By S. Siapha Mulbah
The quarterfinals of the 2023 Total Energies African Cup Nations currently ongoing in Cote d’Ivoire is being dominated by unpredicted teams from the opening stage till present.
The tournament continues to greet its ardent and enthusiastic followers with eye-catching surprises as countries that were considered the continent’s best on the world footballing stage have been bowing, kissing, and bidding the competition good-bye in the early start of the games, while unexpected countries such as Guinea, Cape Verde, Mali, Angola, DR Congo, and hosts Cote d’Ivoire have all booked their spots in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Before the kickoff of the continent’s most prestigious tournament, most followers of the game predicted that the trophy would have landed in the hands of either Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Algeria, or Tunisia, as they are the top flight footballing countries on the continent, but fate has proven them wrong and it is likely that the trophy, along with the US$7m, might be lifted by a west or south or central African country.
But the big surprise of the games was the kicking out of the 2022 World Cup semifinalists and Africa’s lead representative at major international tournaments, Morocco, by South Africa in a thrilling round of 16 game.
What appears to be the surprise of the tournament from the group stage till now that the quarterfinals are underway is the loss of crucial games by the majority of the competition’s predicted favorites.
The competition’s last winners, Senegal, could not defend the title as they were kicked out by host nation Ivory Coast in the round of 16 on penalties. Morocco, Africa’s first and only nation to have reached the semifinals of the World Cup, did not prove their brilliance to the continent as the Bafana Bafana of South Africa collected a straight 2-0 win against them.
Egypt only managed to get to the round of 16 with three draws from the group stage as one of the best third placed teams to complete the fixtures. But the Pharaohs became impeded and could not advance any further after they lost to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It started with 24 nations from all regions of the continent, and now, only eight countries have booked their places for the quarterfinals, with five countries representing west Africa, two from central Africa, and one from south Africa.
Angola, Guinea, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Mali, South Africa, Congo, and Ivory Coast, are left to battle for a place in the semifinals beginning Friday, February 2,2024. In the two-day quarterfinals, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will meet Angola on day one in the first match at the Felix Houphauet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, while Guinea will face DR Congo later in the same city at Stade Olympique.
On Saturday, Mali and the hosts of the competition, Ivory Coast, will have an early clash at Stade de Boauke, while Cape Verde will go against South Africa at the Charles Konah Banny Stadium in Yamoussoukro.
