Reigning Africa Cup of Nations holders Algeria are gazing an surprising early exit after shedding 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea.
It leaves Riyad Mahrez and his facet backside of Group E after two rounds of fixtures and they’ll want a victory of their remaining sport, which comes in opposition to group leaders Ivory Coast.
Esteban Obiang scored the one objective of the match, 20 minutes from time, to ship his nation up into second with a fantastic probability of constructing the knock-outs.
Earlier, Sierra Leone made it two shock outcomes from two group stage video games after they twice got here from behind to earn a 2-2 draw in opposition to Ivory Coast, one of many pre-tournament favourites on the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
After targets from former West Ham United striker Sebastian Haller and Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe, the Elephants have been only a minute away from confirming their place within the knock-out section.
However a exceptional incident in stoppage time – by which the dry pitch performed an enormous half – turned the result round and briefly pushed Sierra Leone as much as second in Group E, earlier than Equatorial Guinea’s win over Algeria.
Goalkeeper Badra Sangare raced from his objective to know the ball out towards the right-hand fringe of his six-yard field, solely to land awkwardly within the turf, leaving him with an injured knee and unable to maneuver. The ball squirmed out of his gloves and bounced again into play, with former Tottenham, QPR and Liverpool defender Steven Caulker in place to sq. for Alhaji Kamara to bundle in, within the 93rd minute.
Amid the joyous celebrations for one of many event’s rank outsiders, who stay unbeaten after stifling Algeria final trip, Ivory Coast needed to play out stoppage time with former Spurs right-back Serge Aurier in objective, with Sangare stretchered off.
That was itself a priority for Ivory Coast, as he’s their second-choice goalkeeper – they named first-choice Sylvain Gbohouo within the squad, however his medicine ban handed down by Fifa has been upheld and he’ll play no half on the Afcon both.
Elsewhere, in Group F Tunisia put themselves again within the working for the knock-out stage with a 4-0 thrashing of Mauritania. They’re solely the third facet to web three or extra in a sport on the event to date, and the primary to document a four-goal margin of victory.
Midfielder Wahbi Khazri, previously of Sunderland, scored twice in between Hamza Mathlouthi’s opener and Seifeddine Jaziri’s clincher.
There was late drama within the group’s different fixture, as Gambia and Mali drew 1-1 to depart each groups on 4 factors in first and second place. Each targets got here from the penalty spot within the closing 11 minutes of the match, Ibrahima Kone netting for Mali earlier than a stoppage-time equaliser Musa Barrow earned a share of the spoils.
Kaynak: briturkish.com
