The Confederation of Africa Football: cafonline.com
AFCON 2023
Played In January 2024
The 34th Edition of The African Cup of Nations (AFRCON) Was A Long Time Coming Having Been Postponed Since July 2023 Due The Hot Hot Hot Whether Conditions In The Host Nation Cote d’Ivoire. This In Itself Might Provide An Interesting Case For The Study of Climate Change (At A Future Date).
Group Stage
The Best Teams From Two Dozen African Footballing Nations Are Divided Into Six Groups of Four In Group Stage Play Offs.
The Top Two Teams In Each Group Then Get To Play Each Other (Making That One Dozen) Plus Just Four Other Teams Who Came Third And Rank Highest Based On A Points Scoring System That Makes This Next Round A Total of 16 Teams. (Eight Teams Have At This Stage Been Eliminated.)
Knockout Stages
The New Group of 16 Teams Now Compete In The Knockout Stage. This Is Divided Into The quarterfinals, The semifinals and The Ultimate final.
Dates
Saturday January 13 2024: ‘Group A’ Kick Started The Tournament With Cote d’Ivoire v Guinea Bissua
The Group Stage Was Scheduled To Conclude 11 Days Later On Wednesday January 23th 2024
Play Would Resume The Following Weekend After A Few Days Rest With Knockout Games Scheduled: Saturday January 27 – Tuesday January 30 2024.
Quarter-Finals: Fri February 2nd & Sat 3rd 2024.
Semi-Finals: Wednesday February 7 2024
Final: Sunday February 11 2024
The Two Semi-Finals
Wednesday February 7th 2024
Nigeria 1- South Africa – 1
Penalties: Nigeria 4 – South Africa 2
By Semi-Finals Day Wednesday February 7th 2024 There Were Only Four Teams Left, Two Semi-Finals To Be Played On The Same Day, And Only Two Team Places Available In The Final. It Was Immense. (See Table Top of Centre Column.)
First Was Nigeria v South Africa. After A Goal-Less First Half With Lots of Stunning Near Misses, Came A Painful VAR Drama Involving Nigeria’s Star Player, No.9, Victor Oshimhen, In The Second. He Netted What Would Have Been A Second Nigerian Goal After Captain William Troost-Ekong’s Winning Penalty Kick In The 67th Minute (In The No.5 Shirt). But Oshimhen’s Goal Was Reversed After VAR Awarded A Delayed Penalty To South Africa. Their Player Teboho Mokoena (No.4) Duly Scored.
The Score Was Now 1-1
At The End of Full -Time Nothing Had Changed,Thus Demanding A Penalty Shoot Out.
Nigeria Were Nonetheless Victorious And Their Goal Keeper, The Charismatic Stan Nwabali, Was Later Voted Man of The Match For His Worldclass Goalkeeping Focus Which Saved 2 of South Africa’s 4 Efforts (Namely By Mokoena (No.4) Who Successfully Took The Penalty Earlier And The Wonderfully Named (No.9) Evidence Makgopa). Their (No.21) Who Was Subbed On Did The Job As Did (No.14) Mvala. But It Was Not Enough. South Africa Missed Their First One And The Third One of Their Four Attempts.
In Comparison Having Started First And Scored Their First Two And Last Two, Nigeria Had The Led Early On And Kept It Despite Ola Aina Also Missing The Third Attempt Like His South African Counterpart. Sub Moffi (No.24) Scored, As Did Sub (No.22) Kenneth Omeruo. Then After Aina’s Miss Came Captain William Troost-Ekong (No.5) Who Scored Earlier And Another Sub (No.14) Kelechi Iheanacho @kelechi72 Took Nigeria’s 5th Kick, At Which Point It Was All Over, With Nigeria Winning 4-2 Penalties.
Video Courtesy of @Nigeria_1960 On Tik Tok: It Was A Dramatic Dynamic Penalty Shoot-Out Featuring 9 Men, 6 Goals & 3 Saves. Goalkeeper Stan Nwabali Bobo @nwabali32 Was Man of The Match (Click Box Bottom Righthand Corner To Expand Video Full Screen.)
@caf_online A Very Elegant And Glamorous Nigerian Female Fan At The First of Two AFCON2023 Semi-Finals, Weds Feb 7th 2024 Nigeria v South Africa.
The Nigerian Football Federation: thenff.com
The Super Eagles Starting 11 With A 3-4-3 Formation
[Manager Jose Peseiro]
No.23 Goalkeeper ~ Stanley Nwabali
No. 2 Ola Aina
No. 5 William Troost-Ekong *
No.6 Semi Ajayi
No. 8 Frank Onyeka
No.9 Victor Osimhen*
No, 12 Bright Osayi-Samuel
No. 15 Moses Simon
No. 17 Alex Iwobi
No.18 Ademola Lookman
No. 21 Calvin Chinedu Bassey
The South African Football Association
The Bafana Bafana (Boys, Boys)
Starting 11 With A 5-4-1 Formation:
[Manager – Hugo Broos]
No.1 Williams (Goalkeeper)
No. 4 Mokoena *
No. 5 Xulu
No. 6 Modiba
No. 9 Makgopa
No. 10 Tau
No. 11 Zwane
No.13 Sithole
No, 14 Mvala
No.18 Kekana
No. 20 Mudau
AFCON Winning History of The Last Four Surviving Teams
It Was A Dynamic Second Semi-Final As Cote d’Ivoire Faced The Democratic Republic of Congo.
This Is The Third Time That The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Have Reached The Semi-Finals of The African Cup of Nations (AFCON). And Both Previous Times They Won The Match And Became Champions (See Table Directly Above).
There Were Over 50,000 Fans In The Stadium And Half of Them Are Hoping DCR Could Make It Three For Three And Third Time Lucky, Lucky, Lucky.
And It Seemed As Though Luck May Well Have Been On Their Side As No Host Nation Has Won The AFCON For 18 Years, Which Did’ Not Bode Well For Hosts Cote d’Ivorie.
But The First 15 Minutes of This Match of Enormous Magnitude Saw Cote d’Ivoire Displaying More Game Than The DRC Are Called. And It Was Them Who In The Last 15 Minutes of The First Half Who Had Numerous Shots At The Goal, Even If They Unfortunately Missed Them All.
One of Their Attempts Was A Header By Haller That Hit The Crossbar And Was Watched In The Crowd Intensely By A Gutted Fellow Ivorian And Former Ivory Coast And Chelsea Player @didierdrogba.
But In The Second Half Haller Came Good With His Right Foot To Score His First Goal of The Tournament When It Most Mattered For His Country. It Was Sixty Four Minutes In And The Elephants Were Now Left Roaring Ahead As A Result.
Standing Just Left of The Front of The Goal, Static On One Leg With The Other Outstretched To Allow A Running And Falling Power Pass From His Teammate No. 15 Max Gradel On The Other Side of The Goal, To Reach The Top of His Foot. It Landed Where He Wanted It And He Quickly, Knowingly, Instictively In A Flash Performed A Hop And A Pivot On That Single Standing Leg And Sent The Ball Into The Back of The Net. It Shot Into The Far Corner Right Past The Head And Hands of The Congolese Goalkeeper, Delivering An Electric Winner. It Wasn’t Elegant By This Elephant But It Was Confident, Calm, Knowing And Skilful. It Was Pretty Beautiful In Its Simplicity. And It Did The Job.
The Score Was Now 1-0 Cote d’Ivoire!
The Cote d’Ivoire Fans Were Jumping Up And Down With Joy As Was Team Coach Emerse Fae And Haller Urged The Crowd On With Arms Open Wide Going Up And Down As If To Say ‘Come On, Come On’ Don’t Stop.
A Few Moments Later Haller Received Another Pass From A Teammate, This Time Adingra, No.24 Sent Him A Header From A Corner Kick But Haller Just Missed A Second Goal By Going Over The Crossbar Again. This Miss Did Not Seem As Devastating As The First Time Though Because of His Recent Beautiful Goal (Although The Disappointment Agonised All Over His Face).
The Congoleese Manager Soon Takes Three Players Off And Brings On Three Substitutes Hoping To Change Up The Fortunes of The Now Trailing Congolese Team. No.17 Cedric Bakambu, No.18 Charles Pickel And No.20 Yoane Wissa Are All Taken Off. And No.6 Tshibola, No. 19 Mayele, And No. 23 Banza Came On To Replace Them.
Maybe The DR Congo Manager Was Movitivated By His Own Prior Break Down of The Possession Stats That Flashed Up On Screen Showing The Ivory Coast Had Achieved 59.4% Ball Possession At This Stage Compared To DCR’s Significantly Less 40.6%.
That Said, Sebastien Haller (No.22) Has Yet Another Shot At Goal With A Far Away Lob Delivered With His Sidefoot And Curving Over The Goalkeeper’s Head. But Alas He Misses The Net Again.
The Ivory Coast’s No.8, Kessie, Is Brought Down By A Scrapping On The Back of His Ankle By The Boot Studs of DRC’s No.22 Player, Chancel Mbemba, And Is Naturally Unhappy About It. He Stays Down. Another DRC Player (No.2) Tries To Help Him Up But He’s Having None of It. The Referee However Decided Not To Award A Free Kick Even Though The Stud Scrap Is Clearly Visible On The Replay. Comment: Kessie Was Unlucky On That One. Although One of The Commentators Does Not Have Much Sympathy With His Situation And Says There’s Not Too Much In It. We Disagree. It Did Look Rather Deliberate And Painful.
Earlier, Just Before Haller’s Goal, His Teammate Michael (Mika) Seri No.4 (Who Plays For English Team Hull City Tigers, Up North In East Riding, Yorkshire) Was Substituted By Amani No.27 And No. 6 Fofana Was Substituted By No. 18 Sangare At The Same Time. (There Were Two Fofana’s In The Team. One In Goal And One Out In The Field).
Approximately 10 Minutes After Haller’s Goal Player No.18 ,Sangare Intriguingly Received A Message From The Managers Bench On A Piece of Paper Which He Slips In His Sock. Comment: The Other Commentator Says “It’s Not The Easiest Place To Keep It If You’re Needing To Read It At Short Notice.” Well It Is Actually. Not Sure Where He Thinks Would Be Better As He Did Not Make Any Alternative Suggestions (Most Probably Because There Are Non).
The Teams Take ‘A Cooling Break’ Soon Afterwards (Not A Common Ocurrence In Matches That We’ve Observed Before Now, Where The Break Is Usually Just A Single Half-Time Break. However The Heat Has Been A Notable Factor In This Spectacular African Tournament Which Is Why It Is Being Played In Early January 2024 Having Been Postponed In July 2023 Due To Unplayable Whether Conditions.
Meschack Elia No.13 Takes A Kick At Goal For The Democratic Republic of Congo And It’s Close But No Cigar. He Is Substituted Shortly Afterwards By No.11 Silas Katompa.
Shortly Afterwards Simon Adingra, No.24 The King of Assits Is Substituted And Replaced By Bamba, No.9 of The Ivory Coast.
Each Team Worked The Ball Up And Down The Pitch A Number of Times With Attempts At Goal And Near Misses Either End But Nothing Landed For Either Team At This Stage. Ivorian Goalkeeper Yahia Fofana Was Never Under Too Much Pressure But Was Simply Laser-Focused And Made Sure He Took Care of Basic Goalkeeping Housekeeping By Blocking & Securing The Ball Routinely Whenever It Ventured Anywhere Vaguely Near The Net. Even When There Appeared To Be Not Much Dangerous Impetus Behind It.
Total Energies & The Confederation of African Football
@afcon.23 A Fantastically Attired Ivory Coast Fan. @ng_supereagles A Fantastically Attired Nigerian Fan
The DR Congo Team Made A Peaceful Protest About The Lack of Media Coverage On The War Raging In Their Country Between The Army And Militia Forces (The Latter Reportedly Supported By Rawanda Who Are Supported By Western Governments, Including Belgium & The UK) @mwasi_asbl @freecongodrc
Ivory Coast 1 – 0 Democratic Republic of Congo
In The 89th Minute of The Match And With Just Five Minutes Extra Time The Ivory Coast Made Yet Another Two Substitutions With No.13 Boga And No.11 Krasso As Goal Scorer Haller No.22 Came Off The Pitch Along With His Max Gradel No.15. Who Gave Him That Great Assist. Gradel Urged The Crowd To Stay Fired Up For The Final Five Minutes.
Happily For His Team The Fans Were Still Buzzing, Nothing Extraordinary Happened To Change The Scoreline In Extra Time And So By The Final Whistle Cote d’Ivoire Were Victorious And Headed Into The Final Utterly Redeemed From Their Previous Notorious Equatorial New Guinea Defeat At The Start of The Competition.
These Ivorian Elephants Were Now Officially The Come Back Kids.
When The Ivory Coast Previously Suffered A 4-0 Drubbing By Equatorial New Guinea On Monday January 22nd 2024 Their Orange Kit Was Unceremoniously Discarded By Many Fans Afterwards.
However This Semi-Final Match Against DRC Saw The Elephants Elevated To Firm Fan Favourites Again With Haller Highest Amongst Them Due To His Goal Scoring Magic Afer A Winning Assist From The Neatly Nibble No.15 Max Gradel And A Number of Follow Up Efforts After Assists From The Ever Agile No. 24 Adingra. The Ivory Coast Could Barely Be Happier, Including King Didi aka Didier Drogba @didierdrogba.
Nigeria Had Already Defeated South Africa On Penalties After A One All Draw In The First of These Same Day Two Semi Finals, So Now It Was Confirmed That The Final Showdown Would Be Ivory Coast v Nigeria, Sunday February 11th 2024.
As Well As Being Broadcast On BBC Three (And Available On BBC iPlayer) The Matches Were Also Shown In London At The Respective Embassies. And The Final Would Be No Different (Except Possibly An Even Higher Level of Excitement!).
@Sebastien.Haller Spurs On The Fans
“To me Greatness is about
the willingness to be the best everyday
and be an inspiration for other people“
Sebastien Haller April 2021,
Who In July 2022 Announced On Instagram That He Had Received A Cancer Diagnosis,
And Who In February 2023 Became A National Hero
After Scoring His First Ever Goal In The Tournament, The Goal of The Day,
And The Only Goal
In The Semi-Final Between Ivory Coast & DR Congo,
Sending His Team To The Final
of
The African Cup of Nations
A Victory Dance From The Second AFCON Semi-Final 2023 Winners Weds Feb 7th 2024 @caf_online
2nd AFCON2023 Semi Final Match Highlights @caf_online With @emersefae Jumping For Joy After All His Perseverance, Professionalism & Player Support. Click Box Bottom Righthand Corner To Expand Video.
Former Ivory Coast And Chelsea Player @didierdrogba Celebrates As The Elephants Win The AFCON 2023 Semi Final Against DR Congo Eventually Played Wednesday February 7th 2024 After Being Postponed July 2023 Due To Extreme Heat Whether Conditions In The Host Nation The Ivory Coast.
Drogba Seemed Very Keen For The Final Whistle To Blow As The Elephants of The Ivory Coast Were 1-0 Ahead of The DRC And He Didn’t Want That To Change Any Time Soon.
@caf_online It’s A Win Win For This Dedicated Female Ivorian Fan As She’s Voted Fan of The Match & Her Team Win Against DR Congo. Good Effort All Round! At The Second AFCON2023 Semi-Final, Weds Feb 7th 2024, Cote d’Ivoire v Congo
Federation Ivorian de Football fifciv.com
The Elephants’ Starting 11 With A 4-3-3 Formation:
[Manager – Emerse Fae]
No. 1 Fofana (Goalkeeper)
No. 3 Konan
No. 4 Seri
No. 5 Singo
No. 6 Fofana
No. 8 Kessié
No. 12 Boly
No. 15 Gradel
No. 21 Ndicka
No. 22 Haller *
No. 24 Adingra
The Federation of The Congolese Football Association
The Leopards of DR Congo
Starting 11 With A 4-3-3-1 Formation:
[Manager – sebastiendesabre.com]
No. 1 Mpasi (Goalkeeper)
No. 2 Inonga
No..8 Moutoussamy
No.13 Elia
No. 14 Kakuta
No.17 Bakambu
No. 18 Pickel
No. 20 Wissa
No. 22 Mbemba
No. 24 Kalulu
No. 26 Masuaku
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 