Science – Rabat
The round of 16 competitions for the 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations, hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, will continue until next February 11, with two strong confrontations taking place today, Sunday, the first bringing together Equatorial Guinea and Guinea, in order to confirm the ambition of going far in the competition, and the second will bring together the teams of Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, With a symbolic weight of 9 African Cups on the field, 7 of which are for the “Pharaohs” team.
Between a first match dominated by a common ambition to enter the club of continental title winners, or at least to find a place in the senior bracket, under the slogan “There are no longer small and big teams in Africa,” the second match appears very promising, with an Egyptian team full of titles that struggled a lot to obtain a ticket. Passing to the round of 16 during this edition, and a strong Congolese team imposed a draw on the Moroccan team in the group stage.
At the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, the referee of the match between Equatorial Guinea and Guinea, starting at six in the evening today, Sunday, will blow the whistle for a confrontation that seems difficult to predict, and its full secrets will not be revealed until the final whistle.
The Equatorial Guinea national team gained a respectable reputation during the 34th edition, by embarrassing the continent’s top “tournament witches”. The “National Thunder” team began its matches in the tournament with a draw with Nigeria (1-1), and in the second match it won (4-2) over Guinea Bissau, and in the third match, the Côte d’Ivoire team defeated the host country’s team, 4-0, to qualify as first in the group.
Equatorial Guinea, ranked 88th in the world according to the FIFA rankings last November, is setting its sights on going far in the competition, or at least repeating the same achievement it achieved in the 2015 edition, when it qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament it hosted on its soil.
While the National Elephants team achieved good results in the tournament, as it tied with the Cameroonian team (1-1) in its first match, then beat Gambia (1-0), before narrowly losing to the Senegalese team (0-2).
The winner of this confrontation will face the victor of the second quarter-final match, which will bring together Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also today, on the floor of the Laurent Bouco Stadium in San Pedro (9 p.m.).
The Egyptian team qualified for the round of 16 after finishing runner-up in Group Two, after 3 draws against Mozambique, Ghana and Cape Verde with the same score (2-2).
The Pharaohs team, which holds the record for winning the title 7 times, will be required to present better performances than it did during the group stage.
Regarding this anticipated confrontation, the Egyptian national team coach, the Portuguese Rui Vitoria, said during a press conference held on the eve of the match: “There is no doubt that we will play against a strong competitor (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and I said from the first day here that we will play every match as if it were the final of the tournament.”
He added, “The standards are different from the group stage, and we do not think about the competitor’s performance in that stage, as there are teams that have proven to be stronger than some people imagined.”
In recent years, the balance of direct confrontations during the finals has tilted in favor of the Egyptian team over its Congolese counterpart, as it defeated it with a score of (2-0) in the first round of the 2019 edition in Egypt and eliminated it from the round of 16 in the 2006 edition, which was also held in Egypt, by defeating it with a score. (4-1).
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which had previously won the title on two occasions (1968 and 1974), qualified for the round of 16 after occupying second place in Group Six with 3 points, behind the leading Moroccan team with 7 points.
The Panthers team achieved a draw in all of its matches in the group stage, against Zambia (1-1), against Morocco (1-1), and against Tanzania (0-0).
The coach of the Democratic Republic of the Congo national team, Sebastien Desabre, admitted that his team’s task was “difficult” against the “Pharaohs” national team.
Desabre said in a press conference before the match, “The Egyptian national team is undoubtedly the favorite to win the match, because there are differences on the individual and collective levels in favor of the opponent, but we also have our chances of qualifying.”
The round of 16 competitions of the African Cup of Nations (Côte d’Ivoire 2023) will continue until January 30.