On paper, Mali was the favorite against South Africa in tonight’s second match of the Group E, but as the results showed so far at AFCON (see: Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana), the favorites are not having a good tournament so far. And after 45 minutes, it looked that Mali would fall in the same category as the mentioned teams. South Africa had the initiative, Bafana Bafana had chances and they had the penalty. But one of the most experienced teams in AFCON ‘shoot’ themselves in the foot and missed it all. The punishment came in the second half: Mali – South Africa 2-0.Mali’s second goal from Sinayoko, you just can’t stop him, dissecting South Africa’s defense for fun #AFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/GZKIXGdaXc— Temidayo (@thisistemidayo) January 16, 2024 Mali have won the two previous Africa Cup of Nations meetings against Bafana Bafana (in 2002 and 2013) and continued the streak tonight, but it wasn’t easy at all. South Africa started better and Percy Tau had one of his many chances. He missed them all. The experienced midfielder and former Brighton player took a shot in the 14th minute, but the worst came after four minutes, when a soft penalty was awarded to them. Tau took the ball and missed wide over the bar. He had a chance to redeem himself at the end of the first half, but this was just not his night. Mali had only one chance in the first 45 minutes, but it was the best one. Lassine Sinayoko used a mistake in defense and met keeper Williams face to face, but South Africa goalie saved the shot.AFCON2023: Namibia stun pre-match favourites Tunisia to bag first ever victory in AFCONThe Eagles finally ‘spread their wings’ in the second half and finally showed that they have better players. Leipzig’s Haidara had the first chance and then finally came the goal. Salzburg’s Sekou Koita cracked the crossbar from a free kick and captain Hamari Traore tapped in the rebound from one meter. Six minutes later it was over when Sinayoko scored the second goal of the game, and took his team to the top of the group, courtesy of Namibia’s shock win over Tunisia.AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGETuesday Burkina Faso – Mauritania 1-0 (0-0)/Traore 90+5/Tunisia – Namibia 0-1 (0-0)/Hotto 88/Mali – S.Africa (0-0)/Traore 60, Sinayoko 66/Wednesday 20.00: (1.30) Morocco (5.80) Tanzania (12.0)23.00: (2.40) Dr Congo (3.20) Zambia (3.40)***odds are subject to change***
