Teams from Group D finally kicked off their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign. Last season's finalists and this seasons favourites Ghana got off to a winning start after they managed to narrowly get past Uganda 1-0 while Egypt, who are also tournament favourites, were held to a 0-0 draw by Mali.
Also read: 5 matches you cannot miss from the 2017 AFCON
Andre Ayew scored the winning goal for Ghana from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Ghana's captain Asamoah Gyan was held back by Isaac Isinde inside the penalty area. The spot-kick gave Andre Ayew his seventh Nations Cup finals goal — one more than the number scored by his father, Abedi Pele.
Following that goal, Ghana were happy to sit back and defend, and allow Uganda to have the ball. But they still could not find a way past Ghana's defence, with the best chance for them falling to Faruku Miya whose shot hit the outside of the goal post. Ghana could have scored a lot more goals with chances coming to Andre Ayew and Christian Atsu later on in the match.
The bad news for Ghana from this match was that their left back Baba Rahman was forced to come off in the 39th minute after he picked up hamstring injury.
Egypt, who is the most successful team in the Africa Cup of Nations, after having won seven titles so far, had to settle for a draw from their first group stage encounter against Mali. This match also saw Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary became the oldest player in tournament history at 44 when he came on for the injured Ahmed El-Shenawy midway through the first half.
Mali had the first real chance of the match after Moussa Marega sent in a long ball into the penalty area and Lassana Coulibaly tried to glance into the far corner, but Egypt goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy managed to deal with it.
As the match progressed, Egypt stared to find their rhythm as Mohamed Salah broke down the right to find Mohamed Elneny, only for his shot to be fired just over the goal post. Egypt had another chance to take the lead in the second half after a thunderous header from Marwan Mohsen was saved by Mali keeper Oumar Sissoko, who ensured the match stayed at 0-0.
These results see Ghana take the top spot in Group D. They will face off against Mali, while Egypt and Uganda will go head-to-head in the second match as both teams are still looking for their first win in the tournament.
