As we approach the round of 16 in the African Cup of Nations. We will first take some time to reflect on what has been by far the most entertaining AFCON to date and of course, one that served the best meals for the underdogs, leaving all the big dogs of African football toothless and hungry in their campaigns to further confirm their position as Africa’s greatest footballing nations.
We will start with the host nation, Ivory Coast. The Elephants were humbled by Equatorial Guinea in a 4-0 drubbing, the result prompted the federation to sack head coach Jean-Louis Gasset. The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) on Wednesday, said that it was terminating the contracts of the French coach and his assistant “for insufficient results by the contract of objectives they had with the FIF.
Alongside Gasset, several nations have followed the guillotine process with their underachieving coaches. Ghana Sacked Chris Hughton, and Zambia and Avram Grant also pulled the plug on their short stint. 2019 AFCON champions Algeria parted ways with head coach Djamel Belmadi with immediate effect.
The African football showpiece hasn’t failed to deliver some surprising results but most notably the termination of some of the best coaches representing their respective nations in this year’s edition of the AFCON.
As if the upward trajectory of the AFCON rollercoaster hasn’t been exhilarating enough. We are in for a merry-go-round in the round of 16. Here are your matchups for the knockout round scheduled to start on Saturday 27 January 2024.
In Bouake
Angola v Namibia (7 pm kick-off)
In Abidjan
Nigeria v Cameroon (10 pm kick-off)
And on Sunday the 28th of January 2024 the capital city of Abidjan
Equatorial Guinea v Guinea (7pm)
And in the island city of San Pedro
Egypt v Democratic Republic of Congo (10 pm)
And on Monday we take a trip back to the capital. Abidjan will host
Cape Verde v Mauritania (7pm)
They say when two elephants fight, it is the ground that suffers, Yamoussoukro will be shaking as Sadio Mane’s Senegal take on a wounded elephant and host nation Ivory Coast, in the late 10 pm kick-off
We wrap up the round of 16 with a clash between Mali and Burkina Faso in Korhogo with the early 7 pm kick-off. And the hopes of a nation will be behind Bafana Bafana as they take on 2022 World Cup Semi-finalists Morocco in the 10 pm kick-off playing out in San Pedro.
The next time we share this blog, a new African king will be crowned.