There are only four left who can claim the throne of Africa. Nigeria, DR Congo, Ivory Coast and South Africa are the semi-finalists of CAN 2024.
Review of the forces present.
Read alsoThe program for the CAN 2024 semi-finals
Nigeria - South Africa: the remake of 2000 or the revenge?
Round after round,
Nigeria
increasingly establishes itself as a credible candidate for final victory. Some said that the team coached by José Peseiro was unbalanced with its offensive armada, to the detriment of the defense. However, the Super Eagles have only conceded one goal in five matches since the start of the CAN. If we add to this the very good form of the best African player of the year 2023, Victor Osimhen, the triple African champions appear in the last four with good arguments to reach the final.
South Africa
returns to the semi-finals for the first time since 2000. The current generation of Bafana Bafana is distinguished by the automatisms of its eleven type: eight starters play together at Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria. Easier to be on the field, therefore, and to hold on to teams like Tunisia in the group stage... then to eliminate Morocco to everyone's surprise in the round of 16. If we add to this table a victory against Cape Verde in the quarterfinals, the presence of the South Africans in the last four owes nothing to chance.
In 2000 the two English-speaking nations faced each other at the same stage of the competition. Jay Jay Okocha's Nigeria then won 2-0, before losing in the final to Cameroon.
Ivory Coast - DR Congo: the 2015 remake or revenge?
Ivory Coast
is a selection which showed two faces during this CAN at home. The Elephants first experienced a nightmarish start to the competition, ending with humiliation in front of their home crowd against Equatorial Guinea (4-0) in the first round. Drafted on the wire as best third thanks to Morocco's victory against Zambia, the Ivorians have shown other values since the round of 16. A foolproof mentality which made them eliminate Senegal and Mali consecutively. A resurrection that no one expected, and which the DR Congo will have to be wary of.
They have not qualified for the semi-finals of a CAN since 2015: this is now done for
the DR Congo
, present in the last four. The Leopards surprised at each stage of this competition: in the group stages, they defeated Morocco (1-1), in the round of 16 they eliminated Egypt and in the quarterfinals, they knew how to master their subject against the Guinea. While coach Sébastien Desabre's main project remains qualification for the next World Cup, the Congolese players continue their journey in this CAN, what's more without their playing master Gaël Kakuta, absent for two matches.
The two teams had already met at the same stadium in 2015. Hervé Renard's Côte d'Ivoire then won 3-1 and won the title in the process. Remake or revenge?
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