Africa Cup of Nations Wrap Up 1.23.08

It was all Group D today as Tunisia and Senegal played out a 2-2 draw in Tamale, then Angola and South Africa went one each on the same pitch. Two late, great equalizers in the two games and now Group D looks a bit complicated, with every team on one point. Tunisia 2-2 Senegal Tunisia made a great start and went ahead after nine minutes when Jemaa played a great one two before scoring with the outside of his foot. Have a look at the goal here . Tunisia seemed dominant and it looked like being a great week for North African football. But you can definitely score too early. Especially if your manager is a wuss. Roger Lemerre bottled it and tried to defend the 1-0 lead for the remaining 81 minutes which is never a good plan. Tunisia nearly made it to half time but Jaidi’s clumsy attempt to cut out a through ball gave Sall the chance to equalise. Egypt had more success yesterday when their coach Hassan Shehata decided attack was the best form of defence. 3-1 up he took of Shawky and introduced creative midfielder Mo Aboutreika. Egypt went on to win 4-2. Lemerre’s Tunisia on the other hand went on the concede another. After an undignified defensive scramble Diomansy Kamara poked home to make it 2-1 to Senegal. Tunisia looked lost and headed for defeat, with Yissane Chikhaoui failing to create anything in the game (unless you countthrow-ins and goal kicks for Senegal.) Mejdi Traoui must have given up on his teammates because in the 81st minute he decided to strike it from 35 yards instead… …giving us another long range Africa Cup of Nations goal to add to the collection. So, 2-2 in Tamale, but Tunisia didn’t impress anyone. Senegal will also be worried that they created many many chances only for Niang and others to continually fire wide. You can see all four goals from the game here . Angola 1-1 South Africa Manchester United’s new man Manucho gave Angola the lead after 30 minutes, with an impressive diving header. It looked like it was all going to go wrong for South Africa’s Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. He’d left the likes of Benni McCarthy out to give some younger players experience with Bafana Bafana, but he didn’t want that experience to be losing. An equalizer was ruled out for offside and the future World Cup hosts kept pressing. Some thought they’d scored in the 81st minute, but replays showed Manucho (him again) clearing off the line just in time. But South Africa shouldn’t have worried because late goals are apparently mandatory at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. And Parreira’s policy of not relying on big names paid off when he replaced the disappointing Steven Pienaar of Everton with Elrio van Heerden, who did this with just two minutes to go. After today’s fine action, we’ve now seen all the teams in action. We go back to the start again tomorrow when group A resumes with Guinea vs Morocco (17:00) and Ghana vs Namibia (19:30) in Accra. Watch Africa Cup of Nations