The remaining two teams to join the quarter-finals of the 26th edition of the MTN Africa Cup of Nations will be decided today. Inas Mazhar reports from Kumasi in Ghana Tunisia is set to meet Angola while South Africa will clash with Senegal in the last two matches of the group stage which will decide the eight finalists in the competition. The winners of today's matches will meet the top two from Group C, which includes Egypt. Playing their second matches in the group last Sunday in Tamale, venue of Group D, Angola and Tunisia both had moved to within a point of qualification for the quarter-finals of the ACN finals with two impressive wins. The Carthage Eagles and the Negras need only to draw the game to eliminate Senegal and South Africa from the tournament. In its second match, Angola had upset group favourites Senegal 3-1 and Tunisia followed up with a victory over the South Africans by the same score line. It was the Angolans first victory in the tournament after drawing 1-1 with South Africa in their opening match. It was a deserved win for the Palancas Negras and a boost to their chances of progressing to the next round. A second half brace from Manchester United-bound striker Manucho and one from Flavio Amado gave the South Africans their first win of their third campaign. The Teranga Lions started off well and succeeded in taking the lead after 25 minutes through Abdoulaye Faye, who headed home from captain El Hadji Diouf's free-kick. Prior to the opener, the likes of Mamadou Niang, Diomansy Kamara and Diouf himself had made several unsuccessful attempts for the first goal. The Angolans resumed strongly and just minutes later drew level through Manucho from a goal mouth melee. Niang was gifted with clear opportunities to put his side in the lead once again in the 55th and 56th minutes, but missed the target on both occasions. The tide shifted in favour of the Angolans, and Manucho was on hand to put them in front in the 67th minute. While the Lions fought anxiously for the equaliser, Flavio headed home the third for the Palancas Negras to shatter the Lions' dreams of coming back into the game in the closing stages. Despite several efforts, even a consolation goal remained elusive until the proceedings were brought to an end. The result gave Angola four points and put it in pole position to advance to the next stage of the tournament. Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves told reporters after the game, "A great team does not always win the big battles. We won and we won well." The Senegalese fans, the biggest supporters in Tamale, were visibly angry with their team's performance and loss of the game. They had come in huge numbers from their country and were seen in the streets of Tamale supporting their team, carrying their country's flag, since the beginning of the tournament. They left the stadium after their team's loss disappointed and frustrated. For Tunisia, Dos Santos was on target in the eighth and 34th minutes and was also involved in the second goal in between when his shot struck the post for Chaouki Ben Saada to snap up the rebound. Substitute Katlego Mphela made the score more respectable for South Africa when he notched a late consolation in the 87th minute. Egypt was scheduled yesterday to play Zambia while Cameroon took on Sudan in the last two decisive games of Group C. The Pharaohs almost guaranteed their qualification but head coach Hassan Shehata and his team were cautious nevertheless. "Zambia is not an easy opponent." Shehata told Al-Ahram Weekly before the game. "Losing 5-1 to Cameroon is a heavy defeat yes, but it doesn't mean that they are a weak contender. We have seen them play against Sudan which means that every game is a different situation," Shehata said. "Accordingly, we have prepared differently for this game because we know they will want to win this game to qualify for the second round and we too, want to confirm our qualification. "We need to score as many goals as we can to secure our goal difference in any case. "And we are really looking to this game to maintain our winning streak. Collecting nine points and topping the group allows us to stay in Kumasi for the quarter-finals instead of traveling to another venue," Shehata added. Though Zambia's coach Patrick Phiri was disappointed with his team's performance, and looked pessimistic in reaching the quarter-finals, he said Cameroon were lucky in beating them. "We created the goals for them and our defence failed to live up to expectations. It's the first time I saw my team playing this way. Cameroon took advantage of the mistakes we made." Phiri added it will be difficult for his side to go through to the knockout stages. "We had so many administrative problems like other African teams." Rumours abounded that the Zambia players had refused to play the match until they were paid their first victory bonus. The matter was resolved when they collected the money. "We are now looking forward to the next game against Egypt. I know it's going to be difficult to qualify," Phiri said. Earlier this week, the five-time African champions Egypt had already gone top of Group C after their 3-0 win over Sudan at Baba Yara Stadium of Kumasi. It was a boring game in the first half, with Sudan holding their own against their more illustrious opponents. Sudan's Haitham Tambal managed to get a shot on goal, although his effort was comfortably saved by keeper Essam El-Hadari. Twenty eight minutes into the game, the Egyptians were given the chance to seize the initiative when Hosni Abd Rabou was released inside the area and subsequently went down under the challenge of Sudan custodian Mahjoub El Moez. Hosni took the spot kick himself, but needed a retake before sending El-Moez the wrong way for the opening goal. It was the second time in the tournament that Abd Rabou was forced to replay a penalty kick after scoring the first time. It was his third goal of the tournament. Abd Rabou, who was named the best MTN player of the match, said he was glad with the award because it meant his efforts in the pitch were being recognised and appreciated. Abd Rabou who formerly played in Strasbourg, France, said he now hopes Egypt can make it to the final stages. "We have been working very hard to defend our title. That's all we're thinking of and we are taking it step by step and match by match." It was 1-0 at half time, but the defending champions looked determined to add to their solitary goal as they started the second half strongly. The champions continued to attack the Sudan goal and it was no surprise when the second goal arrived, courtesy of a Mohamed Abu Treika strike in the 78th minute. The goal was a result of some excellent play by the Egyptians and was rounded off by Abu Treika after an unselfish pass by Zaki. Five minutes later the Pharaohs made certain of the three points and capped their impressive second half display off when Abu Treika netted his second, after being put through on goal by Abd Rabou. Abu Treika was shown a yellow card for flashing a shirt underneath his jersey which supported the occupied Palestinian city of Gaza. "Sympathise with Gaza," was written on Abu Treika's shirt beneath his national team jersey in English and Arabic in green. After the match, the midfielder was given a warning by the Confederation of African Football. CAF said Abu Treika had been warned after the display that political slogans were against football regulations. The shirt incident came on the same day of clashes between Palestinian residents, seeking to break the blockade of Gaza, and Egyptian police. In the same group, Zambia was thrashed 5-1 by Cameroon. Geremi Njitap's 28th minute free-kick gave Cameroon the opener while Desire Job struck three minutes later, darting past two defenders to increase the tally while Achile Emana added the third before the break. Upon resumption Samuel Eto'o scored from the penalty spot to draw level with Ivorian Laurent Pokou's all-time record of 14 ACN goals. A series of defensive blunders by the Zambians forced Desire to net in his second and Cameroon's fifth goal in the last 10 minutes of the game. Zambian captain Chris Katongo scored a consolation goal despite his team uninspiring play. After losing to Egypt 4-2 in the opening match, Cameroon's Coach Otto Pfister made five changes to the starting line-up against Zambia. And for the first time since arriving in Kumasi for the tournament, the Indomitable Lions coach spoke to the press. Pfister said his team now had greater chances of making it to the knockout stages following their victory. The veteran trainer believed the match enabled him to know which players he can count on for future matches. "We were clearly the better team today. We just won a game but there are many more challenges ahead. We will continue to work hard so as to attain the highest level." Pfister said the victory came because the team had played well and as a unit in the second match. "It was a collective team we saw today. We hope that they continue this way". The Indomitable lio
