Between ‘ The Underdogs’ And ‘ The Giants’ In AFCON Round Of 16
Super Eagles Beat Cameroon 2- 0, To Meet Angola In AFCON Quarterfinal
AS the knockout stage of 34th African Cup of Nations enters second day today in Cote d’ivoire, football fans across the continent are angling for more upsets. It is the second time Cote d’ivoire is hosting the competition, the first was in 1984. So far, this year’s AFCON has produced some shocking results, with so- called ‘ African football giants’ sent packing by ‘ minnows’. The shock waves created by the ‘ minnows’ was felt in all the group stage, with Ghana, Algeria and Tunisia sent home early in the competition.
Angola continued their impressive run in the competition by beating Namibia 3- 0 in the round of 16 Southern Africa derby yesterday. The Angolans became the first nation to book a place in the quarterfinal, with Dala accounting for two goals in the first half. That was before the Super Eagles of Nigeria and their counterparts from Cameroon, the Indomitable Lions continued their rivalry that stems far back in history.
Many fans had tipped the host nation, Elephants of Cote d’ivoire and the Super
Eagles of Nigeria as favourites in Group A. But it was the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea, who are ranked 88th in World Football that pulled the trigger, holding Nigeria to a 1- 1 draw before shooting down the almighty Elephants 4- 0 in their last group match. The Elephants had to wait for 72 hours before sneaking into the round of 16.
Equatorial Guinea’s Emilio Nsue is currently topping the scorer chat with five goals.
Group B was not different, as the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde topped the table ahead of eight- time champions, The Pharaohs of Egypt. Former champion, Black Stars of Ghana could not survive. While Cape Verde finished with two wins and a draw, The Pharaohs ended without victory and no defeat, recording all draws. Ghana and Mozambique were sent packing.
Group C, Cameroun, Guinea and Gambia, also produced a shocking result. Though, Senegal finished strongly in the Group with three wins out of three, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and Guinea both finished on four points.
Cameroon, which played against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in yesterday’s round of 16, came second with Guinea finishing as one of the best losers. The Gambia finished bottom of the group without a point. Group D, with Angola, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Algeria, produced another shocker, with the highestranked team in the group, Algeria, finishing last without winning a match.
The lowest- ranked Angola ( 117) topped the group. The Angolans finished unbeaten in the group with seven points, Burkina Faso second with four points, while Mauritania finished as one of the best losers in the group with three points. Algeria, without a win – two draws and a loss unfortunately didn’t make it through to the round of 16.
Another major upset came from Group E, which had Mali, South Africa, Namibia and Tunisia.
The Eagles of Mali topped the group, finishing with five points, the Bafana Bafana of South Africa was second with four points. The Brave Warriors of Namibia clinched one of the “best loser” spots with four points, while North Africa giants, Tunisia, were sent packing.
Group F had Morocco, Tanzania, DR Congo and Zambia. The Moroccans, who made it to the semifinal at the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar, lived up to expectations, topping the group with seven points. DR Congo occupied second spot with three points while Zambia and Tanzania with two points each waved goodbye.