only really remembered for the amount of petty fouls but Rais Mbolhi did produce a good save to prevent Saber Khelifa from breaking the deadlock. The second half was just as bitty as the first, the first real chance came to Djamel Mesbah but his shot just missed the post and went wide.
Algeria did have most of the ball in the second half but couldn't carve any real opportunities to give them lead. Tunisia's best effort of the half came 15-minutes from the end when Hamdi Harbaoui's shot also just sailed wide. With the game petering out to a goalless draw until 22-year old Youssef Msakni smashed a fantastic shot, out of nowhere, into the top corner to give Tunisia all three points. Msakni looked a hot young prospect last year and this goal may begin to continue to prove it.
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