Group D

Senegal 

Senegal couldn’t stand up to the toughest group in the competition after defensive lapses cost it dearly against Tunisia and Angola.

Ultimately it left the tournament winless after drawing with South Africa.

El Hadji Diouf making himself available after an international “retirement” failed to aid Senegal’s cause in front of goals, leaving the hard-working Henri Camara with little foil in the forward line.

Defence was Senegal’s biggest problem though, Souleymayne Diawara and Abdoulaye Faye combined to score a goal against Angola but were just as culpable for three that were conceded.

After South Africa took the advantage for Senegal it was all about pride, somehow it found a way to hold on for a draw despite being hammered by Bafana Bafana.

At least the rearguard 1-1 draw may have uncovered a new star; Bouna Coundoul deputising for Tony Sylva in goal with a stunning string of saves.

World Cup qualification prospects:

Senegal is in for a tricky first stage of qualifying with Algeria, Liberia and the ever-improving Gambia its opponents.

Algeria starts and ends Senegal’s campaign, making full points against the other two teams in the middle vital to ensuring one of the eight runner-up slots before the final game in Algeirs on September 5.

Should Senegal make it to the final group stage it has the wealth of European-based professionals and at-times prolific strikers to make a run for the World Cup.

But finishing top of a group with a leaky defence will not happen.

South Africa

South Africa coach Carlos Albert Pareira said before and during the tournament he was moulding a squad for 2010.

It might be a good idea, but South Africa’s performances at this Cup of Nations showed that is still very much a work in progress.

After escaping with a draw against Angola, Bafana Bafana couldn’t handle the complete article in Tunisia.

Its final game performance against Senegal showed why it bought so many strikers in the absence of Benni McCarthy – as none of them had could land the killer blow.

It speaks volumes that it was a midfielder Elrio Van Heerden who was South Africa’s top scorer, despite strikers Surprise Moriri, Sibusiso Zuma, Mpho Chabangu, Lance Davids, Thembinkosi Fanteni, Katlego Mphela and Excellent Walaza in the squad.

A first-choice partnership has to eventuate or Pareira has to find a smaller group of players to persist with, two years is nowhere near enough time to have any one or two of seven strikers ready to play in the system he decides on.

World Cup prospects:

As hosts South Africa is qualified for the tournament but will need a soft-as-butter group with a bit of help from FIFA if it wants to see the knock-out stages at this rate.

A scoreless draw between Tunisia and Angola was enough to advance both teams to the quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations tonight.

Despite South Africa and Senegal playing the more entertaining game of the night in a 1-1 draw the result was left irrelevant to Group D.

Tunisia now plays Cameroon in the quarter-final round while Angola will face Egypt.

At the Baba Yara stadium it would have needed a lop-sided vicotry for either South Africa or Senegal to keep the door open for progression.

But despite doing almost all the attacking it was South Africa's unreliable defence and poor finishing that continued to cost it dearly.

Elrio Van Heerden opened the scoring on 13 minutes for Bafana Bafana but the backline was caught cold 20 minutes later by Senegal's all-time top scorer Henri Camara.

In the second half South Africa laid seige to the Senegal goal but Bouna Coundoul, deputising for Tony Sylva, produced a string of inspired saves on the occasions the ball was on target.

Any chance South Africa had of grabbing a consolation victory was torched as both Thembinkosi Fanteni and Siphiwe Tshabalala put shots wide in the latter stages.

Coach Carlos Alberto Pareira has insisted this Cup of Nations tournament was preparation for the 2010 World Cup for his team, and after collecting two points from three games his side has plenty to work on.

Senegal on the other hand were described by commentators as having reached the "end of an era" in which it could be considered one of the big teams of African football.

Tunisia annihilated South Africa in the first half to cruise to a 3-1 win in Tamale this evening and all but book a spot in the knock-out stages.

South Africa must produce a goal-laden performance against Senegal to progress to the next round while Tunisia needs only a draw against Angola.

A diving header in the eighth minute from Francileudo Dos Santos opened the scoring for the Carthage Eagles while his second goal sent Tunisia in 3-0 up at the break.

In between Dos Santos’ goals Chouki Ben Saada was on hand to knock in a shot from the Brazilian-born striker that rebounded off the post.

Dos Santos’ opener came with a header diving away from goal and deflected in after a cross from the right flank.

His second goal was considerably easier after he ran onto a shallow back-pass from Nasief Morris in the 31^st minute and rounded goalkeeper Moneeb Josephs to tap in.

Morris attempted to amend his error in the 37^th minute running through a pack to put a header on a bouncing ball but his effort clipped the bar before going over

Dos Santos should have completed his hat-trick in the second half but fell over trying to tap the ball in from less than a meter out in the 65^th minute.

He was substituted shortly after having missed the opportunity to net his 11^th goal in African Cup of Nations competition.

South Africa enjoyed some spells of possession in a slow second half but couldn’t find a way through until the dying minutes when Katelongo Mphela ran onto a Steven Pienaar mishit to flick home.

It was yet another disconcerting soft goal against Tunisia who looked like keeping a clean sheet right up until the moment it conceded.

The quality of football is suffering significantly in the night game timeslot at this year’s African Cup of Nations.

While the descending humidity is a given, the players have failed to replicate the standard on show just in the curtain-raiser game.

After a sustained period of the first game of each double-header being the more entertaining game, it can no longer be put down to coincidence.

The last five days speak for themselves, the opening match yielding 26 goals and the night game just nine.  

While there are some one-sided scores helping along that rampaging 26-goal tally, night matches were a slaughter has been expected have also failed to deliver. Ghana may be out of form but scraped a 1-0 victory over Namibia in the heat of the night in Accra on Thursday after Guinea and Morocco’s end-to-end classic had yielded five goals between the teams.

While the heat and conditions should come as no shock to the players, an inability to play a pitch collecting dew has been blamed by some coaches – Ghana’s Claude Le Roy included – as a reason for the night-time struggle.  

Despite plenty of support from a noisy crowd in Sekondi on Friday, Nigeria and Mali played out the first and only 0-0 of the competition so far with a dearth of attacking chances.

The Confederation of African football has had little choice to put the games in the times they are (5 and 7.30pm kickoff) in order to attract as many fans as possible, while allowing time-consuming travel for local and international media.

Tonight promises to be the best chance of two quality games, with South Africa set to play Tunisia after notoriously negative Angola and Senegal play in the opener.

 Manchester United’s new acquisition Manucho has already shown what he is capable of with a superb leaping header to score against South Africa in the opening game.

 But Senegal will be stinging after Tunisia opened up their otherwise-resolute defence with two astounding strikes in the 2-2 draw.

South Africa escaped with a point against Angola and now face a Tunisia side who showed the quality in their team is up to the challenge in the most competitive group of the tournament.

Teo Pellizzeri, Accra