By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan 26, 2012, 21:45 GMT
Libreville, Gabon - Ivory Coast on Thursday became the second team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations after beating Burkina Faso 2-0.
In the earlier match in the Equatorial Guinean capital of Malabo, Angola took a giant step towards the round of the last eight after drawing 2-2 with Sudan.
Although they still have a game to play in group B, the Ivory Coast can no longer finish worse than second in the group. They currently top the group with six points, from Angola, who are on four.
Sudan, on one point, still have a slight chance of advancing, while Burkina Faso who lost both their opening match have been knocked out.
In the later game, Burkina Faso had a strong penalty appeal turned down early on as Jonathan Pitroipa was brought down in the area, but the referee waved play on.
Instead, it was Chelsea's Salomon Kalou who found the back of the net in the 16th minute with a half volley from close range to give the Elephants the lead.
But the Burkinabe took the game to the favorites and had several good chances to level matters but were denied by a strong Ivorian goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, as well as poor finishing.
The Stallions were also unlucky as not only did Moumouni Dagano's header hit the upright midway through the second half, but Bakary Kone also scored into his own net with eight minutes to go as he went up to clear a cross from Arthur Boka.
Earlier, Manucho scored twice for Angola, while Mohamed Ahmed Bashir was a two-time scorer for Sudan, who scored their first goal and secured their first point in the competition since 1976.
Sudan coach Mohamed Abdallah said that he was satisfied with the way his side had fought back. 'I'm trying to minimize the small mistakes of our inexperienced defenders playing against high-quality strikers.
'I think we are improving. To survive in this competition you have to win, so we played more offensively,' he said after the match.
Sudan defender Nagm Eldin gifted the Angolans the opening goal in the fifth minute when he tried to dribble past Manucho, but the striker, who was once on Manchester United's books, managed to get the ball, unleashing a powerful shot after running into the area.
Bashir leveled for Sudan in the 33rd minute, when a Mudather El Taib cross found him in the penalty area and his header beat Angolan goalkeeper Carlos.
Carlos was later shown a yellow card and will miss his country's next game after picking up two bookings.
Angolan coach Lito Vidigal brought on Nando Rafael for his first-ever international game for Angola in the second half. The former German youth international had only been cleared this week by football's controlling body FIFA to play for Angola.
His debut was short-lived though, as the forward had to leave the field with a shoulder injury in the 73rd minute.
It took just five minutes after the restart for Angola to go ahead again as they were awarded a penalty, the first of the tournament, when Hamid Nazar brought down Djalma in the area and Manucho made no mistake from the spot for his third goal of tournament.
Sudan, however, kept on pushing forward in search of an equalizer and were rewarded in the 74th minute, when Bashir was again in the right place at the right time after some woeful Angolan defending.
Manucho came close for Angola with a long-range effort in the dying minutes of the game, but in the end the 2-2 is a fair reflection of the game and leaves both teams in the competition.
The Angolan captain Andre Macanga said that the draw was a fair result. 'We made a mistake and Sudan took advantage to score. We have it in our own hands. We depend on ourselves, and there's still a long way to go in this tournament,' he said.
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