We now march into week three of AFCON 2015 and my favourite team is out! It seems that the desire to score great goals has finally arrived on the scene and as we head into the business end of the competition, with many peoples’ favourites, Cote d’Ivoire still around, it’s looking red hot. Let’s not forget the tenacious home boys of Equatorial Guinea, who are giving us the impression that they want the cup really badly. Their best AFCON achievement to date is the quarter finals in 2012 so things are looking up. I’ve got lots of news and good things to say, after a bit of doubt about whether AFCON 2015 would amount to anything good, in football terms. Let’s start with the weekend’s quarter final knockout games, that produced some superb football, and DR Congo fans would concur, no doubt!
Let’s start with Saturday’s quarter final showdown between hosts Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia. I think it fair to say that after 90 minutes, the hosts thought their run to this point had been a good one, with Tunisia leading 1-0 and the team can feel proud and hold their heads up high and all that jazz, but then something incredible happened that sent the locals into euphoria; Javier Balboa put a penalty into the back of the Tunisian net in referee’s added time at the end of the match and then secured his brace in the first half of extra time to secure a semi final showdown with the up and coming Ghana on Thursday night. Even if the dream ended here, it would be a new high in terms of AFCON tournaments, and they can feel proud. To use coach Esteban Becker’s words, the weekend’s win was ‘almost a miracle’! Sadly, the win has come with too much controversy to just ignore the whole thing, with Tunisian football authorities saying the penalty was ‘soft’ and that the Mauritian referee was impartial. the whole scene has been so badly received that The President of the Tunisian Football Federation, Wadii Al Jarii has resigned from his position in the organising committee of Africa Cup of Nations 2015. The Tunisian media also report that Chiheb Belkhiria who is a member of the finance committee of Caf has left his position as well. Football is a serious matter. Taking it back to the pitch, you can see the highlights here.
Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo were up next and this has restored my faith in AFCON 2015 and it ability to entertain and showcase what this continent can offer on the football field. My Congolese co worker is proudly wearing a goofy grin and so she should. DRC are looking good as potential champions, don’t they? They showed great grit and determination to become the first team to qualify for the semis and Coach Florent Ibenge is a proud man indeed. Delvin Ndinga and Thievy Bifouma scored two quick second half goals to silence the DRC and have the scorecard reading 2-0. It seemed that it would take something very special to even get on the scorecard, never mind score 3 to win it. But how about scoring 4! DRC pushed forward in numbers and within a few minutes, Dieudonne Mbokani added his name to the score sheet. On 76 minutes, Loteteka Bokila eventually got one on target and it was 2-2. On 81 minutes Joel Mpela’s free kick made it 3-2 and Mbokani got a second with a second chance on a blocked strike to put the ball in on 90 minutes to what can only be described as a phenomenal comeback. Here are the highlights, thanks to Supersport.com. DRC now face Cote d’Ivoire on Wednesday.
After receiving $30,000 for their quarterfinal berth, Guinea’s national camp had been promised another $50,000 to beat Ghana on Sunday. It wasn’t incentive enough. A brace from Christian Atsu helped Ghana to a thrilling 3-0 win over Guinea in Malabo, and it was all started by the quick work of Mubarak Wakaso that set up Atsu within 4 minutes to get Ghana on the board. A much better start than their previous run out against South Africa. Guinea fought hard to keep possession but Ghana’s defense stood firm throughout. The game did end on a sour note though for Guinea with their keeper being red-carded after bringing Asamoah Gyan down just outside the box. The highlights are worth reliving and you can catch them here.
The last of the semi finals was between Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria and I’ve had my heart set on Algeria just because they looked so good in the group phases. They were really no match for the Ivory Coast, who seemed to step thing up from the round robin matches to rise up as new favourites for sure. They never let up, they just powered on and it looked like there were more orange shirts than Algerian white ones out there. It was a power display and the commentator made the game even more enjoyable. All 4 goals in the 3-1 demolition of the men from the North were out of the top drawer and you can see all the highlights here.
So now it’s all about who will end the week, ready for the Finals next Sunday. Join us on Thursday for the results of the first semi final between the DRC and Cote d’Ivoire. Who’s looking like the favourites to win AFCON 2015 in your mind?