Afcon 2023 has been a movie – A scary movie for some countries & a fairy tale for others. Can you believe that the Desert Foxes of Algeria, The Eagles of Tunisia and The black stars of Ghana have already boarded their flights back home after the group stages? And 5 Coaches have already been axed as a result: Ghana sacked Chris Hughton after an unsatisfactory 2 draws and 1 loss in Group B. Algeria parted ways with their head coach Djamel Belmadi after back to back AFCON exits. Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet resigned after The Scorpions were rooted to the bottom of Group C with no points. Tunisia head coach Jalel Kadri also stepped down from his position after a goalless draw with South-Africa which ended their hopes of adding to their 2004 AFCON title. Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked two days after Coted’Ivoire’s humiliating 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea; a result which left their fans fuming in anger.
The Elephants did however find a root to the next round of the competition despite finishing behind Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria in Group A. Morocco did the host’s a huge favour by beating Zambia in Group F. This ensured that Coted’Ivoire finished as the fourth-best third-place team and now face the top scoring team in the tournament so far, Senegal who have scored 8 goals. Senegal’s Lamine Camara scored the most eye-pleasing goal of the group stages in their win against Gambia. The Lions of Taranga are certainly looking like the team to beat.
It is hard to believe that Namibia and Mauritania, two teams that have never won any game in the history of the Afcon are through to the next round and Angola topped their group for the first time since 2010.
One of the revelations of the group stages has been 34-year-old defender, Emilio Nsue. Equatorial Guinea’s right back turned striker is the tournament’s leading scorer so far with 5 goals.
The dark horses of the tournament have been the blue sharks of Cape Verde who not only topped Group B but were involved in the most electrifying game of the group stages. The republic of Cabo Verde versus the Pharaohs of Egypt was a pure classic! It was one of a catalogue of special games that ended with dying minute drama. And there is surely more drama to come!
With 89 goals scored, 8 teams gone and 16 teams left, the heat in Coted’Ivoire is certain to rise in the next few days! The last 16 round of the tournament is serving a sizzling menu of fixtures including that mouth-watering West African derby between Nigeria and Cameroon as well as Senegal vs Ivory Coast. The second round fixtures give me the assurance that there are more classics loading.
What a brilliant tournament AFCON 2023 has been so far!
