Thursday, February 12, 2009

Results of African Friendlies


While much of the world watch Spain defeat England and Diego Maradona's Argentina floor France, the African continent saw a slew of international friendlies.

How did the African teams fare? Let's find out!

Egypt 2 Ghana 2

Probably the match of the list, African champions Egypt played out a thrilling to-and-fro encounter with visitors Ghana.

The Pharaohs took the lead after 40 minutes through Middlesbrough midfielder Mohamed Shawky.

The Black Stars equalized just seven minutes into the second half when a cross hit Hani Said on the arm and the penalty was converted by Stephen Appiah.

The clubless midfielder also featured in Ghana's second with 12 minutes left as his shot rebounded off goalkeeper Essam Al Hadary for Prince Tagoe to slot home the rebound.

But the home side managed to hit back six minutes from time when striker Emad Moteab controlled a loose ball and beat goalkeeper Richard Kingson from close range.

Nigeria 0 Jamaica 0

Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu insisted his side's goalless draw against Jamaica in London had served its purpose as a useful warm-up for their World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

"First and foremost, we had an opportunity to come together as a team," he said.

"We came together as a family and we can project a lot of qualities."

Nigeria dominated for spells in the second half and had their chances, the best coming from two Ike Uche headers.

The game was overshadowed by an incident two minutes before half-time when Jermaine Johnson seemed to shove linesman Darren Cann after squaring up to Nigeria's Taye Taiwo. The two were sent off.

"As Arsene Wenger says, I didn't see it," said Jamaica coach John Barnes.

South Africa 0 Chile 2

The 2010 World Cup hosts' five-match winning streak ended with a 2-0 home defeat to Chile.

Jorge Valdivia and Alexis Sanchez scored a goal in each half to seal victory for the South American side.

The home side, meanwhile, were left to rue missed chances and defensive errors.

Striker Benni McCarthy saw his powerful header from a Teko Modise cross easily saved by Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in the first half.

He then hit the upright from inside the box on 57 minutes after Bravo had parried Tsepo Masilela's ball into his path.

It's now a case of back to the drawing board for Joel Santana's team - who are already out of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying - as they prepare for their next friendly against Norway in Rustenburg at the end of March.

The defeat did not surprise the Bafana Bafana coach, however.

"Chile had a very strong team who know what to do out on the field," he said.

"They made us hurry through everything. It was a good friendly for us. These are the type of games we need and we have to apply now what we have learnt."

Here is a full list of match scores from around the continent:

Mali - Angola 4-0
Egypt Ghana 2-2
Morocco Czech Republic 0-0
Cameroon Guinea 3-1
Turkey Côte d’Ivoire 1-1
South Africa Chili 0-2
Tunisia Netherlands 1-1
Algeria Benin 2-1
Libya Uruguay 2-3
Burkina Faso Togo 1-1
Mozambique Malawi 2-0
Nigeria - Jamaica 0-0
Tanzania - Zimbabwe 0-0

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