An improved showing in the second half saw Mali outclass South Africa with a 2-0 victory in a TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Group E match on Tuesday evening.

Following a jittery start that saw them almost concede a goal from a missed penalty, Mali came back a much improved side after the break.

Amadou Hairada, who was instrumental in the Eagles’ success welcomed the TotalEnergies Man of the Match award but cautioned that the was still some improvement that needed to be made.

There was a lot of pressure on the team. We know the first games are always difficult and that was exactly the case with us. The first half was hard, but we were able to pull ourselves together. We were able to win and get the points. I am thankful for the award but there is still some work to be done. We will analyze the game and see where we need to improve because there is still some improvement that needs to be done,” said Haidara. 

The Eagles soar to the top of Group E with a better goal difference than Namibia who edged Tunisia in the earlier game.