المجموعة الأولى : أنجولا - مالي - مالاوي - الجزائر

Saadane Relieved With Win




January 15, 2010
Algeria coach Rabah Saadane was a relieved man on Thursday evening as his team kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win over Mali.
The veteran coach first took a swipe at those who had written off his team after their 3-0 loss to Malawi earlier in the week saying, “this win has given the perfect answer to all our critics”.
Saadane is confident that his team can progress to the next stage of the competition as he believed that from the outset all his team needed was two wins to go through to the knock-out stage of the competition.
The coach believes that his team will be well rested and prepared for their final group game on Monday in Luanda against host nation Angola.
"I did my calculations before and six points should be enough to qualify. I didn't put any pressure on my team, I told them to go out and enjoy themselves. Now we have three days to recover before our final first round game," he says.
Algeria’s Man of the Match from their victory over Mali, Karim Ziani was glad to correct the wrongs from his teams defeat to Malawi.
“We were in debt to the people of Algeria for losing the match against Malawi. We worked hard for this victory, though it was not easy. The result has renewed our hopes in the competitions."

Angola Bring Nations Cup To Life


January 15, 2009
Hosts Angola brought the African Nations Cup to life with a 2-0 win over Malawi on Thursday and are now setting their sights on the quarter-finals.
Luanda burst into a fervour of celebration, tinged with relief, after the home team beat Malawi 2-0 in their second game of the tournament. The dominant performance served to wipe away the disappointment of Angola’s capitulation in Sunday’s opening match against Mali, where they were 4-0 ahead with just more than 10 minutes to play and yet contrived to lose.
“I thought we played as well against Mali as we did against Malawi,” said coach Manuel Jose after Thursday’s win. “The only difference was us gifting all those goals in the last minutes of our first game. The feeling now is so much better and to be first in the group would be our first choice.”
A win in their last group game against Algeria in Luanda on Monday will ensure top place in Group A for Angola and a quarter-final at the newly-built 50,000-capacity November 11 Stadium, which has been packed with noisy support for their first two matches.
“Algeria will be tough to beat but we have high morale in our camp. We did not sleep well after the Mali match but we have now shown our strength,” added captain Kali after Thursday’s win.
Angola were quarter-finalists at the 2006 Nations Cup in Egypt and surprise World Cup finalists but over the last two years have turned in a mediocre set of results and were eliminated early in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. But Jose says there is a potential of a tournament-winnjng squad.
“We have the best attack at this competition with six goals in two games already.”
Half of those have been scored by Saudi-based striker Flavio but he left the stadium on Thursday with his hamstring heavily bandaged and his hopes of playing on Monday in doubt.

Malawi Lodge Formal Complaint

Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri


January 15, 2010
Malawi have made a formal complaint after claiming they were denied a training ground for two days leading up to Thursday’s African Nations Cup finals match with hosts Angola in Luanda.
Coach Kinnah Phiri said a protest had been handed to the tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football.
“We find it very strange that in this competition a team cannot be found a ground to train,” he said after the 2-0 loss in the Group A match against the hosts. “We are very disappointed because we feel that either the organising committee or the Angolan federation were working towards pushing Angola in the quarter-finals
“Three times we went to a ground and found others using the pitch. We asked them to leave but they refused. We didn’t have a session over the last two days before the game.”
Malawi, who beat Algeria 3-0 in their opening match, are second in the standings and will likely qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Mali in their last game in Cabinda on Monday.