Mali's Souleymane Diamoutene heads the ball past Benin's Razack Omotoyossi during their African Cup of Nations soccer match in Sekondi, Ghana, yesterday. Mali beat Benin 1-0. - AP

ACCRA, Ghana (AP):

Salomon Kalou's winner started the Ivory Coast's African Cup of Nations campaign encouragingly yesterday, giving it a 1-0 win over Nigeria, while Morocco and Mali also won their opening games.

Morocco scored twice in the opening five minutes enroute to a 5-1 rout of Namibia in Group A, with Soufiane Alloudi accounting for three goals in the first half.

Sevilla striker Freddie Kanoute converted a penalty early in the second half of Mali's 1-0 win over Benin, leaving them and Ivory Coast tied atop Group B.

Benin defender Alain Gaspoz fouled Dramane Traore, and Kanoute calmly sent goalkeeper Rachad Chitou the wrong way.

Quite tough

''It was quite tough. The pitch was quite heavy because it was very hot today,'' Kanoute said on Ghana television. ''Benin worked hard today and the most important thing is that we won.''

Ghana opened the 26th edition of the AfricanCup with a 2-1 home win over Guinea on Sunday. Today, Cameroon face Egypt and Sudan take on Zambia in Group C. Both matches are in Kumasi.

Kanoute remained optimistic Mali can reach the quarter-finals.

''We are going to play two very good teams, Nigeria and Ivory Coast,'' he said. ''If we play seriously like today, then we can win.''