By James Robert Kayindi
The 2004 champions of the African cup of nations, Tunisia went top of Group B after edging the 2012 AFCON champions Zambia with a 2-1 win on Thursday evening at Estadio de Ebibey stadium but slots for quarterfinals remain wide open for the group B seeds.
Southampton’s bench man striker and Zambian play maker Emmanuel Mayuka broke the deadlock at the hour mark of the game when he fired home to give the Chipolopolo a deserved lead after missing a couple chances earlier. Shortly after, the striker was taken off when he sustained a groin injury that left him a big doubt for their final group game against Cape Verde.
In the 70th minute, Zambia failed to clear away Syam Ben Youssef’s corner before being finished off by Ahmed Akaichi to level matters. In the dying minutes of the game, Tunisia’s captain Chikhaoui made a good run into the area to connect with Youssef Msakni’s cross and handing a win to the Eagles of Carthage in the process.
“We showed the force of our character. Despite a poor first half the players assumed responsibility in the second and delivered a good performance even if the referee deprived us of two penalties”, Tunisia’s head coach Georges Leekens said shortly after the game.
Elsewhere, the “Blue Sharks” of Cape Verde and the “Leopards” of Democratic Republic of Congo shared spoils after a goalless draw at the end of 90 minutes in front of 5,000 spectators at Nuevo Estadio de Ebibey stadium.
Following the results, Tunisia moved top of Group B with 4points, Cape Verde are in second place tied on 2points as third placed DR Congo. The Chipolopolo of Zambia are bottom of the table with one point and will face off with Cape Verde in their last game while Tunisia will be up against DRC.
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