Apologies if there's already a thread for this - feel free to merge in if so!

We're in the middle of the Round of 16 for the Africa Cup of Nations - most of the small teams are out now (although Benin must have scared Egypt earlier today!) Nigeria vs Mozambique on at the moment with Nigeria already leading by two goals.

I love the AFCON and I've only missed a handful of games so far.

Nigeria and Cameroon are the teams that are coming out of the tournament with the biggest boosts in public opinion so far.

It's making me even more disappointed that Nigeria won't be at the World Cup. With everyone fit, I think they have the best squad in Africa and it looks like they're finally finding form just in time to sit on the sofa and watch the tournament from home. I hope we don't get deprived from seeing Oshimen ever playing at a World Cup

Yeah it's really interesting to see how teams are doing in this tournament compared to how they did in the World Cup Qualifying - as you say, Nigeria and Cameroon into the Final 8 (same for Mali) whilst Tunisia and South Africa are out (and, of course, a couple of World Cup teams not even qualifying for this!) It felt like any number of teams could have made the World Cup during teh qualifying, but even more so looking at the results here.

I always forget this is one because although ch4 have the rights they stick the games on 4 Seven and the likes so I don’t realise the games are on. Will try and watch the knockouts from now!

I've only been able to watch a few games so far but really impressed with Nigeria's progress in this, we've got a good chance of winning but the opponents will step up a level from here on in. The African teams that have qualified for the World Cup have generally had a poor showing so far which doesn't bode well for next summer for those teams.

I don't know, the qualifying for this was a while ago now for Cape Verde and Ghana. They are different teams now and I think they'd be competitive had they made this tournament. Nigeria indeed has done well, as well as Cameroon. No shame in South Africa losing in one of the more competitive matchups in the Round of 16.

Egypt nearly fumbled that away there.

Edited Tuesday at 16:432 days by DJHazey

A goal in the 119th minute puts Algeria through ahead of DR Congo!

Hard lines to Congo!

this has got to be one of the most predictable afcon results in decades i think? previous editions we see some big upsets but i don't think we've got one so far 👀

We certainly seem to have eight of the 'big' teams in the final eight!

Burkina Faso losing 3-0 to the Ivory Coast - I was hoping they might have a decent chance as one of the better teams below those at the top level but not to be.

Definitely feels like an elite quarterfinals, with hopefully some great games. The 2023 quarterfinals had Angola, Guinea, Cape Verde, and Congo DR instead of Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, and Morocco. So that's quite the swap-in of traditional powerhouses.

Burkina Faso have been decent in the last decade+, with a 2nd place finish in the 2013 edition, 3rd in the 2017 edition, and 4th in 2021 tournament. They just can't seem to translate that into World Cup qualifying. They've been at the same level as like Gabon and Cape Verde for a bit now, with those two showing up bigger for the 2026 WC qualifying campaign.

Edited Wednesday at 20:261 day by DJHazey