Afcon wrap up after three rounds of group matches
The group matches at the Africa Cup of Nations came to an end on Wednesday with the line-up for the knockout rounds now finalised. There will be two days off on Thursday and Friday before the action resumes on Saturday.
As was expected, the third and final round of group matches at the tournament in the Ivory Coast produced some thrilling football and dramatic results, not least a humiliating loss for the hosts and the elimination of heavyweights Algeria, Ghana and Tunisia. Here is SuperSport.com’s summary of the last round of group matches:
GROUP A: It was a Blue Monday in every perceivable way for the Ivory Coast as they were handed a shock 4-0 defeat by Equatorial Guinea. It was a game where everything went wrong for the host nation and everything that could go right fell Equatorial Guinea’s way.
Two more goals from Emilio Nsue pushed him up to five and top scorer at the tournament. He got things going with a breakaway goal in the first half at the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium but it was Pablo Ganet’s freekick in the 73rd minute that set up the heaviest defeat ever suffered by a home nation.
Equatorial Guinea finished top with Nigeria second after an own goal handed them a narrow victory over Guinea Bissau. In third place, the Ivorians had to wait two days to see whether they would qualify for the next phase as one of the four best third-placed finishers.
GROUP B: Cape Verde Islands had already won the group and emphasised what tough customers they had become by leading against Egypt and then scoring a dramatic last-gasp equaliser to draw 2-2 at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium.
It was enough for the Pharaohs, who had to do without injured Mohamed Salah, to go through in second place despite not winning a game.
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