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AFCON 2023

Looren

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Amazing list, now let's go get the trophy
 

Looren

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So AFCON started yesterday with Ivory Coast winning against Guinea Bissau

Today we had so many great games

Equatorial Guinea comfirm that they're a poison to play against, great draw snatched by them against Nigeria

Egypt got very lucky to snatch a draw against Mozambique, biggest surprise of the AFCON so far this Mozambique team who defended well and had fantastic counters

Only expected result of the day is Cape Verde winning against Ghana after a very convincing performance
 

Charly

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I feel really bad for Mozambique but sadly it was a clear penalty in the last min of the game otherwise it would be the first shockwave we have had at Afcon 24
 

Looren

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Senegal was great today ! Gambia was unlucky to get that red as they really played well, kudos to them, I still think they can make it to R16

Talking about stupid reds, Guinea would've beated Cameroon pretty easily without that stupid red card, wtf was that dude thinking, Cameroon is quite weak

Algeria drawing with Angola, brave game from Angola !
 

Looren

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Yesterday :

Mauritania played well but Burkina Faso made their experience count, not impressive but they got 3 points

Namibia was fantastic against Tunisia, what a performance, lot of combativity, solid organisation, tactically very good ! And my god that assist was art

Mali had a solid performance, good job !

We're playing today, the big favourites are having issues now and the underdogs are way stronger than expected, we'll have to respect our opponents and get a win
 

Looren

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We had a great start today, decent performance and three points ! Our next games will be tough, RDC/Zambia was a nice game, good draw for Zambia
 

Looren

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Solid performance from Senegal yesterday even though they lacked efficiency

Cape Verde ending up 1st of their group is a great achievement !

Ivory Coast's coach is a real joke, Nigeria did what they had to do

This AFCON is really fascinating
 

Looren

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History written

Oh and Morocco yesterday : we played a bad game but nothing dramatic, we're in the race
 

Looren

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The last group stage games of this AFCON was ridiculous

Gambia/Cameroon was absolutely amazing, one of the most dramatic games I've ever seen !

Mauritania having a historical win against Algeria ! Astonishing !

Angola, Namibia having historical qualifications

South Africa eliminating Tunisia

And our victory qualifying Ivory Coast !

Here are the R16 brackets :

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Paco Roca

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I have seen all the knockout matches played so far. Summing up:

Angola - Namibia: Angola was totally superior to Namibia (even when playing 10 against 11). Angola's third goal is of great merit.

Nigeria - Cameroon: Nigeria managed to break Cameroon's strenuous resistance. The goals scored were not given away but he had to sweat them out. Bullying victory. Nigeria is among the favorite teams to win the final.

Equatorial Guinea - Guinea: Equatorial Guinea did everything they could to lose (expulsion against and missed penalty conceded). In the end, when Equatorial Guinea was running out of oxygen, Guinea punished with the winning goal.

RD Congo - Egypt: excellent performance by RD Congo against a superior opponent. Egypt wasn't at his best anyway, it looked tired and confused. On penalties, the most lucid and the one who had the least to lose won.
 

Paco Roca

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Cape Verde - Mauritania: Very surprised with Mauritania's journey so far. Cape Verde, however, was superior.

Senegal - Ivory Coast: the match was resolved on penalties between the title holders and the hosts national team. The most lucid and luckiest team won.

Mali - Burkina Faso: Mali scored two high quality goals. By a few millimetres, Burkina Faso almost equalised. I'm always surprised by Burkina Faso's ability to play head-to-head with everyone.

Morocco - South Africa: the forecasts saw Morocco as the favorite but right from the start I thought that South Africa was a very difficult opponent. It was a cursed match for Morocco. Morocco couldn't find the goal and after conceding it he got nervous. There were too many expectations on the team. Everyone, even the Moroccan players themselves, after the great World Cup played, were demanding victory in the continental tournament. An unbearable weight that made Hakimi wrong. Amrabat's avoidable expulsion (who only had to contain the player along the left side of the pitch) sealed the final word. The point that closes the story and the games came from a space free kick. This makes us understand that sometimes it's better to be an underdog. At the World Cup in Qatar this made Morocco play with a lighter head. He placed great physical intensity before the quality on the field of the most famous teams in the world. In the continental tournament, however, being the favorites not only didn't help but the teams were totally different: the African teams, even if they have great talents, have a game more based on athleticism. Perhaps the wrong opponents for Morocco. The next edition, if I'm not mistaken, will be played in Morocco. In 2 years this disappointment can be washed away with a great victory.
 
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Looren

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Paco Roca resumed all the games properly so I'm gonna talk about Morocco :

First of all : I'm devastated, I litteraly collapsed into tears in front of my family yesterday after game and cried all night, that's how much this competition means and how much we need it, it's been since 1976 that we haven't won an AFCON and that needs to change

Congrats to South Africa for such a strong tactical display, we know Hugo Broos from Cameroon 2017 and knew he's a great coach, he sadly did not disappoint

I think we crualy lack of depth in attack, we saw that as soon as Ziyech and Boufal were not there we were inefficient on the wings, Ez Abde and Adli have qualities but they were not ready for stuff like that, also Regragui didn't trust boys like Saibari, Richardson and El Khannous and trusted Amallah, big mistake, Saibari in 30 mins showed like 10x more than what Amallah could show yesterday, playing Mazraoui starter right after his injury was a mistake, he's responsible of the first Sudaf goal, lots of fucked up crosses, it got better when Attiyat-Allah got in

I hope Hakimi doesn't feel too bad about that missed pen', every giant missed a penalty in his career, he should not think about it too much and I'm sure it's something that will make him stronger

Next AFCON is in a year and a half, at home

We're with the team through thick and thin, they're our boys and we'll root for them 'til the end, we are coming back for revenge in 2025 and will get that fucking trophy at home !

Dima Maghreb xheart
 

Looren

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The quarter finals :

Nigeria was extremly solid against Angola, the Angolese had some chances but Nigeria were clinical, huge kudos to Angola for their tournament !

D.R. Congo destroyed Guinea, they faced the pressure and made it while Guinea totally crumbled

Talking about crumbling under pressure let's talk about Mali, choking again, 11 vs 10 and leading 1/0 then ending up losing, huge congrats for Ivory Coast, what a team ! Warriors !

Is it impossible to score against that Williams dude ? I swear Cape Verde has had so many chances but that dude is ridiculous, Vozinha also had a great performance, the goalies were astonishing, congrats South Africa !
 

Looren

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I forgot to post about the semis :

Nigeria/South Africa : THE DRAMA MAN THE DRAMAAAAAAA ! Went from 2/0 Nigeria to cancelled goal because there was a foul in Nigeria's box and awarded pen' to South Africa, who then scored to equalise and had a lot of chances to win it, what a game ! And congrats to Nigeria, almost all the penalty shooters had crazy composure, also huge congrats Sudaf for stunning run !

Ivory Coast/D.R.C : Ivory Coast making it to the final after losing 4/0 against Equatorial Guinea in group stage, this is what makes football beautiful, and Sebastian Haller out of everyone to score the goal that sends them there, after everything he went through with his cancer, beautiful ! Congrats to D.R.C for their stunning run too !
 

Looren

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What a final to end this AFCON, congrats to Ivory Coast for an absolutely legendary run and what a performance they gave us yesterday ! Astonishing stuff, huge congrats to their coach who took that team in crisis right after they lost 4/0 to Equatorial Guinea and had to play Senegal like 4 days after, he did a stunning job

This AFCON was a huge success, level of play, stadium, underdogs, refering (which is rare for us) were all excellent ! Thanks Ivory Coast for giving us such a delightful tournament to follow and congrats xheart

Kudos to Nigeria too for reaching the final, didn't expect to see them there but they had a very solid run !
 
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