Welcome to Africanews

Please select your experience

Watch Live

Football Planet

football-planet

AFCON Daily: Round of 16 pairings [Episode 7]

Football Planet

A massive crossover into the knockout stage of the Afcon in Egypt as the best 16 teams square up for the final sprint. Last night’s games produced lots of suspense, disappointments while the up coming fixtures only make the competition more exciting.

Guinea Bissau and Mauritania were the big loosers who failed to benefit from the prediction game, while South Africa and Benin emerged from the best third placed list.

Let’s begin with Pool E where Mali managed to keep their first place in the group thanks to their narrow victory over the Palancas Negras of Angola. The only goal of the match was scored by Amadou Haidara in the 37th minute, allowing the Eagles to keep their Tunisian runner-up at bay. Tunisian could not do any better than a 0-0 game against Mauritania. The result was that they nevertheless finished second in the group to qualify directly for the Round of 16.

Mali therefore finished as the most impressive West African representative with two wins and a draw.

Defending champions the Lions where wrestled by the Squirrels of Benin with a 0-0 outcome. A performance that seeped out conviction from Cameroon who humbly accepted second spot in the group behind The Black stars of Ghana. The Indomitable Lions who started their defend on a high gear with a 2-0 win on match day one eventually recorded two successive goalless draws while Benin finished as one of the best third placed teams. Clarence Seedorf and Michel Dussuyer reacted after last night’s draw..

The black stars rose to the occasion last night with a convincing 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau after a complicated start to the tournament. Jordan Ayew and Thomas Partey were on the score sheet and above all an excellent Mubarack Wakasu decorated man of the match. End of the adventure, on the other hand, for Mauritania as shown in this ranking.

We now know the 16 nations that qualified for the Round of 16 of the 2019 CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Morocco and Algeria who had 3 wins in the group stage along side competition favorites like Senegal, Ivory Coast and host Egypt made it, while some surprises slipped through as well. A complete list of all 16 teams on this show.

Breath taking clashes opportunities for revenge for others here is what to expect from Egypt come this weekend

The men in black have played and will always play decisive roles in encounters but this far not many have complaint of the refereeing in the group stages but for isolated incidents like that of Senegal who cried foul in their defeat against Algeria. Defender Kalilou Koulibali corroborates the take and believes there is room for improvements.

And so as CAF announced prior to the competition, the Video Assistant Refereeing system will be implored in the tournament from the Quarter final stage. Clearly it will be welcomed.

Another forfeit in the competition after Atsu of Ghana and Keita of Guinea, Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament. The Lions shot stopper was allowed to return to France after breaking his finger in the warm-up during the game against Kenya on Monday.

@philemonmbale

View more

Football Planet

Football Planet is for you. We want to share your opinions on our programme. If you want to contribute to Football Planet, here are the best ways to get in touch : For more details on how to contribute, click here.

Football Planet

Football Planet is for you. We want to share your opinions on our programme. If you want to contribute to Football Planet, here are the best ways to get in touch : For more details on how to contribute, click here.