Africa Football Discussion || Current Topic: AFCON 2025 Qualifiers - CAF.

[Die_empty]

Samuel Eto expressed how disappointed he was with his team and players because they didn't take the competition very serious as they should've done in the first place.

After Eto's open disappointment with the team, they sat up and made qualifications. Maybe Ghana would have still remained in the AFCON if any of the legends from the National side openly expressed their disappointments early enough, and Ivory Coast will not be on the edge depending on the outcome from the other games. Ivory Coast are looking lucky and will qualify if Morocco are able to make sure to win Zambia and they are winning now. Zambia do not play well against North African countries, this game will not be easy for them to win.

Cameroon was just fortunate to qualify because they don't deserve to be in the second round based on their two first games. But they improved their performance in the last against Gambia and won the game. Many sports commentators are finding fault in the officiating that gave the Indomitable Loins the victory against Zambia. I don't think it was only Eto's open outburst about the team that made them improve the game but the players just decided to do their best. I know that Ghana and Ivory Coast also faced harsh attacks after losing some important points.

Morocco is leading Zambia by a single goal,  while Tanzania and DR Congo are still playing a goalless draw. If these matches end this way, Ivory Coast will have the chance of qualifying. If you observe the match between DR Congo and Tanzanian, Ivorian fans who were present in the stadium went into a wild celebration immediately after they got information that Morocco had scored. I want the host to qualify so that we can still enjoy this competition but Zambia cannot be underrated.

[QueenVera]

If it's already been confirmed that Cameroon is our next opponent then it will definitely be an interesting encounter between them, this year the Cameroonian national team have not been that good but the Nigerian team have not been spectacular either, the only difference among them which makes the Nigerian team better is their defense.

The Cameroonian team need to sort out their defense if they will have to go past the Nigerian team into the quarter finals of this year African cup of nations, while the major issue of the Nigerian team have been their attack, they are not banging in the goals, they need to be clinical in front of goal against this Cameroonian team if they must progress to the next round of the competition, but it's really a mouth watering clash no doubt.

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

 Yes, the midfield; who’ll be able to feed the strikers creatively and help the defenders wisely and then you take the glory. From this I’ll say Nigeria has better chances of going past this Cameroon side because I don’t see their midfield being strong to match Nigeria’s own, if Nigeria can use the quality players they've got in their squad properly, then there's no way Cameroon would get ahead of them.

[snipie]

Ivory coast were only unfortunate to be out of the Afcon but they didn't started poorly. They were the first in group A to lead by +3 point after winning the Guinea Bissau and then faced Nigeria in their second round and that match could have eneded as draw but their negligence made them to lose because the defender kick Nigeria striker Osimhen which led to penalty. If not for that, Nigeria won't have won that match. The Equatorial Guinea they were hoping to win dismantle and disfigured them with straight 4 goals, I think this match was what upset them and because been host, it's a dishonor to their country.

There are some arguments going on but I'm not sure about it that Ivory coast might still make it to the knockout since 4 teams will be selected from the teams from group stage and since Ivory coast has 3 points, they have might have the chance. So far, we have 2 teams with 3 points and another 2 teams with 4 points, this means that Ivory coast can still make it only if it's going it be 12 + 4 teams that will be going to the knockout stage.

Ivory Coast sacked their head coach before even confirming whether they would stay or be out of the competition, so even if they will qualify, they will play with a new coach!

There is information about the Tunisian and Algerian coaches resignation or they might be sacked after the poor performance of both nations. They used to play in advance stages. Ironically, Mauritania that used to be a very bad team, just got qualified

[EL MOHA]

Cameroon was just fortunate to qualify because they don't deserve to be in the second round based on their two first games. But they improved their performance in the last against Gambia and won the game. Many sports commentators are finding fault in the officiating that gave the Indomitable Loins the victory against Zambia. I don't think it was only Eto's open outburst about the team that made them improve the game but the players just decided to do their best. I know that Ghana and Ivory Coast also faced harsh attacks after losing some important points.

Morocco is leading Zambia by a single goal,  while Tanzania and DR Congo are still playing a goalless draw. If these matches end this way, Ivory Coast will have the chance of qualifying. If you observe the match between DR Congo and Tanzanian, Ivorian fans who were present in the stadium went into a wild celebration immediately after they got information that Morocco had scored. I want the host to qualify so that we can still enjoy this competition but Zambia cannot be underrated.

First of all just like any other country per Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Senegal, i would say no other country has played to their potent strengths and as such none deserves to be in the next round but faith happens and I tell you that they will definitely up their game because they are up against the African Giant and wouldn’t want to be beaten massively again. The Cameroon national team definitely has internal problem that even their legend Samuel ETO because he might be one of the problem too because he gets too involved into the team even those that are not supposed to be.

As for the officiating seriously I wouldn’t call out any bad officiating there, so far the AFCON on field officials have been great. for the first this tournament Is the one that doesn’t have VAR controversies and I will say those saying bad about it are either those on losing side or just want to throw shades

[Pokapoka124]

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

 

Cameroon vs Nigeria is a game of rivals and is going to be a very interesting match. Of course I will be rooting for my home team. I really hope they can get the win on Saturday. Judging by their previous performances in the AFCON, I don’t think Cameroon are going to be a threat to the Super Eagles.

As for the Mo Salah situation, I think Mo Salah is underrating his importance to his country.  And does not have passion for the AFCON. It’s true he cannot play football for the national team because of injury but his presence would be motivation for his teammates. He’s not an outspoken player like Christiano Ronaldo that can dish out instructions from the sidelines but his mere presence would be a psychological boost to the team.

[Mate2237]

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

 

Cameroon vs Nigeria is a game of rivals and is going to be a very interesting match. Of course I will be rooting for my home team. I really hope they can get the win on Saturday. Judging by their previous performances in the AFCON, I don’t think Cameroon are going to be a threat to the Super Eagles.

As for the Mo Salah situation, I think Mo Salah is underrating his importance to his country.  And does not have passion for the AFCON. It’s true he cannot play football for the national team because of injury but his presence would be motivation for his teammates. He’s not an outspoken player like Christiano Ronaldo that can dish out instructions from the sidelines but his mere presence would be a psychological boost to the team.

Cameron will end the career of Nigeria football in this AFCON tournament and tomorrow evening Nigerian players will come home. And all the games in the AFCON today were draw. Namibia drew with Mali 0-0. South Africa which I was thinking that would win their march drew with Tunisia. And Tunisia was very strong in the back days of 2005 which was the year they scored Nigeria. Tanzania also drew with Dr. Congo  then Zambia and Morocco was the game I had an interest to to watch today.

I am not in support of Nigeria team tomorrow because their games give high blood pressure. But let see how the outcome will be.

[iBaba]

It all depends on your definition luck. But if I may say, I will align with Pokapoka124 that Nigeria is among the luckiest if not the luckiest in this tournament. Nigeria came with some world class and quality players, there's no doubt about that. But the question is that, is the quality of the squad reflecting in their game play? The answer is pure No. You didn't mention all the big names, there's Simon Mosses, there's Lukeman and even the ones that didn't come to the tournament like Sadiq and Boniface. But the chemistry is not there among these top players. We should expect these guys should score alot of goals but rather they just managed to score only 1 goal of their own, the others goals were gotten indirectly.
 

That's true though because I'm simply disappointed by the game play of these top playing Premier League players and a mix of one of the best Serie A player, Victor Osimhen who also doubles as the African best player at the moment struggling to make a goal for the team is absolutely insulting to the full squad and the manager. At this point, I don't think that managers are the problems of Super Eagles but the in its entirety. Could it be something that has to do with their welfare that's not well taken care of or lack of trainings amongst each other.

I feel like if it was a welfare issue, they should have resolved that even before coming down home to play for the National team. I see other countries with few star players performing well in this tournament, including Senegal who have also been doing well as a team. Then what's wrong with the Super Eagle players?

Well you are not the only who is suprised, I mean it never would have occured to anyone that the host nation of the competition and also a power house in this competition would lose out to equatorial guinea by this huge goal of a margin. There is one thing I noticed about this time AFCON competition and that's the huge amount of goals that is being scored, it's almost as if am watching the champions league group stage matches filled with lots of goals .

Equatorial Guinea have made me proud this year of tournament with their very bold and daring games. They finally displaced the host country with a 4 whooping goals over the zero of the host country. Great performance. Many agents will be looking out for great performing players from this team right now.

[Pokapoka124]

Cameron will end the career of Nigeria football in this AFCON tournament and tomorrow evening Nigerian players will come home. And all the games in the AFCON today were draw. Namibia drew with Mali 0-0. South Africa which I was thinking that would win their march drew with Tunisia. And Tunisia was very strong in the back days of 2005 which was the year they scored Nigeria. Tanzania also drew with Dr. Congo  then Zambia and Morocco was the game I had an interest to to watch today.

I am not in support of Nigeria team tomorrow because their games give high blood pressure. But let see how the outcome will be.

That’s very sad to hear from a Nigerian. You should at least try having some faith in your team. Cameroon haven’t been impressive in the tournament so far, why would you write Nigeria off to a opponent that’s not even better than them? I can’t say I’m pleased with the style of football José Peseiro making our boys play. Nigerians are calm because he's getting the results miraculously. In the end what is important in football is the three points.

P.S. The game between Nigeria and Cameroon is on Saturday. You keep saying tomorrow. Are you even following the AFCON?
.

[Barikui1]

Cameron will end the career of Nigeria football in this AFCON tournament and tomorrow evening Nigerian players will come home. And all the games in the AFCON today were draw. Namibia drew with Mali 0-0. South Africa which I was thinking that would win their march drew with Tunisia. And Tunisia was very strong in the back days of 2005 which was the year they scored Nigeria. Tanzania also drew with Dr. Congo  then Zambia and Morocco was the game I had an interest to to watch today.

I am not in support of Nigeria team tomorrow because their games give high blood pressure. But let see how the outcome will be.

That’s very sad to hear from a Nigerian. You should at least try having some faith in your team. Cameroon haven’t been impressive in the tournament so far, why would you write Nigeria off to a opponent that’s not even better than them? I can’t say I’m pleased with the style of football José Peseiro making our boys play. Nigerians are calm because he's getting the results miraculously. In the end what is important in football is the three points.

P.S. The game between Nigeria and Cameroon is on Saturday. You keep saying tomorrow. Are you even following the AFCON?
.

It's very much understandable that most Nigerian have already ruled out their team already because even though they advance to the round of 16,  their performance in the past 3 game have been really poor, the world class players they have, have not reflect in their style of play, but the Cameroonian team have not been doing better either, they are even worse than the Nigerian team, but due to the sanity of the Nigerian defense, I think they will be the winner here because they usually conceive less goals than the Cameroonian team here.

[Docnaster]

Cameron will end the career of Nigeria football in this AFCON tournament and tomorrow evening Nigerian players will come home. And all the games in the AFCON today were draw. Namibia drew with Mali 0-0. South Africa which I was thinking that would win their march drew with Tunisia. And Tunisia was very strong in the back days of 2005 which was the year they scored Nigeria. Tanzania also drew with Dr. Congo  then Zambia and Morocco was the game I had an interest to to watch today.

I am not in support of Nigeria team tomorrow because their games give high blood pressure. But let see how the outcome will be.

That’s very sad to hear from a Nigerian. You should at least try having some faith in your team. Cameroon haven’t been impressive in the tournament so far, why would you write Nigeria off to a opponent that’s not even better than them? I can’t say I’m pleased with the style of football José Peseiro making our boys play. Nigerians are calm because he's getting the results miraculously. In the end what is important in football is the three points.

P.S. The game between Nigeria and Cameroon is on Saturday. You keep saying tomorrow. Are you even following the AFCON?
.

For someone to think that Nigeria will be defeated by Cameroon when they face each other on Saturday for their round of 16 game in the CAF African Cup Of Nations, it simply means the person have not been following the proceedings in the ongoing CAF African Cup Of Nations tournament. Nigeria is undoubtedly the strongest team in the tournament when it comes to talents and quality of players, Also, in the squad if the Super Eagles of Nigeria is where you find the current best footballer in the continent.

Nigeria's major problem in the ongoing tournament is the poor managerial abilities of the coach who in most times acts like someone who's got no clue of the best possible thing to do in other to get the best out of his players. Nigeria I think are gonna win that game against Cameroon and progress to the quarter finals

[Chilwell]

OFFICIAL! AFCON 2024 last 16 fixtures:

🇦🇴 Angola vs Namibia 🇳🇦
🇳🇬 Nigeria vs Cameroon  🇨🇲
🇬🇶 E. Guinea vs Guinea 🇬🇳
🇪🇬 Egypt vs DR Congo 🇨🇩
🇨🇻 Cape Verde vs Mauritania 🇲🇷
🇸🇳 Senegal vs Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮
🇲🇦 Morocco vs South Africa 🇿🇦
🇲🇱 Mali vs Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
Here is round 16 of the competition.

The group stage have ended yesterday and all teams now know where they belong to, Congratulations to Senegal for winning all their three matches to arrived at 9 points, as for me Senegal are the best team in the group stage, they really show that they are the champion and they are still strong to go for this year too. The unbeaten team right from the beginning are Senegal, E. Guinea, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Angola, Mali, Morocco, DR Congo and Egypt, but the worst teams are Gambia and Guinea-Bissau they never secure a single win or draw, they both have the same record in the table, like scored the same goals which is 2 goals and conceded 7 goals each.

Algeria have really suffering since being crowned AFCON champions in 2019, they are battling to survive in any competition but they key on failing, in 2021 they were eliminated from the AFCON group stage, in 2022 they were eliminated against Cameroon in the World Cup play-offs, and now in 2024 they are eliminated from the AFCON group stage, they really have to take measure to put an end to this poor performance.

[Zigabel]

It's very much understandable that most Nigerian have already ruled out their team already because even though they advance to the round of 16,  their performance in the past 3 game have been really poor, the world class players they have, have not reflect in their style of play, but the Cameroonian team have not been doing better either, they are even worse than the Nigerian team, but due to the sanity of the Nigerian defense, I think they will be the winner here because they usually conceive less goals than the Cameroonian team here.

Considering the performance of the super eagles so far in the AFCON it's not been impressive enough to having much confidence in the so I wouldn't be surprised seen must Nigerians rulling out their team for the fixture against Cameroon in the AFCON round of sixteen fixtures this year. All the victories the Eagles have secured in the AFCON this year has been with a narrow score line, first of was with a penalty and last was with an own goal by the hosting team so it's enough to still have some fears about the Eagles been able to fly above the Cameroonian team by the end of the game .

Seeing how well the defense line of the eagles performed against the host nation, I'm optimistic they will be able to defend the team against any possible threat that will be posed by the Cameroonian team because even the Cameroonians doesn't look any better than the Eagles.

[Cryptomultiplier]

OFFICIAL! AFCON 2024 last 16 fixtures:

🇦🇴 Angola vs Namibia 🇳🇦
🇳🇬 Nigeria vs Cameroon  🇨🇲
🇬🇶 E. Guinea vs Guinea 🇬🇳
🇪🇬 Egypt vs DR Congo 🇨🇩
🇨🇻 Cape Verde vs Mauritania 🇲🇷
🇸🇳 Senegal vs Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮
🇲🇦 Morocco vs South Africa 🇿🇦
🇲🇱 Mali vs Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
Here is round 16 of the competition.

The group stage have ended yesterday and all teams now know where they belong to, Congratulations to Senegal for winning all their three matches to arrived at 9 points, as for me Senegal are the best team in the group stage, they really show that they are the champion and they are still strong to go for this year too. The unbeaten team right from the beginning are Senegal, E. Guinea, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Angola, Mali, Morocco, DR Congo and Egypt, but the worst teams are Gambia and Guinea-Bissau they never secure a single win or draw, they both have the same record in the table, like scored the same goals which is 2 goals and conceded 7 goals each.

Algeria have really suffering since being crowned AFCON champions in 2019, they are battling to survive in any competition but they key on failing, in 2021 they were eliminated from the AFCON group stage, in 2022 they were eliminated against Cameroon in the World Cup play-offs, and now in 2024 they are eliminated from the AFCON group stage, they really have to take measure to put an end to this poor performance.

The measures that most of these countries like Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire  had taken to avoid a future occurrence of their poor performance in this year's Afcon is to simply fire the coach. Yes, they fired both of their coaches for the teams performance and am sure more countries who are in the RO16 would do same, if they don't get to qualify out in the finals.
I can see Nigeria playing against Cameroon and I know it is one tough fixture that would command alot of attention from observes world wide. Osimhen had been quoted to say he would score in the encounter, I wonder how, seeing he only has one goal to his name.

[Agbamoni]

If it's already been confirmed that Cameroon is our next opponent then it will definitely be an interesting encounter between them, this year the Cameroonian national team have not been that good but the Nigerian team have not been spectacular either, the only difference among them which makes the Nigerian team better is their defense.

The Cameroonian team need to sort out their defense if they will have to go past the Nigerian team into the quarter finals of this year African cup of nations, while the major issue of the Nigerian team have been their attack, they are not banging in the goals, they need to be clinical in front of goal against this Cameroonian team if they must progress to the next round of the competition, but it's really a mouth watering clash no doubt.

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

 Yes, the midfield; who’ll be able to feed the strikers creatively and help the defenders wisely and then you take the glory. From this I’ll say Nigeria has better chances of going past this Cameroon side because I don’t see their midfield being strong to match Nigeria’s own, if Nigeria can use the quality players they've got in their squad properly, then there's no way Cameroon would get ahead of them.

If you say the team with the best midfield will attain victory, then obviously Nigeria has a better midfield than Cameroon. Am not saying Nigeria has the best midfielders in the competition, i know they have poor midfielders especially the attacking midfielders, it is the defensive midfields that are performing better in all their matches i have watched. But compared to Cameroon, Nigerians can boast that they have a well performing midfielder. Moreover, we should not just conclude that any of the team the best midfielders will win, don't forget that Nigeria has been struggling to score goals in their last matches. While Cameroon makes use of their chances at the front to score goals. Which means Cameroon will win the game if they can persist to use their opportunities at the front to score goals.

To me, I'll say the game will be a game of luck and favor. Since the bother teams are not performing to their standard any of them might just get luck and win the match. However, I don't see them scoring a total of 3 goals and above. So, if am to place a bet ill just bet with 0ver 1.5 which means above 2 goals.

[Zanab247]

OFFICIAL! AFCON 2024 last 16 fixtures:

🇦🇴 Angola vs Namibia 🇳🇦
🇳🇬 Nigeria vs Cameroon  🇨🇲
🇬🇶 E. Guinea vs Guinea 🇬🇳
🇪🇬 Egypt vs DR Congo 🇨🇩
🇨🇻 Cape Verde vs Mauritania 🇲🇷
🇸🇳 Senegal vs Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮
🇲🇦 Morocco vs South Africa 🇿🇦
🇲🇱 Mali vs Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
Here is round 16 of the competition.

The group stage have ended yesterday and all teams now know where they belong to, Congratulations to Senegal for winning all their three matches to arrived at 9 points, as for me Senegal are the best team in the group stage, they really show that they are the champion and they are still strong to go for this year too. The unbeaten team right from the beginning are Senegal, E. Guinea, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Angola, Mali, Morocco, DR Congo and Egypt, but the worst teams are Gambia and Guinea-Bissau they never secure a single win or draw, they both have the same record in the table, like scored the same goals which is 2 goals and conceded 7 goals each.

Algeria have really suffering since being crowned AFCON champions in 2019, they are battling to survive in any competition but they key on failing, in 2021 they were eliminated from the AFCON group stage, in 2022 they were eliminated against Cameroon in the World Cup play-offs, and now in 2024 they are eliminated from the AFCON group stage, they really have to take measure to put an end to this poor performance.

This round 16 in the AFCON cup competition, it will going to be tough game for those teams that qualified for the round 16 and, many teams will not escape this stage because all the teams am seeing here show that some teams will lose while some will win to continue their next stage of the competition.

Nigeria vs Cameroon will be the game i will like to watch to see all those their players forming professional in some past game but based on what the two teams has performed so far show that Nigeria will be the favourable team in their next game.

[ajanwalker]

There were no goals in the matches played in Group E yesterday. I had the chance to watch the matches from time to time, but I couldn't bear to watch them until the end because they were so unpleasant. There wasn't even a proper position.
The same situation happened in Group F matches. In the Zambia - Morocco match, Ziyech scored a goal in the 37th minute and Morocco won the match with a score of 0-1.
Tanzania-Democratic Congo match also ended 0-0. The second matches in the groups were high-scoring, but the next round matches look like they will be unpleasant.

[emrecemsan]

Salah was able to play in only one of the group matches but Egypt still made it to last 16 phase. Doing this by getting 3 draws was really interesting though. 

Egypt have a lucky draw ahead. I don't think D.R. Congo will be able to eliminate them. Even without Salah I mean. In the quarter finals they would probably face Equatorial Guinea and I think Egypt would get past them as well. But in case of facing Senegal in the semi finals it would be really challenging. If Salah isn't still recovered by then Egypt can say goodbye to AFCON earlier.

This would make Klopp quite happy I guess as Salah would also return earlier. 

[Justbillywitt]

If it's already been confirmed that Cameroon is our next opponent then it will definitely be an interesting encounter between them, this year the Cameroonian national team have not been that good but the Nigerian team have not been spectacular either, the only difference among them which makes the Nigerian team better is their defense.

The Cameroonian team need to sort out their defense if they will have to go past the Nigerian team into the quarter finals of this year African cup of nations, while the major issue of the Nigerian team have been their attack, they are not banging in the goals, they need to be clinical in front of goal against this Cameroonian team if they must progress to the next round of the competition, but it's really a mouth watering clash no doubt.

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

 Yes, the midfield; who’ll be able to feed the strikers creatively and help the defenders wisely and then you take the glory. From this I’ll say Nigeria has better chances of going past this Cameroon side because I don’t see their midfield being strong to match Nigeria’s own, if Nigeria can use the quality players they've got in their squad properly, then there's no way Cameroon would get ahead of them.

For the first time in this tournament I'm feeling confident that the Nigerian team is going to progress past the Cameron. The Nigerian are playing a very compact games and they are not allowing many goals into their own net. I can't really say this about their opponent. Osimhen has to start scoring goals, he is a big name and much is expected from him. He has to find his goal scoring shots and do what a stricker of his caliber is supposed to do.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Salah was able to play in only one of the group matches but Egypt still made it to last 16 phase. Doing this by getting 3 draws was really interesting though. 

Egypt have a lucky draw ahead. I don't think D.R. Congo will be able to eliminate them. Even without Salah I mean. In the quarter finals they would probably face Equatorial Guinea and I think Egypt would get past them as well. But in case of facing Senegal in the semi finals it would be really challenging. If Salah isn't still recovered by then Egypt can say goodbye to AFCON earlier.

This would make Klopp quite happy I guess as Salah would also return earlier. 

Egypt were far from impressive in the group stage but I guess all that matters is you get through to the last 16. Many teams have been unimpressive in the group stage of major tournaments but gone on to win them. It’s about peaking at the right time.

Salah will do everything he can to return in time to help Egypt. I think Klopp said, at best, Salah could be fit for the semi final so they are going to have to do a lot without him. I am unsure if they can go that far but like you said, they have a favourable route to a potential semi. Imagine Salah vs Mane again in the semi final (Egypt vs Senegal).

[Alpha Marine]

Cameroon vs Nigeria will be one very fun match to watch as these are two top African teams. What’s similar between them is that, they haven’t been able to attain their full potentials as Giants of Football in Africa. While Nigeria is lacking the shooting strength upfront, Cameroon aren’t looking composed at the defense. So I think this match will be worn by the midfield. The team with the best midfield perfomance might claim the victory.

I agree that both teams have not impressed so far. Only Cameroon was able to impress in their last game. The game is going to be tough because these two countries are like rivals. They love to challenge each other.

Nigerian's problem is their all-round gameplay. They don't press enough, they don't run, they don't attack, they don't utilize their chances. The defense is the only department doing their job well. Nigeria cat comfortably string 5 forward passes together without losing the ball. You can win this tournament playing like that. Their passes are not even precise.

Cameroon has similar problems but a little better than Nigeria. The difference is Cameroon is actually showing spirit. They feel motivated to win so they attack very well. Now I'm seeing reports that Abubakar would be available for Cameroon against Nigeria. If that's true, that would be a very big advantage to Cameroon.

Looking at things this way, Cameroon will be the winner of this fixture, but then again, the Nigerian squad has more experience than Cameroon so it's going to be very difficult to predict. I think it's a 50/50 challenge.