Nigeria is the first candidate to win the African Cup (French)

The semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations, which is being held in Ivory Coast until next Sunday, pitted 4 former winners of the continental championship title in a fierce confrontation, but this time with different features and diverse ambitions.

In the golden square of the 34th edition of the most expensive football tournament on the continent, experienced Nigeria faces against the returnee from afar South Africa, and Ivory Coast, the “miracle” of this edition, and the host and the crowd face the advanced Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, Ivory Coast will meet the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, while Nigeria will face South Africa at the Al Salam Stadium.

Attacking sharpness and defensive toughness

In their 15th appearance in the semi-finals of the continental tournament, Nigeria still has only one goal: to secure a place in the final. Despite entering the tournament as favourites, the Green Eagles faced challenges, including a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea and wins over Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau by a single goal.

In continuation of the approach of its Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro, who repeatedly declared that his goal is “not to concede goals first,” Nigeria combines offensive intensity (6 goals) and defensive solidity, which has led to it keeping a clean sheet for 4 consecutive matches, a record that has not been achieved since September or October. /October 2018.

⚽️🥅 Ademola Lookman opens the scoring for the Nigerian national team with a wonderful goal #Africa_Cup of Nations | #Nigeria_Angola #AfCON2023 | #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/QyuiKcisIX

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 2, 2024

This balance in performance resulted in an easy victory over the Cameroonian giant with two clean goals in the eighth final, and overcame Angola in the quarter-finals with a clean goal, which gave Victor Osimhen’s teammates a place among the natural candidates to qualify for the final, but before that they must pass the semi-final station for the ninth time. .

Nigeria is counting on a distinguished group of players in the three lines, who have the experience and competence necessary to overcome South Africa and reach the final match.

According to Opta, the Green Eagles team has become a 43% candidate to win the title since defending champion Senegal was eliminated from the final stage.

The return of the underdog

Led by Belgian Hugo Bros, the coach who won the African title in 2017 with Cameroon, and Ronwen Williams, a goalkeeper who specializes in penalty kicks, the South African national team returns to the forefront in this edition.

African champion in 1996, runner-up in 1998, and third in 2000, he returns to compete against the seniors, hoping to reach the final, but the “Bafana Bafana” team must be solid and have the upper hand against a Nigerian opponent who has a historical precedence in direct confrontations. In 12 previous confrontations in various tournaments, South Africa won once, compared to 7 wins for Nigeria and 4 draws. The last meeting between the two teams was in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, and Nigeria won 2-1.

A special celebration for South African Bisri Tau, Egyptian Al-Ahly player #Africa_Cup of Nations | #SouthAfrica #totalenergiesafcon2023 pic.twitter.com/r2txG6sGRf

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 5, 2024

With 8 key players playing for the same club, which is Mamelodi Sundowns, one of the best teams in Africa, “Bafana Bafana” adopts a team style that relies on quick ball exchanges, especially in the final third of the field, which causes intense pressure on the opponent, which may result in... Mistakes in positioning, which Mothobi Mvala's teammates always try to exploit to score the net.

The quick and sudden attack will be one of the keys for the Belgian coach seeking to decode the solid Nigerian defense and surprise him with an early goal that may scatter his cards and enhance South Africa’s chances to ensure passage to the dream final.

Opta website statistics showed that South Africa went from having a 2.1% chance of lifting the cup at the beginning of the tournament to now being third favorites among the four remaining teams with a rate of 18.6%.

United for the dream

"A year ago, everyone was laughing at us. Today, we are in the semi-finals," Chancel Mbemba commented on the DR Congo's deserved qualification to the semi-finals after beating Guinea 3-1. In this edition, Morocco, Egypt and Guinea paid the price for the high concentration and physical strength of the French coach Sebastien Desabre's battalion.

After 4 draws against Zambia, Morocco and Tanzania with a score of 0-0 and Egypt 1-1 and then winning on penalties, the “Cheetahs” finally succeeded in achieving victory in regular time in the quarter-finals. As for Guineans, they dream of restoring the image of their country, which has not lifted the cup for 50 years, specifically in 1968 (under the name Congo-Kinshasa).

The Congolese possess the technical, physical and tactical capabilities to continue dreaming of restoring past glories against Ivory Coast, which is returning from the dead in this tournament. Opta statistics show that the Leopards have a chance of overcoming Ivory Coast and reaching the final, exceeding 32%.

The Cheetahs' chance of winning over Ivory Coast and reaching the final is 32.3%, while the chance of lifting the title is 16.4%, according to Opta.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo national team in the semi-finals ✅🇨🇩

⏯️ Watch the summary of the match between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea (3-1) #Africa_Cup of Nations | #Democratic_Congo | #Guinea pic.twitter.com/2wxPbtrn4F

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 2, 2024

Continuation of the "miracle"

On January 22, 2024, the Ivory Coast national team made headlines all over the world, after the strong blow it received against Equatorial Guinea and its 4-0 defeat, which put it on the verge of exit from the first round, but Morocco won over Zambia 1-0 and Mozambique tied. With Ghana 2-2, he revived the Ivorians, who qualified among the best third-place finishers in the six groups.

Since then, the “Elephants” have risen up and crushed everyone who stood in their way, including defending champion Senegal on penalties and then Mali 2-1 in extra time.

Returning from hell, as the local and international press described it, gave the Ivory Coast national team moral motivation and great mental strength that may help Franck Kessiet's teammates, along with public support, to turn the tide in this tournament and repeat the scenario of Italy in the 1982 World Cup and Portugal in Euro 2016, both of which came close to disaster in The first round before he ended up winning the title.

Côte d'Ivoire snatches the ticket to the semi-finals at a crucial time

Watch the summary of the match between Mali and Côte d'Ivoire (1-2) #Africa_Cup of Nations | #Mali | #Cote_Ivoire #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/dwzoxFWuC7

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 3, 2024

Although the Ivorian national team will be deprived of the services of Odilon Kosounou, Omar Diakite, Serge Aurier and Christian Kouame against the Democratic Republic of Congo due to suspension, the rest are determined to achieve the amazing end that will allow an entire country to dream of a third star on the shirt after the 1992 and 2015 editions.

Opta's forecasts indicate that Ivory Coast, which was the second candidate to lift the title behind Nigeria before the start of the tournament, now has a 41.3% chance of qualifying for the final.

Source: Al Jazeera