Senegal pip Ivory Coast with only goal of three CHAN games

The three African Nations Championship (Chan) group matches in Algeria on Saturday produced only one goal, scored by Moussa Ndiaye to give Senegal a 1-0 victory over the Ivory Coast.

Ethiopia and Mozambique drew 0-0 in Algiers in Group A to lie two points behind Algeria, who edged Libya 1-0 on Friday in the tournament opener through an Aymen Mahious penalty.

Eastern port city Annaba then hosted a Group B double-header and the first match between two-time champions the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda finished 0-0.

After Senegal missed a penalty with 17 minutes left, when Charles Ayayi pushed away a weak Mamadou Camara kick away, it seemed matchday 2 could end goalless.

But when a Camara free-kick rebounded off the post four minutes later, Ndiaye reacted quickest and pushed the ball into the net.

Ivorians protested that Malick Mbaye was offside but, after checking the touchline VAR monitor, the Algerian referee ruled that the Senegalese was not interfering with play.

Senegal had the ball in the net again deep in added time, but VAR backed the assistant referee who judged the scorer marginally offside.

Victory lifted Senegal to the top of table with three points while DR Congo and Uganda have one each after the first of three mini-league rounds.

Senegal are back in a biennial tournament reserved for footballers playing in their country of birth after failing to qualify for four consecutive editions.

They finished fourth in the first African Nations Championship, which the Ivory Coast hosted in 2009.

But Senegal failed to get past the first round in the following edition, staged in the Sudan two years later, and have not appeared since.

While Uganda are making a record-equalling sixth appearance, they won only one of 15 previous matches and never progressed to the knockout stages.

Given that record, and the successes of DR Congo, the Ugandans will be the happier team after the goalless stalemate in what seems the toughest of the five groups.

Man-of-the-match Gatoch Panom blamed "penalty area indecision" for the failure of Ethiopia to overcome Mozambique.