Namibia played out a goalless stalemate against Mali to seal a historic qualification into the knockout stages of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Colin Benjamin’s side earned a historic maiden win at the competition against Tunisia just over a week ago to put themselves on the brink of qualification before the stalemate against Mali confirmed it. Namibia’s four points from three games were enough to get them a berth in the round of 16 as one of the third-best-placed teams. The Brave Warriors will battle the Black Sable Antelopes of Angola in a Southern African derby for a place in the quarterfinals of the competition.
Meanwhile, Mali progressed as group winners for a third successive AFCON edition following the stalemate with Namibia. The West African nation is unbeaten in 11 matches and chasing a first Africa Cup of Nations title. They have not progressed into the quarterfinals since the 2013 edition of the tournament and will slug it out with Burkina Faso for a last-eight slot. South Africa also sealed a last-16 spot with a goalless stalemate against Tunisia to finish as runners-up in Group E. Tunisia followed fellow North African giant, Algeria in an early exit with an awful and inexplicably passive performance in the must-win tie. It is the first time since 2013 that the North African side has failed to move past the group stages. South Africa’s Bafana Bafana will take on title favourites, Morocco for a quarterfinal slot.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco rounded up their group outing with a narrow win over Zambia as Hakim Ziyech scored the game’s only goal. The pre-tournament favorites finished with seven points from three games to top the group. Like Egypt like D.R Congo, the 1974 African champions finished second in Group F with a record of three draws from as many matches and will take on seven-time champions, Egypt in the second round of the tourney. While the North African giants scored six and conceded six, the Central African nation scored two goals and conceded two goals.
Following twelve days of intense action, the group stages of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations witnessed a record 89 goals in 36 games with an average of 2.47 goals per game. This year’s Africa Cup of Nations is on course to break the goal record of the tournament considering a total of 100 and 102 goals were scored in the entire 2021 and 2019 editions respectively. As anticipation grows over the knockout stages and the potential mind-blowing performances of various teams, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations may well be the best-ever edition of the tournament.
