Egypt restore sanity, Benin denied first win
Champions Egypt kicked off their Africa Cup of Nations' title defence
in scintillating style on Tuesday to restore some measure of sanity to
proceedings in Angola after a spate of shocks on the opening two days.
Hustled out of a World Cup berth by bitter rivals Algeria in
November's play-off the Pharaohs arrived here with motivation aplenty.
And they hit the ground running with a 3-1 defeat of Nigeria to top
Group C ahead of Mozambique and Benin, who shared the spoils 2-2 in the
day's other game.
After Angola's sensational collapse to Mali, Malawi's whipping of
Algeria, and favourites Ivory Coast being held by Burkina Faso, Egypt
took to the pitch at their peril.
But the six-time champions didn't falter as they brought an end to a
33-year-old winless run they have endured against the west Africans with
the goals coming from Emad Motaeb, skipper Ahmed Hassan, and Substitute
Mohamed Nagi. Nigeria had taken an early lead through Chinedu Obasi.
Striker Mohamed Zidan said: "We didn't give up. I think we deserved
the victory."
Egypt's assistant coach, Shawki Garib, added: "The victory over
Nigeria is just the beginning, we still have a long way to go and so we
still need our fans' genuine support and prayers."
Nigeria coach, Shuaibu Amodu, said his team paid the price for some
schoolboy errors.
"We played well and controlled the game especially in the first half
but somehow we made some silly mistakes and we were punished," said a
miserable Amodu.
Later, Benin were on course for their first ever Africa Cup of
Nations win when they shot out of the starting stalls to go two goals up
in the first 20 minutes against Mozambique.
Their goals came via a penalty by Razak Omotoyossi and an own goal by
Mozambique defender Dario Khan.
Mozambique's Almiro Lobo reduced the deficit before the half hour
mark with Goncalves Fumo netting the equaliser in the 54th minute.
Benin coach, Michel Dessuyer, said: "I have to accept this result
even though we lost a 2-0 lead. We failed to defend our advantage and
now we have to focus on the next match against Nigeria."
His Mozambican counterpart, Mart Nooij, reflected: "The first 20
minutes was disastrous for us. After a good prepration, the players went
into the game like a bull chasing after a red flag, but we came back in
the second half and played a very wonderful game."
The latest developments from Friday's deadly attack on the Togo team
bus centred on the arrest by Angolan police of two suspects wanted in
connection with the machine gun assault which has cast a long shadow
over the competition.
Burkina Faso, one of the three teams left in Cabinda where the attack
took place, are desperate to leave the troubled province which has been
the subject of a massive clampdown by security forces.
"We want to get to Luanda as quickly as possible due to the security
question," Burkina Faso's assistant coach Gualbert Kabore declared.
"We have to stay in Cabinda until Saturday morning. Organisers have
taken draconian measures and to get out we have to be accompanied by
security personnel. It complicates life." LUANDA, AFP
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