The Brave Warriors of Namibia sent warnings to the rest of Africa after recording their first win in any AFCON competition against high flying Tunisian national team.
It was a historic first victory in the flagship African tournament for the Brave Warriors, who defeated and drew with another top team, Cameroon, in qualifiers for the 2024 edition.
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Young forward, Deon Hotto rose to head home the only goal of the group E encounter, two minutes of regular time remaining to raise the number of surprise results to six from 10 matches after only four days.
Before Namibia made a mockery of the world rankings in the northern city of Korhogo, five other former title-holders failed to win their opening matches.
Advertisement The rush of unexpected results began on Sunday when Equatorial Guinea held Nigeria, then Egypt needed an added-time penalty from Mohamed Salah to snatch a draw against Mozambique.
Earlier, Bertrand Traore scored a stoppage time penalty as Burkina Faso claimed a 1-0 victory over Mauritania in their Africa Cup of Nations Group D clash at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Tuesday, writing a piece of history in the process.
It is the first ever win for the Burkinabe in their opening match of the African showpiece finals and came at the 13th attempt, handed to them when Aston Villa midfielder Traore stroked home his spot-kick after a foul by Mauritania captain Mohamed El Abd on Issa Kabore.
Burkina Faso have now scored in each of their last 15 Cup of Nations matches, the longest active streak and second lengthiest in the history of the tournament after Egypt found the net in 27 consecutive matches between 1957 and 1980.
In the last match of day 4, Hamari Traoré and Lassine Sinayoko scored goals for the Eagles of Mali after Percy Tau missed a penalty for South Africa as Mali moved into first place in Group E at 2023 AFCON.
The result meant that Mali and Namibia are joint top group E leaders while Tunisia and South Africa occupy the third and last positions on the group log.
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