Ghana became the first country to score a goal in the on-going Africa Cup of Nation in South Africa on Sunday but ended in a 2-2 draw with much excitement.
The Africa Cup of Nations started on Saturday afternoon at the Soccer City Stadium in Soweto with President Zuma officially opening the tournament amid a colorful ceremony.
However, the host South Africa could not give good account for themselves against tournament debutants Cape Verde with the game ending in 0-0 in a poor show in group A
The second match from the same group A between Morocco and Angola was far better than the first opening match but also ended in o-o making the tournament not seeing a goal after two matches.
But Ghana’s Emmanuel Agyemang Badu became the first player to score in the tournament on Sunday afternoon in group B when he slid home a pass from Kwadwo Asamoah to put Ghana in-front in the 40th minute.
Kwadwo Asamoah in the 49th minute, doubled Ghana’s lead when he headed in at the far post from Wakasu Mubarak’s corner kick to make it 2-0 in favor of the 4 times champions of the tournament.
The Congolese replied quickly with striker Tresor Mputu poking home from a close range inside the box to pull one back on the 53rd minute.
DR Congo restored parity when Dieumerci Mbokani scored a penalty after being dragged down by his shirt by Ghana’s defender Jerry Akamenko in the box.
The Ghanaian coach Akwesi Appiah blamed his players for going to sleep allowing the Congolese to come back into the game.
“I knew this match would not be easy, but it was unfortunate we did not win our first game, we relaxed and we suffered from some tactical indiscipline, which we must correct them in our next game”, he told the reporters after the game.
The second match in group B saw Mali piping their neighbor Niger by a long goal from Barcelona’s offensive midfielder Seidu Keita from a close range after the Niger’s goalkeeper had committed himself.
Mali now is the only team to have picked all 3 points from the 4 matches played so far in the tournament.
Ghana vs Congo DR Match video:
[media id=799 width=610 height=340]Africa Cup Of Nations :Results and Fixtures so far
Saturday : Republic of South Africa: 0 Cape Verde Islands: 0 – Angola: o Morocco: 0
Sunday: Ghana: 2 DR. Congo: 2 – Mali: 1 Niger: 0
Today (Monday) : Zambia vs Ethiopia – Nigeria vs Burkina Faso
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa Sports News
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