Africa (Commonwealth) _After an intense round of play that saw several late goals, penalty shootouts, and goalkeeping heroics, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) semifinals are on the horizon.
These four teams are all past champions, which is remarkable in a tournament that has seen many favorites fall short. Mali was defeated in an exciting quarterfinal match by hosts Ivory Coast, who just made it to the knockout stage, to maintain their aspirations of winning the trophy at home.
In a tight shootout against Cape Verde, one of this competition’s surprises, South Africa’s captain Ronwen Williams emerged victorious for Bafana Bafana, saving four penalties. In other matches, DR Congo overcame a deficit to go to the round of four, while Nigeria maintained their strong start to the competition against Angola.
Nigeria will be the favorites to get to the final and try to win the Nations Cup four times; they last took home the title in 2013. A passionate atmosphere is anticipated at the Alassane Ouattara stadium in Abidjan when Ivory Coast takes on DR Congo in the second semifinal on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT.
When it counted most, DR Congo had their finest performance of the competition, overcoming a 1-0 deficit to defeat Guinea 3-1 in the round of eight. The Leopards will need to overcome a motivated Ivory Coast squad that was on the verge of abandoning their own celebration following a dismal group stage showing.
When it appeared that they would not advance to the knockout rounds, the host country fired manager Jean-Louis Gasset. Emerse Fae, an interim coach, has since led the Elephants to victories over holders Senegal and Mali.
Senegal qualified for the last 16 with a perfect record, rewarding the trust of many bookies who placed them as favorites to win the championship they had won for the first time in Cameroon. Even though the Teranga Lions led their last-16 match from the start, they were unable to overcome Ivory Coast.
In other places, relatively unknown countries like Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea put up the best shows; they both won groups in which they were not given much of a chance. However, the National Thunder was defeated by Guinea after Emilio Nsue, the leading scorer in the competition, missed a penalty.
Surprisingly, Cape Verde emerged victorious in Group B, surpassing both Egypt and Ghana, who lost Mohamed Salah to injury in their opening match. However, the Blue Sharks’ Nations Cup journey came to an agonizing end as they lost to South Africa on penalties in the quarterfinals.
The standout players for Angola were strikers Mabululu and Gelson Dala, along with captain Fredy. Angola emerged as the unexpected champions of Group D. The Palancas Negras defeated Namibia in the round of sixteen, but they struggled to get through Nigeria’s defense and lost to the Super Eagles in the quarterfinals. Nigeria, on the other hand, had progressed smoothly, if unspectacularly, to the knockout rounds but had since matured in the competition and became the team to beat.
After making history by making it to the 2022 World Cup semifinals in Qatar, Morocco was supposed to be formidable opponents. However, the Atlas Lions were defeated 2-0 by South Africa in the round of 16 and will now have to wait nearly 50 years to win another continental championship.
However, a few other well-known players have had difficulty, not the least of which is the host Ivory Coast, who lost two of their three group games and were left worrying about qualifying among the top four third-place teams.
The Elephants still have a chance to win a third Nations Cup after redeeming themselves against Senegal and Mali. In the group stage, Cameroon struggled as well, barely making it through until Nigeria eliminated them, while other past champions Ghana, Algeria, and Tunisia all only scored two points.
The twenty-four teams were divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams from each group and the top four teams from the third-place rankings moving on to the round of sixteen.
Abidjan will host the final on February 11th, one day following the play-off for third place.
