OneFootball
Emily Wilson·20 January 2022
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Emily Wilson·20 January 2022
Ivory Coast claim top spot in Group E after beating reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions Algeria 3-1 on Thursday.
Scorers: KessiĂ© 22âČ, SangarĂ© 39âČ, PĂ©pĂ© 54âČ; Bendebka 73âČ
Despite sitting at the bottom of Group E prior to the match, Algeria still had a chance to potentially reach the knockouts in their final group stage match against Ivory Coast.
However, the reigning champions lacked any bite in their performance and their opponents were exactly the opposite, playing with heaps of energy and some clinical finishing skills.
Franck KessiĂ©âs darting run into the box kick-started the party for 1-0 before a header from an un-marked Ibrahim SangarĂ© doubled the lead just before the break.
Down by two, the match wasnât necessarily out of reach for Algeria but Nicolas PĂ©pĂ© went on to smash the ball in the net for 3-0 shortly after the restart.
Things would then go from bad to worse for the holders after Riyad Mahrez was handed a chance to pull one back from the penalty spot but struck his effort off the post.
Yet their motivation wasnât completely drained, and Sofiane Bendebka came off the bench to make things 3-1 with roughly 15 minutes to go.
The gap, however, proved to be too large and despite dying efforts from Yacine Brahimi and Islam Slimani, the reigning champions exit the tournament in the group stages with just one point to their name.
Scorer: Ganet 38âČ
Despite holding a convincing grip on the game, Pablo Ganetâs lone goal was enough to see Equatorial Guinea finish second in Group E and move on to the knockout stage.
Scorer: Jallow 90+3
A last-minute winner from substitute Ablie Jallow helped Gambia down Tunisia at the death and move on to the Round of 16 after finishing second in Group F.
Scorers: HaĂŻdara 2âČ, KonĂ© 49âČ (P)
An early strike from Massadio Haïdara was enough to get Mali one step closers towards topping Group F and with commanding control of the game over Mauritania, Ibrahima Koné went on to wrap up a 2-0 win and see them move on.