the feat of Namibia, Mali and Burkina Faso… What to remember from Tuesday’s matches

For its third participation in the CAN, Namibia won its first victory in the competition, surprising Tunisia on Tuesday.

The first round of the African Cup of Nations continues. After the missed entries of Algeria and Cameroon on Monday, it was the turn of South Africa and Tunisia to enter the fray on Tuesday January 16. If everything went well for the Eagles of Mali, the start was much more frustrating for those of Carthage, beaten to everyone’s surprise by Namibia. As for Bertrand Traoré’s Burkina Faso, he came out on the wire.

Namibia’s historic feat

Since 2013, Tunisia has not won its first match in a CAN. And we will have to wait at least for the next edition to see the Eagles of Carthage perhaps finally put an end to this series. Because Jalel Kadri’s men, who beat the Blues at the last World Cup, were surprised when they entered the fray. Opposed to Namibia, a modest 115th nation in the world, Tunisia was trapped at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly stadium (0-1).

Above technically, the Tunisians never found the fault, while remaining constantly under threat from the Namibians and their lightning counterattacks. It was at the very end of the match that the Carthage Eagles were punished, following a laboriously cleared corner, on a long cross from Bethuel Muzeu headed by Deon Hotto. For its third participation in the CAN, Namibia won its first victory in the history of the competition.

Burkina Faso is doing well

The day after the unexpected draw between Algeria and Angola, Burkina Faso knew that it had a good chance to play against Mauritania, in group D. But under the suffocating heat of Bouaké, where the thermometer showed up to 36 degrees during the meeting, the Burkinabés struggled to win against the Mauritanians (1-0).

And this, even if the latter lost their leader, Aboubakar Kamara, to injury before the half hour of play. The Etalons, however, managed to force the lock in added time, thanks to a penalty obtained by the former Marseillais Issa Kabore. Captain and leader of Burkina Faso, former Lyonnais Bertrand Traoré transformed it to offer a sluggish victory to his team, who took the lead in group B.

Mali did not stumble

It was the first shock of this CAN, but the Eagles of Mali did not fail. Against South Africa, the Malians started the match in reverse, conceding an avoidable penalty in the first quarter of an hour. Percy Tau, the Bafana Bafana striker, then had the opportunity to ideally launch the CAN for the South Africans. But the Al Ahly (Egypt) player completely screwed up, and saw his attempt fly into the sky of Korhogo. A boon for Mali, which then recovered, especially after returning from the locker room.

However, we had to wait until the hour mark to see Eric Chelle’s men truly threatening. On a free kick from Sékou Koita, the former Rennais Hamari Traoré was on the lookout to push the ball, returned by the bar, to the bottom. Six minutes later, Lassine Sinayoko held off Siyanda Xulu in the box before finishing with the outside of his foot. Enough to secure the victory of Mali, which thus takes the lead in Group E ahead of Namibia, on goal difference.