AFCON
African Heavyweights Tumble Like Dominoes At Cup Of Nations –
From Cote d’Ivoire’s remarkable resurrection to heavyweight exits and underdog successes, there may never have been a more unpredictable major international football tournament than the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
The last 16 concluded on Tuesday with the continent’s top-ranked team, 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco, being dumped out by South Africa after Achraf Hakimi missed a crucial late penalty.
Tournament hosts Cote d’Ivoire returned from the dead, narrowly escaping a humiliating elimination in the group stage, but this AFCON has already proven to be a graveyard for many of the traditional powerhouses.
“It is not the end of the world,” insisted defeated Morocco coach Walid Regragui, whose country will host the next Cup of Nations.
“We are not the only ones. Lots of the favourites have been eliminated. We will come back stronger.”
The three most successful teams in the history of the competition are out — Egypt, Cameroon and Ghana have 16 titles among them but the first two were sent packing in the last 16 after the Black Stars limped out in the group stage.
All five of Africa’s representatives at the 2022 World Cup have already gone home.
Senegal’s exit on penalties at the hands of Cote d’Ivoire continues a trend which has seen no reigning champion win a knockout tie at the Cup of Nations since Egypt in 2010.
Indeed, the last three champions have all been eliminated, with Algeria exiting in the group stage for the second AFCON in a row following their triumph in 2019.
Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane and Hakimi, four of the very biggest stars of African football, will watch the rest of the tournament on television, if they can even bring themselves to do so.
Most remarkably, none of the quarter-finalists at the last edition, two years ago in Cameroon, have reached the last eight this time.
That might suggest that the decision to expand the competition to 24 teams -– a change brought in from the 2019 edition in Egypt -– has helped make many smaller nations more competitive and created a greater strength in depth across Africa.
“There are no small teams anymore” has quickly become a bland cliche, and yet there is some truth to it.
In terms of pedigree, two names stand out among the quarter-finalists.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, have impressed with African player of the year Victor Osimhen leading from the front.
They look good bets for a fourth title, 11 years after their last, although there is a danger that might be a little too logical, given how the competition has been going.
Cote d’Ivoire -– the only one of the top seeds when the draw was made who are still alive — have twice been champions, including as recently as 2015. They also have the advantage that supposedly comes with playing at home.
Then again no host country has won the AFCON since Egypt in 2006, and the Elephants have been a basket case, suffering their heaviest ever home defeat as they almost went out in the first round, and then sacking their coach.
Three of the last eight are into the quarter-finals after winning a Cup of Nations knockout tie for the very first time.
Angola, ranked 28th in Africa, will measure themselves against Osimhen’s Super Eagles, while Guinea face the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most striking of all has been the run of Cape Verde, the tiny Atlantic Ocean island nation with a population of 600,000.
They beat Ghana and drew with Egypt on the way to topping their group, before seeing off Mauritania.
Helped by players of Cape Verdean heritage born in countries such as Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Ireland, the Blue Sharks have been outstanding and face South Africa next.
“You can see that it is not easy for the big footballing nations to win games either now,” Cape Verde captain Ryan Mendes told Canal Plus Afrique.
“They have players who play for big clubs, but us so-called small teams play with a lot of heart, and we have a lot of quality at the same time.
“We don’t have the same status, but we do have love for our country as well as ability,” he added.
-AFP
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has now released the full fixtures of the qualifying series for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The fixtures for the Nigerian team is almost in the same pattern with that of the 2026 World Cup qualification which has seen the Super Eagles wobbling.
Like that of the World Cup, the Super Eagles will begin their quest for qualifcation for AFCON with a home game in Uyo as they will host Benin Republic.
As it was in the World Cup, they will then head to Rwanda. Last November, their second match was played in Rwanda which hosted Zimbabwe home match. This time the Super Eagles will be facing Rwanda, the same team they will meet when the World Cup qualification series resume in March next year.
On Match Day 3, the Super Eagles will host Libya and will have the reverse fixture immediately after that of Match Day 3.
Later they travel to Benin for Match Day 5 before hosting Rwanda on the last match day.
The Fixtures
- September 2 – Nigeria vs Benin Republic; Libya vs Rwanda
- September 6 – Rwanda vs Nigeria; Benin Republic vs Libya
- October 11 – Nigeria vs Libya; Benin Republic vs Rwanda
- October 16 – Libya vs Nigeria; Rwanda vs Benin Republic
- November 11 – Benin Republic vs Nigeria; Rwanda vs Libya
- November 15 – Nigeria vs Rwanda; Libya vs Benin Republic
The top two teams qualify for AFCON 2025
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Former Nigeria manager, Gernot Rohr now handling Benin Republic has warned The Cheetahs of Benin not to expect an easy match when the team meet Rwanda and Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers later this month.
Last month, he led his team to defeat both Rwanda and Nigeria in World Cup qualifying duels in Abidjan, where Benin Republic are compelled to play their home matches following inadequate facilities at home.
Benin’s 1-0 defeat of Rwanda was Rohr’s first victory with the team. Days later, he followed up with a 2-1 defeat of Nigeria, the first Benin Republic victory in over 65 years.
Those wins have put Benin in the frame of possible qualification for the World Cup. They are now to meet Nigeria and Rwanda again in World Cup qualifiers.
It won’t be easy, remarked Rohr. Hear the Franco-German as he spoke in French but translated into English for the Sports Village Square: “From September we will play against Nigeria before facing Libya and Rwanda.
“These are three difficult opponents. We had already played Rwanda and Nigeria but be careful, it’s not because we won Rwanda and Nigeria that it will be easy matches.
“ We know that it is possible to achieve good performances again. We know that Nigeria with its great players will want to take revenge against us.
“ I think it will probably be an interesting match in Uyo before continuing against Libya. I suppose in Abidjan because in September the Mathieu Kerekou friendship stadium will not be ready.
“Everything will be decided in three months in September, October and November. It’s a difficult group but it’s playable.
“You have to finish in the top two. We had a team that is becoming solid, where the players are like brothers, accomplices. I hope we will recover the players who were absent. We are confident.”
The journey towards qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 shifted a gear higher on Thursday, after CAF officially conducted the draw of the qualifiers in Johannesburg South Africa.
A total of 48 nations will vie for the 24 places that will contests the 35th edition of Africa’s most prestigious competition.
This is what some of the coaches has to say in reaction to the draw outcomes.
Emerse Fae, Cote d’Ivoire coach
“I am satisfied because we are going to play against Zambia, a team that we know very well. In our last qualifying campaign, we lost against them. We know what mistakes to avoid.
“I am also satisfied because I did not want to have countries geographically far from Cote d’Ivoire which will lessen the travel load. That said, in Africa, there are no longer small teams. All the teams will want to challenge us because we are the reigning champions”
Leslie Notši
“The draw is very interesting because when you have the host in your group, it means they qualify automatically for the tournament, and you have to double your efforts to secure the remaining qualification spot which will be contested by the three other teams in the group.
“We will work very hard to see to it that we are competitive side and try as much as we can to get maximum points in matches against countries that are with us in our group. It will be very important to do well in our home games and I know all eyes will be on “Morocco as the hosts and a powerhouse in our group. We will draw inspiration from recent games where we played the likes of Nigeria as well as Cote d’voire and were able to frustrate them”
Amir Abdou, Mauritania Coach
“Quite a complicated draw. Egypt will be the big contender for qualification. They have a good track record that speaks volumes.
“Seven times African champions – that’s no small thing. We also have Cape Verde who eliminated us during the last AFCON.
“This team is made up of many quality players. We have Botswana, they are having a good qualifying campaign for the World Cup. We have a pretty strong group. It’s up to us to believe in ourselves. We will do everything we can to achieve our fourth participation in the AFCON”.
Kévin Nicaise, Chad coach
“We are already having the reigning African champions facing the last qualified team in the FIFA rankings. These will definitely be very difficult matches played at high intensity. We will fight to defend our nation’s pride. The group remains relatively open, and we will approach these qualifications with humility and ambition”.
Badou Zaki, Niger coach
“We have every chance of qualifying. For me, Ghana is a football country with a team that is blessed with great professionals. But this is not the team of 5 or 6 years ago. Even at home, they can lose.
“Angola had a good showing at the last AFCON with their beautiful, modern and fast football. It’s a team that shook up the big teams in Cote d’Ivoire.
“I know Sudan very well. They are first in their World Cup qualifying group. They are going to be dangerous, but we know our strengths and we know we can go far”
-CAF
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