Algeria coach Rabah Saadane admitted telling his team to play for a draw during the closing stages of their match against Angola.   The stalemate allowed both sides to qualify for the quarter-finals at Mali’s expense, and meant the hosts could continue to play at their preferred Luanda venue.   But Saadane’s admission raised fresh doubts about his timing - & wisdom.   He claimed: “There were 20 minutes left, Mali were leading 3-1 and I knew if Mali won we would go through. So we said to our players, now stop.”

However, Mali did not score their third goal until the 86^th minute, casting doubts on Saadane’s recollections.

And Mali’s opponents Malawi would have levelled if Russell Mwafulirwa hadn’t missed a late sitter, and eliminated Algeria.

Saadane shared Mali’s view that competition rules mitigated against them.

Algeria qualified courtesy of beating Mali 1-0 last week, despite their inferior goal difference, saying: “Mali are right, the rules aren’t normal.”

Mali’s Nigerian-born coach Stephen Keshi appeared to resign after his side’s exit, although no formal announcement has been made.

Having criticised Mali’s Football Federation for not giving him “room to do (my) job”, he added: “I’m very open to any offer that comes.”

Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has blamed the tournament’s poor goalkeeping on…the ball.

Enyeama said, of the ‘Jabulani’ ball ( Jabulani means ‘celebrate’ in Zulu), which will be the World Cup matchball: “It is very fast, so it is often difficult to judge its flight.”