Interview with a Former Congolese international who sat down with CafOnline to discuss the tournament, the first round, and his aspirations for the future

Shabani Nonda

‘Air’ you go, loser!

Ghana is eliminated following their 2-2 draw with Mozambique

By Ed Emeanua

As the Sages foretold, everything with a beginning would have an ending. The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations began with group plays, which, true to the Wisemen’s agelong dictum, has also screeched to their peculiar conclusions. All focus is now directed to the Round of 16, which commences on January 27.

Permit an opportunity for a pristine analysis of who still stands at the ongoing Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament and who has fallen to the sword.

Hosts Cote d’Ivoire were left facing a precarious fate for the tournament’s exit door and the ignominy of not making it to the knockout stages.

Having been mercilessly humiliated as host nation in a 4-0 thrashing by Equatorial Guinea to leave them condemned to third spot in the Group A standings, the Elephants were spared further blushes by managing to scrape through as one of the best third-place finishers in the opening phase. Nigeria is the other nation still standing from the Group.

Unfortunately, after losing all three Group A games, Guinea Bissau officially overstayed their welcome in Cote d’Ivoire and must leave for home, and depart they did.

In Group B, Cape Verde, and Egypt, by placing second, booked their tickets to stay in Cote d’Ivoire, while the pair of Ghana (third) and Mozambique (fourth place) had to go home.

Cameroon made it to the knockout stages despite their poor performance in their first three Group C matches by their second-place finish. Senegal would not leave anything to chance in their defense of the title they won two years ago in Cameroon by winning all their Group C matches. Guinea finished third in Group C to qualify for the event’s next stage as one of the best third-placed teams in all the Groups, but the Gambia was not all that lucky and must head back home.

Angola, Burkina Faso, and (wait for it) Mauritania made the knockout stage in that order from Group D, conniving in the process to oust pre-tournament favorites Algeria, who must now head back home. Minnows Mauritania also snatched the lucky third-place finish in Group D by beating mighty Algeria in one of the tournament’s biggest upset wins.

While in Group E, Mali, South Africa, and Namibia qualified for the knockout rounds by placing first, second, and third, respectively, mighty Tunisia, a pre-tournament favorite, crashed out of the group and had to fly a one-way ticket back home.

Group F featured Morocco (1st place), DR Congo (2nd place), Zambia (3rd place), and Tanzania (4th place). While Morocco and DR Congo progressed to the next round, Zambia and Tanzania must head home.

The most anticipated fixture in the round of 16

Facts & Figures

Nigeria will take on arch-rivals Cameroon in Round 16 of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on Saturday.

The Super Eagles finished second in Group A with seven points, while the Indomitable Lions also took second place in Group C to set up this titanic clash.

Below are the match facts:

• A fixture that has been the AFCON final three times previously (1984, 1988, and 2000), Nigeria and Cameroon are set to face at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since doing so at this stage in 2019, with the Super Eagles winning 3-2 with goals from Odion Ighalo (x2) and Alex Iwobi.

• Cameroon won two of their first three CAF Africa Cup of Nations matches against Nigeria (D1) but have since lost three of their last four (D1). Indeed, the Indomitable Lions have only lost more AFCON matches against Egypt (4) than they have against Nigeria (3).

• Nigeria has reached the knockout stages for their 15th consecutive CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Excluding third-place play-off matches, Nigeria have been eliminated in their last two knockout ties (2019 semi-finals, 2021 last 16) after winning four in a row beforehand.

• Cameroon’s last two knockout games have gone to penalties (lost in 2021 semi-finals vs Egypt & won in 2021 third-place play-off vs Burkina Faso). Only Côte d’Ivoire (10) have featured in more AFCON penalty shootouts than the Indomitable Lions (9).

• Nigeria have won six of their last eight matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (D1 L1), but their only defeat in this sequence was in a 1-0 reverse against Tunisia at the last 16 stage in the 2021 edition.

• Cameroon reached the knockout stage of the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations despite conceding six goals in the group stage, their most in the groups since 1996 (7). It was the first time they’d progressed from an AFCON group stage despite having a negative goal difference (5 scored, six conceded).

• Nigeria have both played in (40), and won (22) more matches in the knockout stages of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations than any other nation.

• Excluding own goals, each of Cameroon’s last 21 goals at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations have been scored by players who were playing their club football in either Saudi Arabia (9) or France (12) at the time of scoring; the last player to do so for a non-French or Saudi club was Yaya Banana in 2019, who was playing in Greece.

• Victor Osimhen had 13 shots and created four chances in the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations group stage, the most combined shots and chances of any Nigeria player. Indeed, it’s the most by a Nigeria player in an AFCON group stage that Opta has on record since 2010.

• No player created more chances in the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations group stages than Cameroon’s Georges-Kévin Nkoudou (10). It was the most by a Cameroonian player in the group stage of AFCON since Benjamin Moukandjo in 2017 (12).

Facts & Figures

• Angola will take on neighbor Namibia in the round of the 16 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 in Bouake on Saturday.

• The Palancas Negras topped their group with seven points ahead of Burkina Faso, and Mauritania will play the side that finished third in Group E behind Mali and South Africa.

• Below are the match facts:

• This is only the second meeting between Angola and Namibia at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations; the other was a 3-3 draw in the 1998 group stages, a game in which Namibia were 2-0 and 3-1 ahead.

• Angola and Namibia haven’t met in any competition since a November 2015 friendly at the Estádio 11 de Novembro, which Angola won 1-0.

• This is only Angola’s third-ever match at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in the knockout stages – their other two were quarter-final defeats in 2008 (1-2 vs. Egypt) and 2010 (0-1 vs. Ghana).

• Namibia is featuring in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations knockout stages for the first time. They’ve only won one of their 12 group stage matches at AFCON (D3 L8), with that coming on MD1 this year against Tunisia.

• Angola have won two matches at the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, the first time they’ve ever won two games at one edition of AFCON and the first time they’ve won back-to-back games in the tournament. The six goals they netted in this year’s group stages were as many as they scored across the 2012, 2013, and 2019 tournaments combined (6 in 9 games).

• Namibia qualified for this year’s AFCON knockout stages as one of the four best third-place-ranked teams; they scored just one goal and had a goal difference of -3, becoming only the seventh side to progress from a group despite netting just one goal.

• Only Tanzania (12) had fewer shots in the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations group stage than Namibia managed (22). Indeed, of the 16 qualified teams, only Mauritania (17) faced more shots on target in the group stage than Namibia did (14).

• In the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations group stage, Namibia completed the fewest passes (545) and was the only side with a passing accuracy lower than 70% across their three games (67.5%).
• Angola has had four different scorers at this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations (Mabululu, Gelson Dala, Gilberto, Zine), their joint-most at a single edition along with 1998 (Lázaro Oliveira, Paulo Jorge Da Silva, Miguel Pereira & Quinzinho).

• Mabululu and Gelson Dala have two goals for Angola at this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Only two players have ever netted three goals at one edition for Angola: Manucho (4 in 2008, 3 in 2012) and Flávio (3 in 2006, 3 in 2010).

One, two, three, four, and five!

Namibia stuns Tunisia to secure first-ever AFCON victory

The Round of 16 of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 is hours from commencing.

The group phase provided exciting storylines and results that will live forever in the history books of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON.

Caroline has put together the group stage in numbers.

ONE 

Namibia and Mauritania recorded their first win in the history of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON. Namibia beat Tunisia 1-0, and Mauritania beat Algeria 1-0.

TWO 

Senegalese youngster Lamine Camara scored the competition’s first two goals in a game. He did so against Gambia when Senegal won the game 3-0.

THREE 

Equatorial Guinea’s captain scored the first hat trick (three) of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 against Guinea Bissau at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium on match day two. It’s the first hat trick in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON since 2008, when Soufiane Alloudi scored for Morocco against Namibia.

FOUR 

Cotê d’Ivoire’s Seko Fofana scored the competition’s first goal against Guinea Bissau at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan. It took him just four minutes to score.

FIVE 

Emilio Nsue leads the top scorers chart with 5 goals. He only failed to score in the opening game against Nigeria.

‘It was an honor to represent women referees in Africa’

Bouchra Karboubi

After brilliantly taking charge of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 final Group A match between Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, Bouchra Karboubi made history by joining Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga, who was the woman to officiate a TotalEnergies CAF AFCON match in Cameroon three years ago.

Speaking to CAFOnline on Thursday, 25 January, the Moroccan international shares her unique experience of officiating at Africa’s biggest football event.

How did it feel to be the first woman to referee a match in this competition?

Refereeing this match was an honor for me. During the last AFCON, I was the first woman to do VAR. I was in the final, and at this AFCON, I am a central referee. It was a pride for me to represent African women and to represent refereeing in Africa.

What was your reaction after knowing that you were designated for this meeting?

When I found out, the emotion was enormous. I was happy. I’m not saying there was no stress, but the stress stopped as soon as we kicked off. So, it was a pride for me to represent African women in general.

Can you tell us about your match?

The Guinea-Bissau – Nigeria match was a severe challenge for me. We had to show that we were here, the first women’s referee trio. So, we had no room for error because we did our best to live up to the trust that CAF placed in us.

What did you take from this achievement?

We indeed got congratulated everywhere. We were delighted, especially with the three women, for showing that we could be there and have the same competitiveness as the men. It wasn’t easy, but we were able to show that we could be there and do it.

Is your appointment proof that the CAF Referees Division is doing good work to develop women’s refereeing in Africa?

Indeed, the CAF refereeing division is doing an excellent job of developing women’s refereeing in Africa. The fact that we are here, that we are officiating such matches, shows the fruit of the work that they are doing.

What if you had a message for young girls who look at this and are amazed?

I will tell young girls with a passion and a goal to work never to give up because each path has its challenges, and we must not give up. We must continue, and with the grace of God, we can get where we want to go.