LUANDA: The form book was shredded on day two at the Africa Cup of Nations as Algeria crashed to minnows Malawi and favorites Ivory Coast stuttered against Burkina Faso.
It was going to be a tall order to follow up Sunday’s sensational curtain raiser when Mali fought back from four goals down to snatch a point against hosts Angola, but little Malawi managed it.
In only their second ever appearance in the competition they inflicted a remarkable 3-0 thrashing of Algeria, who arrived in Angola proudly carrying their ticket to the World Cup.
But the Carthage Eagles looked anything but world class as they were torn apart in the searing heat.
Goals from Russel Mwafulirwa, Ivis Kafoteka and Davie Banda, did it for the Algerians, who now have a mountain to climb if they are to make it into the quarter finals.
Algeria coach Rabah Saadane put the shock loss down to a cocktail of well organized rivals, the heat, and errors on the part of his players.
“We hope the Confederation of African Football (organizers) can organize matches later because the weather was very hot and we didn’t perform well.
“Our best players did not do their best; it was a difficult time to play.
“They weren’t in their best shape, there was a lot of humidity. We hope to play later next time.
Midfielder Rafik Saifi tried to put a brave face on the defeat. “It’s better to lose one match 3-0 than three games 1-0. We still have two more first round matches, and we’ll be doing our best to qualify.
Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri suggested the result, while unexpected, was not totally out of the blue.
“We came here as underdogs but we’ve been playing well, the signs were there. We drew 1-1 with Egypt, drew 0-0 with Ghana, and beat Mozambique in warm up games.
The game was held in a near ghostly silence, with all but a couple of hundred of the November 11 Stadium’s shiny new 50,000 seats vacant.
The day s second match took place up in Cabinda where Group B has been reduced to three teams following Togo s departure after the attack on their coach by separatist rebels killed two and injured nine.
Ivory Coast were odds-on favorites to take the three points but the continental giants, boasting the likes of Didier Drogba and brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure dominated possession but created few clear-cut chances and looked far from potential champions.
Burkina Faso set out a defensive stall and contained their opponents with relative comfort to keep alive hopes of finishing among the top two in a mini-league completed by Ghana and qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Players stood silently before the kick-off to honor the dead while police, soldiers and special forces cast a ring of steel around a complex housing the teams.
Drogba reflected: We came up against a compact side determined not to let in a goal and it was pretty complicated. It was certainly hot but the heat was the same for both sides.
It makes life difficult for us now.
Yaya Toure added: This one point complicates things. We re a little frustrated. Now we re obliged to beat Ghana.
After these surprising results, Egypt coach Hassan Shehata insisted nothing can be taken for granted in the African Cup of Nations.
We warned the players and told them they should be very cautious, Shehata, who led the Pharaohs to back-to-back Nations Cup titles, told reporters on Monday.
The players should be aware that nothing is guaranteed in football. – Additional reporting by Filgoal.com
