2010 Africa Cup of Nations – Day 3 Preview – Group A

Angola and Algeria will clash at the Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda whereas Mali and Malawi will lock horns at the Estadio Chimandela in Cabinda.

In Group A, nothing is settled yet. Angola top the table with 4 points followed by Malawi and Algeria who both have 3 points. 

Mali are the most vulnerable with a single point and a negative goal difference but they still have the mathematical chance of reaching the quarter-finals at the expense of one of Group A’s top three teams at the moment.

LiveSoccerTV.com starts by previewing Angola vs Algeria before looking ahead to the Mali vs Malawi game.

Angola vs Algeria – 2010 Africa Cup of Nations Match Preview

On Day 2, Angola and Algeria emerged as winners of their respective clash. Now they’ll meet on Monday with the intention of making it into the second round of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Angola analyses

It’s a match that will put the entire people of Angola on their feet and probably cut their breath too. Yes, Angola lead Group A but an unfortunate result could put them out of the competition at the end of proceedings.

Angola astonishingly let a 4-0 lead slip away in the last quarter of their opening match against Mali, and were therefore forced to taste a draw rather than a victory.

On Thursday however, the hosts clinched their first win of the campaign after beating Malawi 2-0.

Flavio (who now has three goals in his name) and Manucho were on target for the Angolans.

But this particular win was overshadowed by claims coming from Malawi’s national team coach. The manager expressed his disappointment and anger at the fact that his team could not train for two days ahead of the Angola vs Malawi encounter.

Angola have therefore been accused of forging their way en route to the next stage but the Palancas Negras will certainly not be distracted by those claims when they face Algeria on Monday.

A high level of concentration will help Angola to deal with the Desert Foxes and seal their place into the quarter-finals.

Algeria analyses

The Desert Foxes had their job done on Day 2 of the tournament when they defeated match-day one’s comeback heroes Mali by a single goal to nil.

This result somehow erased their shocking loss to Malawi in their opening game of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

However, calculations indicated that there is still much to be done before Algeria accomplish their mission of passing into Round 2.

Algeria will not want to depend on what happens in the day’s other match between Mali and Malawi. The sole aim will be to upset the hosts by handing them their first defeat of the competition.

It will surely be a difficult task to do as Angola have proven to be very dangerous in attack with the influence of Mabina, Manucho, Flavio, and Djalma.

It will be interesting to see if Algeria’s goalkeeper Chaouchi will keep a second consecutive clean sheet since suffering a bad day against Malawi on Day 1.

Mali vs Malawi – 2010 Africa Cup of Nations Match Preview

It will be heartbreaking for Mali to leave Angola early after managing a splendid fight back on the opening day of the tournament.

For Malawi, a first round exit may give them much hatred and bad blood flowing through their veins after they lost three precious points on Day 2 in an unfair manner according to coach Kinnah Phiri.

Mali analyses

Mali are down to fourth in Group A. Their heroic 4-4 draw against the hosts Angola somehow gave them a huge boost of confidence but they couldn’t convert that into a positive result on match-day 2.

Mali went down 1-0 to Algeria and they never really looked threatening. There is no doubt that the pressure will be on skipper Mahamadou Diarra to live up to expectations alongside Seydou Keita and Frederic Kanoute.

The country has often been criticized for underperforming at the Africa Cup of Nations despite possessing gifted stars.

Mali’s fate on Monday will be down to belief and luck.

Malawi analyses

They started on a wonderful and surprising note when they shocked Algeria 3-0 on Day 1. Malawi are the underdogs in Group A but their hopes of reaching the quarter finals are very much alive.

However, they suffered a blow on match-day two when they went down 2-0 against Angola.

For coach Kinnah Phiri, the result wasn’t fair – not because of the referees’ officiating but because of what happened to his team before the encounter.

The Malawi manager explained in anger:

"We find it very strange that in this competition a team cannot be found a ground to train.

"We are very disappointed, because we feel that either the organizing committee or the Angolan federation were working towards pushing Angola into the quarter-finals.

"Three times, we went to a ground and found others using the pitch. We asked them to leave but they refused.

“We didn't have a session over the last two days before the game."

It could be very hard to defeat Mali, especially if the Eagles enter the game with a fierce spirit.

But Malawians will try and overcome their challenges by securing at least a draw.

Such a result will surely put them through to the next round.