The 29th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations had more surprises than a surprise party itself. The tournament hosted in Ivory Coast made a complete turnaround from being what could’ve been yet another underwhelming tournament into being the most entertaining and unpredictable tournament in a long while.

After much criticism from the international footballing space for the lack of patriotism and showmanship from some of Africa’s biggest stars, the tournament lived up to expectations with some exciting matches, beautiful goals, more than a handful of shock defeats and some above average officiating.

Gary Neville had this to say about AFCON’S officiating, “The standards of officiating set by this year’s AFCON are honestly staggering. It’s like they invented it. The premier league and all of Europe have a lot of learning to do.”

Lower-ranked teams slay the big dawgs

Anyhow, back to the topic of shock defeats, South African coach Hugo Broos masterminded the downfall of Africa’s top-ranked team Morocco, with a morale-raising 2-0 win over the Atlas Lions, meanwhile DRC downed Egypt in the penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Reigning champions Senegal went on to suffer the same fate as Egypt as Ivory Coast came back from the dead to haunt and solidify the curse put over AFCON defending champions with a 5-4 win on penalties (Since 2010, no defending champion has ever went past the Round of 16).

The Bafana win came as a shock and probably was the biggest upset of this year’s edition of the AFCON, because Morocco, whom finished 4th in the 2022 FIFA World Cup beating the likes of Spain, Portugal and Belgium, were tipped to go all the way and win their second ever AFCON since their first one in 1976.

The Bafana Bafana head coach had this to say about the round of 16 fixture, “In the first half, we tried to contain them and cut off their passing lines.”

“We knew that whoever scored first in the match would have a big advantage.”

“This (Morocco) is a very good team, with very good players. But we did the right analysis, and I think the way we played, our tactics were right.”

DSTV Premiership goalkeepers are not here to play

Now on to the Quarter finals, Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper and Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams made history as he became the first ever goalkeeper in a Fifa-recognised tournament to save four of the first five penalties of a penalty shootout.

After a nil-nil draw with Cape Verde, South Africa won an underwhelming penalty shootout 2-1 thanks to Williams’ heroics.

Nigeria on the other hand cruised to a 1-0 narrow victory over Angola. Lookman was on the scoresheet yet again, but the man who impressed the most was South African based Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. The Chippa united goalkeeper commanded Nigeria to 5 cleansheets during this year’s AFCON campaign.

Ivorian Juju reigns supreme

Côte d’Ivoire’s run in the AFCON was nothing short of a spectacle as the Elephants made one of the craziest turnarounds known to men by almost going out in the group stages only to qualify with their dramatic 3rd place qualification to the Knockout stage, the footballing federation went on and sacked their then-coach, only for Ivory Coast to end up being African champions against Nigeria with a 2-1 comeback win.

A fitting end to the most dramatic spectacle over the last month. African football wins.

My AFCON Team Of The Tournament:

GK: Ronwen Williams

LB: Arthur Masuaku

CB: William Troost-Ekong

CB: Mothobi Mvala

RB: Khuliso Mudau

CM: Franck Kessie

CM: Teboho Mokoena

AM: Simon Adingra

RW: Gelson Dala

LW: Ademola Lookman

ST: Emiliano Ensue