In the early morning of January 27, Beijing time, the last two matches of the African Cup of 16 began, with Côte d'Ivoire playing against Egypt, while Mali faced Equatorial Guinea. As a result, after two games, both sides played for 120 minutes without scoring, and finally decided to advance with a penalty shootout. In the end, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea successfully broke the cold, eliminating 2 teams ranked first.
It is said that the cup is a hotbed of upset, and this African Cup of Nations is even more so. In the group stage, defending champion Algeria and Ghana, with multiple stars, returned home early to set the tone for the upset of this tournament. In the first round of the knockout round, Nigeria, the only group stage to get 9 out, unexpectedly lost to Tunisia, which was not in good shape, and also went home early.
In the early hours of the morning, the teams from Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, as the top of the group, were obviously looked up to the top. However, after 120 minutes of the game, neither side scored any goals, which is indeed a lot of fans who stayed up late to pay attention.
Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt are relatively close, and the post-match stats of both sides are basically the same. In the end, the two sides decided through a penalty shootout, and it can only be said that it depends on which side has more luck. Apparently, the Egyptian team was favored by the goddess of victory in the early morning game and finally won the point to advance.
In the 10-man squad on both sides, the only shot missed was Manchester United's Bailey. In recent seasons, Bailey's form has been extremely low, basically just a member of the Manchester United bench, which can be called the Red Devils' perennial water dispenser. Bailey, who lacked game experience, eventually lost a penalty and became a sinner eliminated by the national team. The final winning goal for Egypt was the number one star salah of this year's Africa Cup of Nations, whose performance at key moments was trustworthy.
In the same early morning game, Mali and Equatorial Guinea competed, and the two sides also returned for 120 minutes without success. Unlike Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt, which have high shooting percentages from penalties, Mali and Equatorial Guinea have lost 2 of the top 5 penalties. Equatorial Guinea, ranked 114th in the world, had better luck and managed to eliminate Mali, who finished first in the group.
In this regard, the African Cup of Nations quarter-final matches have all been released, namely Burkina Faso vs Tunisia, Senegal vs Equatorial Guinea, Gambia vs Cameroon, Egypt vs Morocco. After the round of 16 matches, 3 of the top teams in the 6 groups were eliminated. In the next 8 rounds, how many African teams will be upset, let's wait and see.