By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (January 16^th 2024)

Carthage Eagles Vanquished by Brave Warriors

The greatest shock of the fourth day of the 34^th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was saved for the second of three matches. Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles fell to a 1-0 defeat to Namibia – the Brave Warriors’ first ever victory at an AFCON). Dean Hotto scored the historic goal at Korhogo’s Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

Tunisia – the 2004 African champions – are ranked third in Africa presently, a full 87 places above Namibia in FIFA’s world rankings, which suggested a mismatch. The long-standing dispute that had halted the Namibian league for several seasons did not help either. Nor did the lack of suitable stadia in Namibia, which forced the Brave Warriors to play their home qualification matches in South Africa – they came through.

Colin Benjamin, and his players, rejected the script that conventional wisdom had provided, preferring a late, but historic conclusion of their own. After Namibia’s captain, Mamelodi Sundowns striker, Peter Shalulie, had an off day by his high standards, substitute, Bethuel Muzeu’s cross invited Hotto to make history, and the Orlando Pirates striker did so, heading past Bechir ben Said with just two minutes of normal time to play.

The Brave Warriors held on to achieve the biggest upset of this edition of AFCON so far.

Almorovids Tamed by Stallions

Mauritania’s Almorovids[1] are still chasing their first win at an AFCON – first goal even – as they slid to a 1-0 defeat by Burkina Faso’s Stallions. Bertrand Traoré failed to impress at Chelsea and is struggling to force his way into Unai Emery’s plans at Aston Villa, but he proved be the difference-maker as Mauritania squandered chances to write their own history.

Burkina Faso, the beaten finalists of 2013, claimed all three points after Mohamed El Abd’s foul on Issa Kaboré in added time resulted in a penalty that Traoré converted. It was hard on Mauritania, who prop up Group D after Algeria was held to a draw by Angola yesterday.

Mali’s Eagles, which is named after the traditional hunting bird of the Tuareg, pounced on South Africa 2-0 to leave the Bafana Bafana rooted to the bottom of Group E. Former AFCON winner Hugo Broos saw his team squander a great opportunity to take the lead, when Al-Ahly’s Percy Tau skied his penalty after 19 minutes, which was given after a VAR check revealed that defender Sikou Niakaté had used his elbow to Evidence Makgopa’s head to prevent the South African reaching the ball.

Six second half minutes consigned the Bafana Bafana to defeat. Hamari Traoré opened the scoring after an hour – he could hardly miss the tap-in rebound after Sékou Keïta’s free-kick thudded against the crossbar. Shortly afterwards Lassine Sinayoko latched on to Kamory Doumbia’s through ball and rounded South Africa’s skipped Ronwen Williams to seal the points for Mali, and leave Broos’ team rooted to the foot of Group E.

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[1] Mauritania’s national team takes its nickname from the Berber Islamic dynasty which ruled Spain and parts of the Mahgreb for the best part of a century until 1147 AD. Mauritania was a part of that dynasty, which boasts the foundation of the city of Marrakech. The Almoravids were defeated by the Almohad Caliphate, which incorporated the Almoravids’ territory into its domain.