LEAD: Ivory Coast, Angola win opening Africa Cup matches

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan 22, 2012, 21:18 GMT

Libreville, Gabon - Ivory Coast and Angola on Sunday got their Africa Cup of Nations campaigns off to a winning start as they beat Sudan and Burkina Faso, respectively.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba scored the only goal for the Elephants against Sudan, while former Manchester United player Manuche scored the 2-1 winner for Angola.

Playing the second match of a double-header in the Equatorial Guinea capital of Malabo, the Angolans were the more enterprising side in the first half, but failed to capitalize on their dominance.

Things changed within three minutes of the restart though as Mateus made the most of a defensive blunder by the Burkinabe, who failed to clear the ball.

The forward, who plays his club football for Nacional in Portugal, chased down the ball well outside the area before turning and unleashing a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

Burkina Faso drew level 10 minutes later, when Alain Traore curled a free-kick past the Angolan wall, leaving goalkeeper Fernandes stranded.

But far from being disheartened by the equalizer, Angola kept going forward and were rewarded in the 68th minute when Manucho gave his side the three points with a powerful long-range effort.

Although the referee allowed six minutes of injury time at the end of the game to compensate for Angolan time-wasting, there was no coming back for Burkina Faso.

In the earlier game, Ivory Coast, who are one of the favorites to lift the trophy at the end of the January 21 - February 12 competition, did not have it all their own way as Sudan had several chances to equalize in the group B game.

Drogba found the winner three minutes from the break when he headed in a cross from Chelsea team-mate Salomon Kalou, giving goalkeeper Moez Maghoub no chance.

Sudan, ranked more than 100 places behind their opponents, nearly snatched an equalizer in the dying moments of the first half when Mudathir El-Tahir's shot was brilliantly tipped against the cross-bar by Boubacar Barry.

A disappointing crowd of fewer than 10,000 in the 15,000 Nuevo Estadio de Malabo saw the Sudanese side push forward in the second half in search of a goal, but Barry did well to keep out a Mohammed Eldin shot midway through the second half.

Ivory Coast, fielding several Premier League players like Drogba, Kalou, Yaya and Kolo Toure and Gervinho, struggled to find a way through a compact Sudan defence, and the underdogs were closer to leveling matters than the Ivorians were to doubling their score.

Equatorial Guinea beat Libya 1-0, and Zambia stunned Senegal 2-1 in group A matches played in Bata on Saturday.

The other co-hosts Gabon get their campaign off the ground on Monday against Niger in group C, where Tunisa face Morocco in the other match.