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Mozambique ended a 40-year wait for victory at the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat Gabon 3-2 in Agadir.
Goals from Faisal Bangal, Geny Catamo and Diogo Calila earned the southern African side a deserved victory in which they were led by 42-year-old winger Elias Pelembe. It is their first win at the continental finals since their debut in 1986 in what was their 17th game.
Gabon stayed in the contest thanks to goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Moucketou-Moussounda, but back-to-back defeats mean their hopes of reaching the last 16 are over.
The holders Côte d’Ivoire had to be content with a 1-1 draw with Cameroon as the Group F heavyweights battled it out in Marrakech. Manchester United’s Amad Diallo scored for a second successive game to open the scoring for the Ivorians in the 51st minute but full-back Junior Tchamadeu levelled for Cameroon with the help of a big deflection from Ghislain Konan in the 56th minute. The strike was officially recorded as an own goal.
The countries, who have eight Cup of Nations titles between them, now share the lead in Group F with four points apiece, followed by Mozambique on three. Gabon were eliminated as a result of the draw in Marrakech.
Riyad Mahrez scored a first-half penalty as Algeria sealed their place in the knockout rounds with a 1-0 victory against Burkina Faso in their Group E encounter. Algeria have six points and will win the group as they cannot be overhauled by either Burkina Faso or Sudan due to the head-to-head rule.
Algeria were awarded a penalty just past the 20-minute mark when Rayan Aït-Nouri was fouled in the box by Ismahila Ouédraogo, and Mahrez made no mistake as he sent Hervé Koffi in the Burkina Faso goal the wrong way. Mahrez extended his record as Algeria’s all-time leading scorer at the Cup of Nations with his ninth goal and is also the leading scorer in this edition so far having scored twice in the opening 3-0 win against Sudan.
Burkina Faso came close to an equaliser just before half-time when Pierre Kaboré’s close-range header came back off the post and Algeria were able to scramble the ball to safety.
Koffi was busy and saved from Mohamed Amoura, before Ibrahim Maza forced another good stop and then scuffed a shot wide of the target. Luca Zidane, son of France’s Zinedine, showed good reactions to keep out a Lassina Traoré header late on as Burkina Faso came close to an equaliser.
Sudan profited from a late own goal to beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca and pick up their first points of the tournament. Mohamed Eisa’s free-kick in the 74th minute was cleared by Luís Asué but struck teammate Saúl Coco and ricocheted back past the despairing dive of the goalkeeper Jesús Owono.
