Football
PA Sport and Associated Press 10y

African Nations Cup: Cameroon hit four past Ivory Coast

Cameroon threw off their dreadful World Cup performance to beat star-studded Ivory Coast 4-1 in African Cup of Nations qualifying on Wednesday.

Clinton N'Jie enhanced his reputation as Cameroon's new star in place of Samuel Eto'o with the opening goal off a rapid counterattack at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde. He also had a goal disallowed soon after. Yaya Toure equalised by sliding in to bury a loose ball in the 25th minute.

But that spurred the Cameroonians on, and Vincent Aboubakar put them ahead again before half-time then the two strikers both scored high-quality second goals. Aboubakar sent a first-time shot into the top corner in the 54th minute, and N'Jie controlled a pass with his chest and volleyed home in the 76th.

"We need to win the remaining four games to go through and that's what we shall work towards achieving,'' Ivory Coast captain Toure said.

Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier suffered a head injury early in the second half when he clashed heads on a corner kick. His team reported he lost consciousness but that was "more fear than harm" for the PSG right-back.

In the second game in Group D, DR Congo won 2-0 in Sierra Leone with goals from Firmin Mubele Ndombe and Bokala.

Cameroon sit top of the group with a 100 percent record after two games, while DR Congo and Ivory Coast each have one victory to their names.

The Cape Verde Islands recorded their second successive victory at the start of their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 upset of 2012 champions Zambia.

The island minnows' celebrations after beating Angola to reach the 2013 quarterfinals were memorable and they are on course for a repeat opportunity, top of qualifying Group F at this early stage.

Ze Luis' first-half opener was cancelled out 10 minutes after the interval by Jacob Mulenga, but Heldon scored a 77th-minute winner for Cape Verde.

Mozambique and Niger drew 1-1 in the other match in the group, Elias Dominguez with a sixth-minute penalty for the hosts before Mahamane Cisse equalised.

Congo followed up their surprise victory over defending champion Nigeria with a 2-0 win over Sudan to take charge of Group A. South Africa and Nigeria drew 0-0.

Ghana and Uganda share top spot in Group E after beating Togo and Guinea respectively.

Everton's on-loan Chelsea winger Christian Atsu grabbed Ghana a 3-2 win over Togo after Emmanuel Adebayor had drawn Togo level with 13 minutes remaining. Asamoah Gyan and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu had previously scored for Ghana to overhaul Floyd Ayite's opener.

Geoffrey Massa scored both goals in Uganda's 2-0 success over Guinea.

Egypt, the record seven-time African champions, lost 1-0 at home to North African rivals Tunisia and are still pointless in Group G, along with Botswana who were beaten 2-0 at home by Senegal, the goals coming from Sadio Mane and Dame N'Doye.

In Group C, Burkina Faso made it back-to-back wins with a big 3-0 win in Angola. Aristide Bance scored the opener just before half time and Jonathan Pitroipa netted twice in the second half to complete the rout. Lesotho had Mohau Kuenane sent off in the 34th minute but still took the lead on 67 minutes through Emmanuel Lekhanya, but Levy Madinda grabbed a 1-1 draw for Gabon with just three minutes left.

Algeria took control of Group B, needing a late goal from Carl Medjani to beat Mali 1-0. And Malawi picked up their first win, 3-2 at home to Ethiopia. Atusaye Nyondo put them in front on 18 minutes only for Getaneh Kebede to level before the break. Frank Banda restored the lead before Nyondo provided some breathing space, meaning Yussuf Saleh's injury-time goal was no more than a consolation.

The top two teams from each of the seven groups will qualify for the finals alongside one best third-placed team.

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