The Africa Cup of Nations has moved on to the knockout stages. Which team has the best chance of winning the competition and which team has impressed so far? We review each group as it happened.
Group A
Hosts Egypt managed to get a clean sweep of games, winning all 3 of their group matches to win Group A. They scored 5 goals and conceded none, with star Mohamed Salah and Captain Ahmed Eissa Elmohamady notching up 2 goals each. Egypt looked impressive during the group stages and are one of the favourites to go all the way this year.
Making it into the knockout stages as well are Uganda and Congo who place second and third in the group respectively. Uganda managed 4 points from the group, beating Congo in their first Group match and drawing with Zimbabwe before losing to Egypt while Congo managed 3 points, only beating Zimbabwe in their final Group match by 4 goals to nil to secure progression to the knockout stages. Zimbabwe exit the tournament having lost all their matches to finish bottom of the group.
Group B
Madagascar shocked the world by not only booking their first ever last 16 berth at the AFCON but also by topping their group after beating Group B favourites Nigeria 2-0 in their final game of the Group stage. Madagascar had 4 points after 2 games, drawing with Guinea 2-2 and beating Burundi before beating Nigeria to leapfrog them and end with 7 points from their 3 games.
One of the tournament favourites Nigeria ended up in second, finishing the group with 6 points and Guinea came in third with 4 points to progress to the knockout stages. Burundi came in last in their first ever appearance at the AFCON, losing all of their matches.
Group C
Algeria made light work of Group C to top the Group with a perfect 3 wins out of 3. They scored 6 goals and conceded none during the Group stage.
Senegal had to beat Kenya in their final group game to claim their last 16 berth. Both teams were level on 3 points heading into the game but Senegal took the game 3-0 with Islamila Sarr scoring their opener in the second half and Sadio Mané scoring a brace thereafter. Kenya exit the tournament together with with Tanzania (who lost all their games to finish the bottom of Group C).
Group D
The third and final team to finish the Group stages with a perfect record is Group D champions Morocco. They managed to beat all teams in their group 1-0 to top the Group. It was not pretty but it sure was functional.
Making it through to the Knockout stages along with Morocco are Ivory Coast and South Africa, who finished their Group stage with 6 and 3 points respectively while Namibia exit the tournament with a 1-4 loss to Ivory Coast in their last game. Interestingly, that game was the only game in Group D that did not finish 1-0, with the other 5 matches in the Group ending with that score line.
Group E
Mali ended their Group stage with 7 points and the top spot in Group E, missing out on the perfect 9 points after drawing with second place Tunisia 1-1 in their second game. Tunisia finished second with 3 points, 1 above both Angola and Mauritania, in a group that could have seen any of those 3 teams take the other qualification spot on the final day of matches for the Group.
Group F
Ghana and holders Cameroon both ended the Group stage with 5 points and a goal difference of 2 each but it was Ghana that ended up on top due to a superior goal scoring advantage, having scored 4 goals to Cameroon’s 2. All teams had the potential to qualify for the Knockout stages in Group F but unfortunately for Guinea Bissau, they were the only ones to be knocked out of the tournament after a 0-2 loss to Ghana when only a win would have guaranteed their progression.
Benin secured third spot and progression through to the next round with a goal difference of 0 and 3 points from 3 draws to wind up becoming the third team to qualify out of the 6 third placed teams from the Groups.
Round of 16
The Round of 16 will kick off on the 5th of July in Cairo. The match-ups are as follows:
Uganda v Senegal
Morocco v Benin
Madagascar v Congo
Ghana v Tunisia
Mali v Ivory Coast
Algeria v Guinea
Nigeria v Cameroon
Egypt v South Africa
With the AFCON taking place in the summer for the first time as compared to the winter previously, football fans all around the world have not had a break at all and we are absolutely loving it!