The African Cup of Nations, AFCON, the continent’s biggest football showpiece is underway in Egypt. It kicked off on June 21 after a spectacular opening ceremony.
Hosts, Egypt, went on to beat Zimbabwe by a lone goal in the first game of the tournament. Matches continue to played across the six groups and Africanews is keeping you up to date with the very latest.
As the games proceed we will use “Q” to indicate teams that have qualified for the knockout stage.
GROUP A: Egypt (Q) – DR Congo (Q) – Uganda (Q) – Zimbabwe
GROUP B: Nigeria (Q) – Guinea (Q) – Madagascar (Q) – Burundi
GROUP C: Senegal (Q) – Algeria (Q) – Tanzania – Kenya
GROUP D: Morocco (Q) – Ivory Coast (Q) – South Africa (Q) – Namibia
GROUP E: Tunisia (Q) – Mali (Q) – Angola – Mauritania
GROUP F: Cameroon (Q) – Ghana (Q) – Benin (Q) – Guinea-Bissau
First round of AFCON 2019 group fixtures: Goals, facts etc. [Analysis]
LIST: Round of 16 pairings
July 5: Uganda vs. Senegal in Cairo
July 5: Morocco vs. Benin in Cairo
July 6: Egypt vs. South Africa in Cairo
July 6: Nigeria vs. Cameroon in Alexandria
July 7: Madagascar vs. DR Congo in Alexandria
July 7: Algeria vs. Guinea in Cairo
July 8: Mali vs. Ivory Coast in Suez
July 8: Ghana vs. Tunisia in Ismailia
Final Group E games [Half Time]
In Group E, Angola take on Mali while tournament debutants Mauritania play against Tunisia. Mali top the group with four points, having won their match against Mauritania and drawn against Tunisia.
Tunisia and Angola need at least one point to stand a chance of progressing to the knockout stage, while Mauritania must win if they hope to join fellow debutants Madagascar in the last 16.
Angola vs. Mali
37’ – Haidara gives Mali the lead against Angola, turned out to be the only goal of the game. Itsecured Mali’s top spot in the group.
Mauritania vs. Tunisia ended goalless which result favoured the North African side as Angola was bundled out with two points along with debutants Mauritania.
Ghana beats Guinea-Bissau, Benin holds Cameroon
It was a goalless first half in the two Group F games in Egypt as Guinea-Bissau held Ghana whiles Benin also continued to defy holders Cameroon.
Just on resumption of the game ‘second half), Ghana took the lead against their fellow West African opponents.
46’ – Jordan Ayew puts the Black Stars ahead.
72’ – Midfielder Thomas Partey sealed the result and Ghana’s qualification to the next round.
Ghana drew their first two games 2 – 2 against Benin and 0 – 0 against Cameroon. Jordan scored one of the two goals against Benin, his elder brother Andre Ayew got the other.
Despite dominating the game, the defending champions Cameroon failed to convert any of their chances into goals as the Squirrels of Benin held them to a draw.
Cameroon had beaten Guinea-Bissau in the first game 2 – 0 before the draw with Ghana. The other game between Benin and Guinea-Bissau also ended goalless.
All teams can qualify
Ahead of the last group games at AFCON 2019, all teams in Groups E and Group F can still qualify.
In Group E, Angola take on Mali while tournament debutants Mauritania play against Tunisia. Mali top the group with four points, having won their match against Mauritania and drawn against Tunisia. Tunisia and Angola need at least one point to stand a chance of progressing to the knockout stage, while Mauritania must win if they hope to join fellow debutants Madagascar in the last 16.
In Group F, Benin and Ghana need at least a draw in their last group games, while Guinea-Bissau must win to avoid elimination. Holders Cameroon take on second-placed Benin, while Ghana, who have played out two draws so far will be looking for maximum points against Guinea Bissau.
All set for final games in Groups E and F
Groups C action: Senegal vs. Kenya, Algeria vs. Tanzania
At full time in final games in Group C, Kenya despite defying tournament favourites Senegal throughout the first half of the match finally conceded in the 63rd minute going on to lose by three goals to nil.
Algeria, meanwhile won three – nil over Tanzania. Algeria thus makes a perfect group appearance with maximum nine points and a clean sheet in all three games. Only hosts Egypt and Morocco have a similar record.
The Kenya – Senegal clash was very important because it held the key to who comes second in the group. The emphatic win means the West Africans qualify into the second round with a second place finish.
Kenya vs. Senegal
63’ – Sarr puts Senegal ahead against Harambee Stars
72’ – Mane scores
78’ – Mane converts a penalty, will he be the first AFCON hattrick hero?
Algeria vs. Tanzania
35’ – Slimani gets the first for the Les Verts
40’ Ounas gets a second
45’ extra time – Ounas bags third goal for Algeria, his second. Can he get AFCON’s first hattrick? He could not as he was subbed for Mahrez on 74th minute.
Groups D action: LIVE updates
Ivory Coast is currently leading Namibia by a four goals to one. If they hold on to the lead and win, they will end second in the group with six points.
40’ – Max Gradel strike gives Les Elephants the lead.
58’ – Serey doubles the lead
84’ – Zaha adds a third
89’ Cornet puts icing on the result
71’ – Kamatuka pulls one back for Namibia
South African hearts were broken as Morocco scored late in their fixture. The north Africans ended up top of the group and with a perfect point aggregate. Nine points from three games and yet to concede a goal – same as Egypt.
.FIFCI_tweet qualify alongside FRMFOFFICIEL from Group D, as #AtlasLions become only the second team after Egypt to qualify with a 100% record without conceding a single goal.BafanaBafana await their fate, and may yet qualify as a best third. #TotalAFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/maK2OmCW78
— CAF (CAF_Online) July 1, 2019
Match Day 11: Final games for Groups C and D
Aside Algeria (Group C) and Morocco (Group D), there are qualification slots for grabs between the other six teams across both groups.
Senegal will face Kenya while Tanzania who lost their two earlier matches come up against leaders, Algeria.
Group D, the 1 – nil group where the previous four games have recorded 1 – 0 victories, Morocco face South Africa whiles Ivory Coast take on Namibia. Morocco has six points, South Africa and Ivory Coast have three each and Namibia has zero.
Source: africanews
