AFCON – The Story so Far

There’s a special urgency about international tournaments that isn’t really felt with club football because of the importance of every single game. Three group stage games played within 10 days to set the tone and then it’s sudden death, do or die in the knockout stages. This is even more true in the African Cup of Nations – this tournament is the embodiment of chaos. It seems to not matter how much individual talent a team boasts, how heavily favourited they are in the tournament or where the tournament is taking place; results at AFCON are fascinatingly and beautifully unpredictable. Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – all powerhouses in African football and regular representatives of the continent at the World Cup (Senegal and Algeria being the two most recent winners of this tournament) – have been eliminated by the quarterfinal stage. And as we move on into the last eight, the excitement in Ivory Coast is only growing with each game.

Nigeria vs Angola

The quarterfinals commence this Friday as Nigeria and Angola clash in Abidjan for a spot in the final four. Nigeria’s tournament thus far has been so far, so good. They qualified from their group in second place only by goal difference, beating the hosts, Ivory Coast, on their way to doing so. Angola are also having a good time thus far, qualifying first from their group that contained Algeria while scoring six goals in the process. Both teams have been undefeated up to this point as Nigeria put two past Cameroon and Angola three past Namibia (the third goal being an incredible finish by Mabululu) in their respective round of 16 games. Many may be quick to call Nigeria favourites at this point in the competition with the amount of elite level talent at their disposal as well as being 3 time winners of the competition, but Friday is sure to deliver a hotly contested affair between the two nations.

Democratic Republic of Congo vs Guinea

DR Congo technically have yet to win a game in this tournament; scoring only three goals all tournament and finishing second in their group by drawing all three of their games and then sending the previous finalists Egypt home after a very intense penalty shootout that was ultimately won by goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi. Guinea topped their group despite also only scoring three goals over the course of the tournament. Their round of 16 game against Equatorial Guinea was touchy as Guinea were relatively on top for most of the game, creating the most chances throughout. Equatorial Guinea were awarded a penalty in the second half that was missed by the competition’s top scorer Emilio Nsue and later on the game was won at the death, eight minutes into stoppage time with a great headed finish at the near post by Guinea’s Mohamed Bayo. As far as Friday’s game goes, it’s a difficult call as the two sides have only met eight times previously with the last game being over 6 years ago in World Cup qualifying.

Mali vs Ivory Coast

Mali come into the quarterfinals undefeated having just defeated 2-1 Burkina Faso in the round of 16, having gone 2-0 up in the via an early own goal from Burkina Faso’s Edmund Tapsoba and later, a Lassine Sinayoko finish through the legs of goalkeeper Herve Koffi. Aston Villa’s Bertand Traoré then made it 2-1 from the penalty spot before the final minute where Burkina Faso thought they had equalized via a set piece header from Issoufou Dayo before it had been ruled out for offside. Ivory Coast have had a very turbulent tournament up to this point. The hosts started strong with a win over Guinea-Bissau before losing their last two group games being one of the four best third place teams to qualify for the knockouts. They met the reigning champions, Senegal in the round of 16 and after being a goal down for almost the whole game until Frank Kessié converted from the penalty spot to level the game at 1-1 and the game was eventually decided, 5-4 to the hosts on penalties. Despite, the shaky start from the hosts, they’ll head into the game on Saturday with high spirits and much support from the stands in Bouaké.

Cape Verde vs South Africa

This match is a giant killer derby of sorts; Cape Verde beating four time champions Ghana 2-1 in the group opener and drawing blood twice from the most winningest nation in AFCON in history (seven titles) in a 2-2 draw where each side scored a goal in added time. Their round go 16 win came at the expense of Mauritania in a one way traffic affair that was finally decided late on by a spot kick. On the other side of the fixture, South Africa shocked World Cup record breakers and semi-finalists Morocco in a 2-0 win that will be controversial to some watchers, Morocco will feel hard done by as they were dominant when it came to chance creation and missed a penalty late on when Achraf Hakimi smashed the crossbar after a penalty was awarded for a handball. Even furthermore, the first goal scorer for South Africa, Evidence Makgoba, looking to perhaps be offside when he bagged. The game ultimately was decided when Teboho Mokoena struck a ridiculous free kick in added time that Yassine Bounou had no chance saving. This quarterfinal is rounding up to be very competitive and seems to be the most difficult to call, with both teams having massively overachieved thus far.

The contests in Côte d’Ivoire are still hotting up as the tournament progresses to the quarterfinal stages starting from Friday, February 2nd to Saturday the 3rd. Make sure to tune in this weekend for some pure, fast paced and expressive football.