🌍 AFCON: Gabon leave it late to land huge blow on Ghana | OneFootball

It was a bumper day in the Africa Cup of Nations with three of the big nations going at it in their second group matches.

Here’s what happened.

Late leveller leaves Ghana with uphill struggle

Scorers: Allevinah 88′; Ayew 18′

A late Gabon equaliser saw them give their qualification hopes a huge boost at the expense of Ghana in Group C.

After losing their opener against Morocco late on, victory was vital for the Black Stars and they got off to the perfect start after 19 minutes when André Ayew turned on the edge of the area and zipped a low strike into the corner to spark wild celebrations.

With Gabon missing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mario Lemina and Axel Méyé all due to COVID complications, they struggled to muster a response, until the closing stages.

Then, with two minutes left on the clock, substitute Jim Allevinah turned on the left of the penalty box and fired across goal for an equaliser which keeps Gabon in second, three points ahead of Ghana with one game remaining.

Ugly scenes marred the aftermath as a brawl ensued in the wake of the full-time which is set to see further punishment handed out.

Morocco stay top with Comoros win

Scorers: Amallah 16′, Aboukhlal 90+1′

Morocco remained top of Group C with a 2-0 win over Comoros but the minnows were the star of the show with a remarkable rear-guard performance.

It was the north Africans who took control of the game early on and opened the scoring after 16 minutes as Selim Amallah took a touch inside the box and blasted in from 10 yards.

Morocco were in total control now and almost doubled their lead on 36 minutes only for Romain Saïss’s header to crash off the crossbar.

Into the second half and Vahid Halilhodzic’s side kept pushing for another goal but were stopped by a mixture of bad finishing and heroic defending by the Island nation.

Sofiane Boufal was the next off the rank to miss a huge chance as his close range effort was saved brilliantly by Salim Boina and then cleared away to safety.

Boina was having the game of his life and produced another jaw-dropping double save from Hakimi soon after to keep the score at 1-0.

And the keeper was at it again on 83 minutes as he conceded a penalty after a foul on En-Nesyri but then saved the proceeding spot kick.

But Morocco eventually got their second in added time as Zakaria Aboukhlal found a gap in the defence and finished well.

Senegal stalemate against Guinea

Both Senegal and Guinea remained unbeaten in AFCON Group B as they played out an uninspiring goalless draw.

This was a special Liverpool match-up in the Bafoussam sun as Sadio Mané went up against club mate Naby Keïta to see who would top Group B.

It was Senegal who had the better of the chances in the first half as Boulaye Dia went closest with a glancing header from eight yards out that just went wide of the right-hand post.

The second half turned into a more even encounter with Kabe Diawara’s Guinea getting control of the ball but looking like they could get caught on the break.

Which is nearly what happened on 68 minutes as Mané burst through, laid in Bouna Sarr for a one-on-one, and watched as the forward shanked his effort wide of the post.

Despite some late pressure from Guinea, the match ended in a stalemate with both now locked on four points at the top of the group.