The African Cup of Nations completed it’s first round of games last night. After witnessing some shock results, the tournament is beginning to take shape nicely, and for Arsenal stars Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue, proceedings are well under way.
Ivory Coast 3-1 Ghana (Cabinda)
Friday, Jan 15
Emmanuel Eboue saw red in this Group B tie between two of Africa’s footballing powers. The Arsenal man’s smile and pleas couldn’t stop him being sent to the stands and the right-back now misses the next game for the Ivory Coast.
Opoku Ageymang’s pace had given Eboue problems all game and his frustration showed after 56 minutes. Eboue lunged in on Opoku from behind and saw a straight red from the referee. The Elephants had been winning 1-0 at the time and held their nerve with ten men, running out 3-1 winners.
They now top the group with four points after drawing 0-0 with Burkina Faso on Monday. The win against Ghana also seals qualification from the group stages after Togo pulled out of the competition.
Next game: Ivory Coast vs. Togo (cancelled)
Cameroon 0-1 Gabon (Lubango)
Wednesday, Jan 13
Alex Song and Cameroon got off to a disappointing start, losing to underdogs Gabon. With a host of stars including Song, Samuel Eto’o and Newcastle’s Geremi, The Lions were unable to prevent the tournament throwing up another shock result.
Song was relatively quiet in his holding role. The Arsenal man spent most of his time collecting short passes from the defence and looked restricted from playing further up the field. The one time Song did get forward, he was brought down on the edge of the area but play was waved on by the referee.
Hull City striker, Daniel Cousin’s 17th minute goal settled the tie. Paul Le Guen’s side now lie bottom of Group D with two games remaining.
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