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| January 25, 2006 | Wednesday | Zilhaj 24, 1426 |
Camara leads Senegal past woeful Zimbabwe
PORT SAID (Egypt), Jan 24: Henri Camara scored the first goal and created the second for Issa Ba as wasteful Senegal laboured to a 2-0 win over Zimbabwe in a drab African Nations Cup Group D match on Monday.
The in-form striker from English Premiership surprise packets Wigan was one of the few players to impress as woeful finishing deprived Senegal of a bigger victory and kept Zimbabwe in contention until Ba struck with 10 minutes left.
Zimbabwe skipper Peter Ndlovu said Senegal punished their mistakes in the second half.
In the far superior first half of a double-header, Nigeria left it late to beat Ghana 1-0 with France-based defender Taye Taiwo punishing slack defending by running on to a free kick and scoring an 85th-minute winner.
Nigeria meet Zimbabwe Friday, and Senegal face a much tougher task against four-time champions Ghana with the winners likely to accompany the ‘Super Eagles’ into the quarterfinals.
Senegal dominated the opening half against outsiders Zimbabwe only to waste numerous chances of taking the lead before a modest crowd in the north-east city.
Former African Footballer of the Year El Hadji Diouf should have opened the scoring after six minutes, but failed from point-blank range to finish off a Camara chip that beat goalkeeper Gift Muzadzi.
Rahmane Barry was equally guilty midway through the opening half as he tapped the ball wide when scoring seemed simpler after a Diomansy Kamara burst took him past Muzazdi and his cross eluded two defenders.
Senegal did get the ball into the net four minutes before half-time when Camara ran on to a Barry pass, held off Zvenyika Makonese and beat Muzadzi with a low shot only for the effort to be disallowed for handball.
Zimbabwe, ranked six positions below fourth-placed Senegal in Africa, defended in depth and packed midfield while relying on counterattacks to threaten the 2002 Nations Cup runners-up.
The ‘Warriors’ came closest to snatching a first-half lead when star striker Benjamin ‘Benjani’ Mwaruwari outpaced Souleymane Diawara but goalkeeper Tony Sylva blocked the ball and the defender scrambled the ball away.
Tired of watching his strikers squander chances, giant Senegal midfielder Abdoulaye Faye burst forward on the stroke of half-time to try and rectify the situation only to shoot tamely wide.
Zimbabwe forced their first corner when Ferdinand Coly had to react swiftly to foil Shingarai Kawondera, but the set piece brought no joy and they fell behind almost immediately.
Barry stroked the ball between two defenders into the path of Camara, who rounded Muzadza and stroked the ball into an unguarded net with his left foot with 60 minutes gone.
Mwaruwari, who joined English Premiership strugglers Portsmouth from French club Auxerre this month, wasted a golden chance to equalise 10 minutes later by chipping over with only Sylva to beat.
Ba replaced Diouf 11 minutes from full-time and made an immediate impact as he controlled a low cross from Camara and stabbed the ball wide of Muzadzi to put the result beyond doubt.—AFP
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