Ooh mama, there were some big daddy tackles during the second full-on day as the action went out of Abidjan to Bouaké and Yamoussoukro.
Beware the ire of stoppage-time
There was something weird circulating in first-half stoppage-time during the games in Yamoussoukro. With his side trailing to a Pape Gueye goal and half-time just seconds away, Gambia’s Ebou Adams was possessed by some demonic force that urged him to hack at the calf of Senegal's Lamine Camara. Truly odd. Adams was nowhere near the ball and so could not even argue mistimed challenge. The ref gave a yellow but the video assistant referees suggested another look and sure enough, Adams was shown red. A few hours later, with his side leading 1-0, the Guinea skipper François Kamano had a double hack at Cameroon’s Frank Magri. Again the yellow card was changed to red after the video gang intervened. Nothing like that happened in the match between Algeria and Angola in Bouaké. So clearly it was just a Yamoussoukro thang.
Profit from loss
But while Senegal were able to power on from the dismissal of Gambia's Ebou Adams to score two more goals and win 3-0, Cameroon could not exploit François Kamano's departure and had to settle for a 1-1 draw. In the final match of Day 3 in Bouaké, we particularly liked the way the Algeria midfielder Nabil Bentaleb upended the Angola striker Mabululu. After taking away the 31-year-old's legs in the penalty area and seeing the ball roll over the by-line, Bentaleb stuck his hand up. Was it to appeal for a goal-kick? Or to signify an infringement? Or call for the medics? Or could it have been to alert his coach that his side might be just about to lose their slender advantage? Alas for the benighted Bentaleb, it was the latter.
Oh, them lot
Before Algeria's draw with Angola, the Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet had held his hand up. The 50-year-old Belgian apologised for his side's collapse against Senegal. "We wanted our performance to be better than this," he lamented. "After conceding early, we tried everything we could to come back but Senegal was more effective and better organised." Top tip, Tom ... Senegal are good and they keep 11 men on the pitch.
Camara, the man
Well, if you are going to play your very first match for the senior team at the Africa Cup of Nations, you might as well make everyone talk about you. Lamine Camara, scored a slick goal to give Senegal a 2-0 lead over 10-man Gambia. As for his second of the match, it was stupendous. Gorgeous technique and agility to turn his body and curl the ball over the despairing dive of goalkeeper Baboucarr Gaye and into the top right hand corner. A grand day out for the 20-year-old.
Camara, the boy
Quite a voyage so far for Lamine Camara. In March 2023, he was in the Senegal team that won the under-20 Africa Cup of Nations. That followed a run-out in January and early February 2023 with the senior team that claimed the Africa Nations Championship – the event that is only open to players plying their trade in Africa. It would be quite a feat if he racked up another crown here in Cote d'Ivoire.
