Madagascar beat Nigeria to top group

MADAGASCAR pulled off one of the great shocks of the Africa Cup of Nations when they upset Nigeria 2-0 yesterday to finish top of Group B and advance to the knockout stages.

A horrific defensive mistake and a wicked deflection from a free kick allowed the Indian Ocean islanders, making their tournament debut, to finish unbeaten ahead of both Nigeria and Guinea in the standings.

Lalaina Nomenjanahary took advantage of sloppy defending by Leon Balogun to open the scoring in the 13th minute and Carolus Andriamahitsinoro netted the second eight minutes into the second half.

Nigeria, one of the five African teams at last year’s World Cup, had won their opening two matches but looked flat and proved unable to respond after going behind and face extensive soul searching after an embarrassing setback.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Yattara scored a brace of goals as Guinea defeated 10-man Burundi 2-0 in their Group B clash yesterday to give themselves a strong chance of a place in the knockout stages.

The victory means Guinea finish third in their pool behind Madagascar and Nigeria, but their four points will likely make them among the four best third-placed finishers that advance to the second round.

Yattara was the most influential player on the pitch as a foul on him led to an early red card for Burundi’s Christophe Nduwarugira, before he netted his two goals.

Debutants Burundi exit the competition with three defeats and no goals scored in what has been a difficult introduction to continental finals for the East African nation.

Guinea were without Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, who did not recover in time from a knock he picked up in the 1-0 loss to Nigeria in the team’s previous fixture.