January 17 – In a tournament already producing a slew of upsets, Namibia pulled off the biggest so far when they beat Tunisia 1-0 for their first ever African Cup of Nations win.
Deon Hotto’s 88th-minute header secured an historic victory, making a mockery of the world rankings in which Tunisia are currently third of 54 African nations, behind only 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco and defending Afcon defending champions Senegal.
Namibia, by contrast, are ranked 115th in the world and without a victory in any of their previous nine Afcon matches
The rush of unexpected results began on Sunday when Equatorial Guinea held Nigeria, then Egypt needed an added-time penalty from Mohamed Salah to snatch a draw against Mozambique.
Cape Verde scored in added time to defeat Ghana, the third most successful country in Africa’s showpiece tournament.
On Monday, 10-man Guinea held five-time champions Cameroon before Angola recovered from a poor first-half showing to draw 1-1 with Algeria, who have conquered Africa twice.
Namibia next face neighbours South Africa on Sunday followed by Mali the following Wednesday.
Even one point from the two fixtures would almost certainly secure the Brave Warriors a last-16 place, either as top-two finishers or as one of the four best third-placed teams. South Africa were beaten 2-0 by Mali in their opening game missing a first-half penalty in the process.
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