Malawi cry foul play after defeat

Malawi claim they were denied a training ground for two days leading up to Thursday's 2-0 African Nations Cup defeat to hosts Angola in Luanda. The coach Kinnah Phiri said a protest had been handed to the tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football. "We find it very strange that in this competition a team cannot be found a ground to train," he said after defeat in the Group A match. "We are very disappointed because we feel that either the organising committee or the Angolan federation were working towards pushing Angola into the quarter-finals.

"Three times we went to a ground and found others using the pitch. We asked them to leave but they refused. We didn't have a session over the last two days before the game." Malawi, who beat Algeria 3-0 in their opener, are second in the standings and should qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Mali on Monday. Meanwhile, the Nigeria defender Joseph Yobo is counting on his teammates to produce a winning performance when they come up against Benin in Benguela today.

The Super Eagles are still smarting after they were beaten 3-1 by defending champions Egypt earlier this week and anything less than a win would put them on the brink of an early exit. "This team feel bad about what has happened and we know it is time to step up our game to avoid an early elimination," Yobo said. Egypt host minnows Mozambique in Group C's other match and coach Hassan Shehata said: "That win over the Nigerians was just the beginning. We still have a long way to go and still need the prayers of our fans."

* Agencies Nigeria v Benin, KO 8pm, Egpyt v Mozambique, KO 10.30pm, Aljazeera Sport + 9