African Nations Cup

Malawi stunned the Algerian team into submission with a shock 3-0 win at the November 11 Stadium (named after the date that Angola declared independence) in the second Group A game in the 2010 African Nations Cup tournament.

Algeria were supposed to have easily beaten the Malawi team – after all this Algerian team finished top of their group in qualifying, beating Egypt – the team who have won more African Nations Cups than any other team – into second place.

However, nobody told Malawi about this, and they started the game strongly with a mixture of determination and energy often outweighing the amount of skill displayed. And it was this willingness to chase down the game that led to the opening goal after 17 minutes. Algerian ‘keeper Chaochi attempted to clear a long ball, but it was chased down in the penalty box by the onrushing Essau Kanyenda. The rebound fell to Russel to smashed the ball into an empty net.

It was to get worse for the Algerians. Ten minutes before the break Malawi extended their lead a Kafoteka headed home Mwakaungulas cross.

One can only imagine what was said by the Algerian Manager at half time, but it probably wasn’t – ‘you’re doing fine lads, there’s no need to defend any more’ – which was odd as this was exactly how Algeria looked in the second half, and just four minutes into it, when the lively Russel hit the post and in the confusion as Algeria tried to clear the ball, Banda drove the ball low and hard into the net to make it 3-0. This was Bandas last action in the game as he was stretchered off after having been fouled whilst scoring.

The Algerians failed to really threaten the Malawi goal, apart from a Yatabare header that sailed over the bar when it was easier to score, and the points went to Malawi.

Group A