Africa Cup Of Nations 2012: Zambia Qualify As Group A Winners, Equatorial Guinea Finish 2nd

Yattara nearly made up for his mistake when he saved Dipsy Selolwane’s initial spot kick, but he was well off his line and the assistant referee flagged for a retake, which Selolwane buried to level the scores - the country’s first ever goal in the tournament. That was the last time the game would look anything like close, as Guinea would immediately snatch one back and Botswana would subsequently fall apart.

It was Diallo who made it 2-1, once again taking advantage of the fact that nobody was marking him in the centre of the penalty area to finish first time past Modiri Marumo. Abdoulaye Camara added a third when a quick free kick caught Botswana napping and let him cut inside to power a shot home at the near post, and then a rather unsavoury incident doomed the match - Botswana substitute Patrick Motsepe went in on Pascal Feindouno with a really nasty tackle and was shown a straight red card. Ibrahima Traore made Botswana pay further when the resultant free kick was smacked in off the far post.

*Although by that point Burkina Faso had already been denied a sure penalty when Jonathan Pitroipa was hacked down by Soulyemane Bamba.

The Elephants had chances to pull away, but unfortunately they were mostly falling to Gervinho, who continued his Arsenal habit of pulling embarrassing misses out of sure goal-scoring situations. Their problems at the top were compounded when goalscorer Kalou went down with a hamstring injury shortly after the hour mark, further reducing their firepower.

You’d have forgiven Angola if they considered their match against Sudan to have been over within the first five minutes, when Manucho Barros took advantage of an awful error by Sudan centre half Najem Abdullah, raced into the penalty area, and then slid the ball past Akram El Hadi to make it 1-0. After all, Sudan hadn’t scored in the Africa Cup of Nations since 1976.

However, this isn’t your parents’ Sudan team, and they were playing some interesting football with very tidy one-touch passing moves. For a while, it didn’t look as if it was actually going to go anywhere - it was like watching a more likeable African Arsenal side - but eventually they managed to work the ball to the right wing for Eltaib Mudather and the subsequent cross was met with a fine header by Mohamed Bashir to make it 1-1.

The goal came in the 39th minute after a very slow and lazy start to the match. Once Cote D’Ivoire decided to start playing at a reasonably quick pace, they were able to create a goal. Cheick Tiote provided the assist in an uncharacteristic manner, drifting out to the left side and putting in a beautiful cross. Drogba found the gap in the defense and hit a powerful header into the back of the net, scoring the only goal of the match.

The first day of the Africa Cup of Nations featured a great home crowd for Equatorial Guinea and a great upset by Zambia over Senegal, but the second day of the competition should feature a slightly higher level of football. Cote D’Ivoire take on Sudan in the early game, opening Group B play, while Burkina Faso and Angola play in the late game.

The late game should be a bit more interesting, and will likely decide second place in the group if either team can get a win. Angola and Burkina Faso both have a high number of players who play at very high levels in Europe and both would challenge a bigger side in the quarterfinals. Burkina Faso’s strength is in midfield, where they have some of the best central midfielders in Ligue 1. Angola’s strength in depth is at striker, and they will have to bench at least one high-quality forward.