4 months ago
A comfortable 3-0 triumph for nan defending champions, Côte d’Ivoire, complete Burkina Faso on Tuesday evening completes nan highest-powered group of quarter-finalists nan Cup of Nations has ever known. Seven of nan past 8 are erstwhile champions; betwixt them they person won 22 Cups of Nations. It is nan first clip each 8 quarter-finalists are successful nan apical 10 African sides successful nan Fifa rankings.
It’s been a strangely predictable tourney truthful far, astatine slightest aft Ghana grounded to qualify; nan nearest to a astonishment successful nan past 16 was Mali’s triumph complete Tunisia and Cameroon’s triumph complete South Africa. After nan lengthy preamble successful a format lacking successful jeopardy, nan tourney needs nan giants to present nan due payoff.
In nan quarter-finals Côte d’Ivoire will look Egypt, a squad they haven’t beaten astatine a Cup of Nations since 1990. They mislaid to them connected penalties successful some nan last successful 2006 and successful nan past 16 4 years ago, but nan conclusion that really stings is Egypt’s 4-1 occurrence successful nan semi-final successful Kumasi successful 2008, nan crippled successful which Amr Zaki embarrassed Kolo Touré. This Côte d’Ivoire is not arsenic star-studded arsenic that one, but it is pleasingly coherent and has successful Amad Diallo, who scored nan first against Burkina Faso and group up nan 2nd for Evann Guessand, a awesome unlocker of defences. Egypt, meanwhile, stay stodgier than they ought to be, yet to activity retired a measurement of integrating some Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.
Earlier successful nan time Algeria, who person possibly looked nan best-balanced broadside truthful far, hit DR Congo pinch a 119th-minute extremity from Adil Boulbina. In nan quarter-finals they meet nan only different broadside to person won 4 retired of four, Nigeria – albeit Nigeria did not request extra-time to hit Mozambique. It’s a crippled pinch history: Nigeria hit Algeria successful nan 1980 last and Algeria hit Nigeria successful nan 1990 final, but Algeria person won nan past 4 meetings, including nan 2019 Cup of Nations semi-final.
There’s small uncertainty that Nigeria person been nan champion attacking broadside truthful far, scoring 12 goals successful their 4 games, pinch Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen linking superbly, but they person looked shaky defensively, their only cleanable expanse coming successful nan past 16 against an overawed and overpowered Mozambique. Under Vladimir Petkovic, nan Bosnian erstwhile Switzerland coach, Algeria are a elastic and intelligent side, who will not beryllium arsenic consenting Mozambique were to fto Alex Iwobi dictate nan pace.
In position of Cups of Nations won, Morocco guidelines supra only nan sole non-champions, Mali, successful nan database of sides near successful nan tournament, but they are nan only African squad ever to scope a World Cup semi-final and they are nan hosts and favourites. That, though, brings unit and expectation, and that has intelligibly affected Morocco truthful far. It’s besides why nan coach, Walid Regragui, was booed by nan crowd astatine nan Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium earlier nan last-16 triumph complete Tanzania – contempt having mislaid only 4 of his 46 games arsenic head – 1 of those was a World Cup semi-final to France, 1 nan third-place playoff and 1 a dormant rubber against South Africa; only nan conclusion to South Africa successful nan Cup of Nations past 16 2 years agone was successful a crippled that some mattered and successful which Morocco were not important underdogs.
But Regragui has go nan personification of nan government’s immense finance successful shot up of nan 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host. That is not universally popular, starring to thoroughfare protests earlier nan tournament. The consciousness of skewed priorities has only intensified aft nan floods successful Safi that killed astatine slightest 37 people. The spending was being questioned moreover earlier nan tournament; arsenic Morocco person produced a strung of nervously dour displays, those doubts person only been heightened.
Why, fixed nan existent harvest of breathtaking and talented players, does Regragui support his safety-first approach? Not only person billions been spent connected nan World Cup and associated infrastructure, but nan shot is boring. After all, what was efficaciously a B squad won nan Arab Cup successful December nether Tarik Sektioui playing acold much progressive football. Sektioui looms arsenic a imaginable successor.
Cameroon, successful that sense, are possibly nan worst opponents Morocco could face. They arrived astatine nan tourney successful chaos, pinch 2 different coaches having submitted abstracted squad lists to CAF. But aft Samuel Eto’o, nan president of nan Cameroonian shot federation, won his powerfulness struggle pinch nan sports ministry, they person recovered an unexpected tone and coherence nether David Pagou, and play highly nonstop and move football. Unusually for nan second-most successful broadside successful nan continent’s history, they are playing pinch almost nary expectations, and they person a resoluteness that intends they are improbable to beryllium fazed by nan partisan ambiance successful nan Moulay Abdelleh.
Senegal, nan different one-time winners near successful nan competition, person nan champion squad of immoderate of nan sub-Saharan contenders, but pinch a fleet of options are yet to get nan equilibrium rather correct successful midfield. They look their neighbours Mali, a state pinch whom they were concisely joined successful nan Mali Federation successful nan first months aft independency from France. Mali’s database of Cup of Nations honours comprises a solitary final, backmost successful 1972, but nether nan well-travelled Belgian Tom Saintfiet they person proved highly difficult to break down, drafting each 4 games truthful acold successful nan competition.
Even nan starriest database of quarter-finalists needs a stubborn outsider.
