Upset galore as AFCON quarterfinals approach

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations going on in Ivory Coast continued to reel out upsets and unexpected results as the final eight teams in the competition emerged from the round of 16 fixtures played from Saturday up until Tuesday night.

Although Nigeria defeated Cameroon 2-0 in their round of 16 fixture, there were some interesting results as Equatorial Guinea, who topped Group A that had Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Guinea Bissau, were knocked out by Guinea Conakry 1-0.

The Ivorians, who only qualified for the round of 16 of the competition as one of the third-place teams and whose qualification was confirmed on the final day of the group stage, needed penalties to see off Senegal, the defending champions.

The upset galore ended with South Africa defeating Morocco 2-0 on Tuesday to secure a quarterfinal slot. Other results on R16 saw Angola beat Namibia 3-0, Cape Verde beat Mauritania 1-0, and Mali knocked out Burkina Faso 2-1 without forgetting that DR Congo eliminated Egypt on penalties.

The quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations will start on Friday, with Nigeria facing Angola in the first quarterfinal fixture, and also, on Friday, DR Congo will face Guinea Conakry.

Saturday’s fixture will see South Africa and Cape Verde face each other while the hosts Ivory Coast will play Mali for a place in the semi-final.

Three-time winners of the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria, who won the competition in 1980, 1994, and 2013, will hope to do enough to beat Angola, who are playing in the quarterfinal of the competition for the first time in their history. Whoever wins the fixture will face the winner of Cape Verde versus South Africa in the semi-finals.

AFCON2023 Quarterfinal Fixtures:

Nigeria vs Angola

DR Congo vs Guinea

Mali vs Ivory Coast

Cape Verde vs South Africa.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu