African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2025/2026

[Joca97]

Morocco will follow Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria. Morocco had no trouble securing their place in the next round, as they scored two goals in the first half. The first goal came in the 9th minute and the second in the 27th minute.
If Zambia fails to reduce the score in the second half, I am concerned that they may play aggressively, which could result in injuries to Moroccan players, despite the presence of a referee to ensure the match is conducted fairly.
Mali only needs a draw to qualify if Morocco wins in the third group match.

So far almost all big teams in this tournament i mean big names secured the next phase or are in a really good position and should make it. Really currently no surprises so far with the teams who should pass the group. Morocco currently looking really good and with the best form so far probobly because they are playing all their matches at home.

[Justbillywitt]

Congratulations to Egypt and south Africa they have have qualified from the group as first and second respectively. Egypt had already qualified before today's match because they won their first two matches.
It was not an easy game from South Africa as Zimbabwe with their tricks made life very difficult was the Bafana Bafana team, although they managed to win I strongly believe they have so much to do in ensuring they will move further than the next stage.

It will depend on the team they will meet in the knockout phase that will determine if they will progress further. South Africa are not very convincing so far, they are struggling to win matches that they should win easily. Imagine if they meet a more determined teams like Algeria or Morocco they will exit the the tournament, unless they will up their games in the next round. But now that they have finished second in the league they are going to meet a team that finished first in the group. South Africa is one team that held in high esteem before this tournament started but so far they are disappointing me.

[Smartvirus]

So far almost all big teams in this tournament i mean big names secured the next phase or are in a really good position and should make it. Really currently no surprises so far with the teams who should pass the group. Morocco currently looking really good and with the best form so far probobly because they are playing all their matches at home.

With the World Cup qualifiers behind us, the next big stage to make your mark is in the AFCON and no team wants to leave it to chances, every team that has got some good FIFA ratings wants to make good that rating in this tournament.

I’m a lot more confident in Nigeria now than I’ve been in a couple of years, the super eagles are finding their play and would definitely make it to the finals of this tournament. Lookman and VO9 would make it happen this time.

[Asiska02]

With the World Cup qualifiers behind us, the next big stage to make your mark is in the AFCON and no team wants to leave it to chances, every team that has got some good FIFA ratings wants to make good that rating in this tournament.

I’m a lot more confident in Nigeria now than I’ve been in a couple of years, the super eagles are finding their play and would definitely make it to the finals of this tournament. Lookman and VO9 would make it happen this time.

These two players have been one of our biggest players that we can actually look up to and call ‘game changers’ of the game whenever Nigeria plays. They’ve been in the national team for quite some time now and their contribution to the team cannot be overemphasized. They are both big players in Africa as far as top players in Africa are being mentioned, their playing styles are unique and productive to the national team. Nigeria have started well in this journey and if they keep up with this good performance, the AFCON triumph will be theirs and will bring the trophy home this time around. Their performance is not poor so far, so they’re one of the best teams in the competition to win the trophy.

[Donneski]

Morocco will follow Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria. Morocco had no trouble securing their place in the next round, as they scored two goals in the first half. The first goal came in the 9th minute and the second in the 27th minute.
If Zambia fails to reduce the score in the second half, I am concerned that they may play aggressively, which could result in injuries to Moroccan players, despite the presence of a referee to ensure the match is conducted fairly.
Mali only needs a draw to qualify if Morocco wins in the third group match.

So far almost all big teams in this tournament i mean big names secured the next phase or are in a really good position and should make it. Really currently no surprises so far with the teams who should pass the group. Morocco currently looking really good and with the best form so far probobly because they are playing all their matches at home.

Almost all the big teams that I predicted will advance to the round of 16 were all able to scale through so it's safe to say that the competition have given us results that many of us had earlier expected. The team that's fallen short of expectations if you ask me is Senegal who are in the group D. I was expecting that they'll be one of the teams that'll easily progress from their group but so far, they'll have to get a win on match day 3 to be sure of a place in the next round

[Sexylizzy2813]

South Africa are feeling the heat, to be honest I don't think I would see SA struggling in this AFCON with how serious they were in the world cup qualifiers or are they just showing off their strength because they have Nigeria in the same group as them and with the bragging right each time both countries clash, is it the reason? Well, it doesn't matter because as it stands the second half is about to begin and I hope to see them bounce back and stop looking down on smaller sides, it will affect them badly, for me I want them to go far because of their goalkeeper, he has done so much to see them go this far and it will be bad if they lose this game to Zimbabwe.

Rivalry hit different. Ever wonder why Liverpool find it even more difficult sometimes defeating Everton who are currently mid or below it?
To be honest,I don't want South Africa to do well, while they might be finding things difficult now, it doesn't disrupt the fact that they are still dangerous and if they make it pass the group stage they can still defeat the best team in the group stage, that's how dangerous they can be.

Same as the case of Man UTD and Man City which has been going on like they are dragging something precious. If SA are as good as you said I'd love to see them try their best to get past the next phase of the competition because from what I saw and how they played today, it doesn't tell if they can survive the next round but that doesn't mean we should push them aside, well this is just a one game trial and if they fail, that's the end of their stay in morocco.

[Adbitco]

Funny enough Mali made it in Group and qualified for the Round of 16 of the ongoing tournament without a single win and funny enough as well, they still didn't lose a single game too. 3 draws were enough for them to secure a second place finish from the ground all thanks to Zambia and Comoros for not winning a single game either but lost 1 respectively. For now they are safe but they need to step up their game in this new phase of the tournament because it has now passed the stage where draws will no longer mean you earn any point but will keep on playing till after 120 minutes and if no winner, then the decider which is penalties. They cannot continue to rely on draws but wins if they are to go beyond the Round of 16.

[Harkorede]

I’m a lot more confident in Nigeria now than I’ve been in a couple of years, the super eagles are finding their play and would definitely make it to the finals of this tournament. Lookman and VO9 would make it happen this time.

I think the attack looks rather great, especially whenever Victor Osimhen is on the pitch, however I'm still very skeptical about the defense, I'm not sure how sustainable the defense is, because when we head into the knockout stages, the defense is going to be the biggest factor that'd determine how far the team can go, and Nwabali is very shaky in goal, and there is seem to be some discord between him and the backline.

[Stepstowealth]

I’m a lot more confident in Nigeria now than I’ve been in a couple of years, the super eagles are finding their play and would definitely make it to the finals of this tournament. Lookman and VO9 would make it happen this time.

It takes a lot to say you are very confident in Nigeria to win the AFCON after seeing the other teams in the tournament and how well they have played. Nigeria have some real competition, teams like Ivory Coast, Egypt, Senegal look strong as well. I want to see how the Super Eagles will do in their upcoming games starting from tomorrow against Uganda where I expect the coach not to use important players so they can rest, but at the same time I expect that the second team that will be used will not loose the game. It should be a game for them to prove themselves too.

[rdbase]

Morocco will follow Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria. Morocco had no trouble securing their place in the next round, as they scored two goals in the first half. The first goal came in the 9th minute and the second in the 27th minute.
If Zambia fails to reduce the score in the second half, I am concerned that they may play aggressively, which could result in injuries to Moroccan players, despite the presence of a referee to ensure the match is conducted fairly.
Mali only needs a draw to qualify if Morocco wins in the third group match.

So far almost all big teams in this tournament i mean big names secured the next phase or are in a really good position and should make it. Really currently no surprises so far with the teams who should pass the group. Morocco currently looking really good and with the best form so far probobly because they are playing all their matches at home.

Egypt not scoring in their match today ending in a 0-0 draw really got me thinking Morocco was going to do the exact same thing with their match later on today.
But they improved from their last game and managed to score 3 goals, so it kept all the bettors who had them to win today happy including myself with my over 2.5 goals bets.
Having their fans there did help in coaxing them on to score more goals in this match.
So the home field advantage does seem to help these teams in AFCON matches afterall.

[Joca97]

Morocco will follow Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria. Morocco had no trouble securing their place in the next round, as they scored two goals in the first half. The first goal came in the 9th minute and the second in the 27th minute.
If Zambia fails to reduce the score in the second half, I am concerned that they may play aggressively, which could result in injuries to Moroccan players, despite the presence of a referee to ensure the match is conducted fairly.
Mali only needs a draw to qualify if Morocco wins in the third group match.

So far almost all big teams in this tournament i mean big names secured the next phase or are in a really good position and should make it. Really currently no surprises so far with the teams who should pass the group. Morocco currently looking really good and with the best form so far probobly because they are playing all their matches at home.

Egypt not scoring in their match today ending in a 0-0 draw really got me thinking Morocco was going to do the exact same thing with their match later on today.
But they improved from their last game and managed to score 3 goals, so it kept all the bettors who had them to win today happy including myself with my over 2.5 goals bets.
Having their fans there did help in coaxing them on to score more goals in this match.
So the home field advantage does seem to help these teams in AFCON matches afterall.

I dont like how Egypt is playing overall. They won one game barely in additional time then now drawing the match this dosent show any confidence but still in the end they had 7 points in their group. I think they need to pick up the tempo and play much better if they want to win the whole thing,but i honestly have doubts in them winning afcon.

Morocco on the other hand has a big advantage with his fans and is currently playing really good and i think they might win the whole thing due to them playing at home.

[Ale88]

If I am rating teams in this AFCON, we should be calling Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, and Cameroon. I dont rate South Africa much in this competition. 2:2 now for Zimbabwe and RSA.

I am very curious to see if Morocco will win the competition. Based on the last performances and on paper too they are the best team so they should be able to bring the trophy home. Of course it's football, so everything can happen, including Nigeria winning despite their very fluctuating results over the last years.

[Iroh]

The super eagles performance wasn’t so bad in the match, they were able to get a win in their match against Tunisia, but am not just certified with the way super eagles played in the second half of the match. I don’t really know why they allowed Tunisia score two goals in the second half of the match, a match which they have been winning comfortably, they ended up getting relaxed towards the ending of the match.

Everyone one have been complaining about how arrogant super eagle goalkeeper is. We all know he is a good goalkeeper, but if he keeps on making unnecessarily mistakes in matches, then they should look for replacement for him.

I'm just glad Nigeria managed to hold on and win the game in the end. For a moment there, I got a bit scared that Tunisia could go on to score if there were more time.Tunisia became motivated in the second half of the game, scoring 2 goals. Nigeria, having scored 3 goals and in the lead perhaps, became too relaxed and fumbled in their defense. They really ought to have defended harder. I'm just glad they managed to hold onto the win till the end.
Nwabali needs to put his emotions in check and not allow it to cloud his reasoning so he doesn't make a bad mistake that could have an effect on his career.
Nigeria faces Uganda soon. Fingers crossed for a good game and ultimately a win for Nigeia.

[9ja Amaka]

I'm just glad Nigeria managed to hold on and win the game in the end. For a moment there, I got a bit scared that Tunisia could go on to score if there were more time. Tunisia became motivated in the second half of the game, scoring 2 goals. Nigeria, having scored 3 goals and in the lead perhaps, became too relaxed and fumbled in their defense. They really ought to have defended harder. I'm just glad they managed to hold onto the win till the end.
Nwabali needs to put his emotions in check and not allow it to cloud his reasoning so he doesn't make a bad mistake that could have an effect on his career.
Nigeria faces Uganda soon. Fingers crossed for a good game and ultimately a win for Nigeia.

The main reason I'm happy Nigeria won their last game is that in the round of 16, they wont get to face teams that came out first in the group stage. They face the teams below them. I am sure they will be happy to earn points from those under teams to secure a spot in the next phase of the competition.

There was an attack that took place, and the way Nwabali handled it, by swiping the foot of the Tunisian player, was wrong. If the ball was still on, that would have been a red card offside. He needs to do better.

[Barikui1]

I am very curious to see if Morocco will win the competition. Based on the last performances and on paper too they are the best team so they should be able to bring the trophy home. Of course it's football, so everything can happen, including Nigeria winning despite their very fluctuating results over the last years.

So far I haven't seen any special team among the top African countries that are the favourite to win this competition this year, because Morocco that are the host are not doing exceptionally well as expected on paper or in the media, they have performed pretty fine like Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and ivory coast, but I believe that as the tournament goes by, most top teams will continue to improve and play better than they are doing now, but regardless of that, if the Morocco team fails to win this year afcon, then it would be a great disappointment to their nation because they seems like the highest ranking African team presently, and with the fact that they came out fourth in the immediate past world cup, so they also need to exactly that dominance in African football if they are truly good as they think, that's why people will really be disappointed in them if they fails to win it this year.

[Zanab247]

If I am rating teams in this AFCON, we should be calling Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, and Cameroon. I dont rate South Africa much in this competition. 2:2 now for Zimbabwe and RSA.

I am very curious to see if Morocco will win the competition. Based on the last performances and on paper too they are the best team so they should be able to bring the trophy home. Of course it's football, so everything can happen, including Nigeria winning despite their very fluctuating results over the last years.

Best club in their group A right? I agree with you that Morocco is the best club in that group, because they have not lost any single game yet. What they did yesterday show that they will come out victoriously in that group A, because they have good strikers that is helping the club to deliver goals to make the club leading in the area of points and goals in the group A. Super Eagle of Nigerian in group C is doing wonders in that group, because they have not lost any game yet and they are well organized to face Uganda today.

If Care is not taking in this game, Uganda will not secure a single goal in this game, because super Eagle have beaten Tanzania and Tunisia that have secured point from Uganda, which is one of the advantage super Eagle will use to achieve victory from Uganda.

[Majestic-milf]

 Nigeria will play their last leg against Uganda today and the odds favor them with 2.25 and Uganda with odds of 3.70. normally, looking at the whole thing, one would want to put their money all on Nigeria but being that the Super Eagles have qualified for the next round, they may not be in a haste to search for goals or anything like the Ugandans who are desperate to get something because as it is, should they win over Nigeria and Tunisia losses to Tanzania, they can qualify that's why they would do all their possible best.
 Nigeria have been in good form but they have been conceding goals so I feel the best they can do is if they can't win the game, they'd make sure to draw it and with goals so maybe the scoreline would be a 1-1 draw. Like I said earlier, it's not like they(Nigeria) need the points or anything so they will still try to make it hell for Uganda.

[Abdulzuruku01]

Morocco got seven points and Mali got three points in ground A and they both made it to the round of 16. However Mali performance in the group stage wasn't impressive, they need to improve their game because the round of 16 will definitely be tougher than the group stage.

Egypt and South Africa made it to the round of 16 in Group B. They both deserved to qualify because they are the strongest teams in this group and always have good performances in the AFCON.

Congratulations to the Super Eagles! They've qualified for the round of 16 and they still have one match left with Uganda. I'm sure they're going to win it and top the group with 9 points. The Super Eagles performance is impressive but Eric Chelle needs to work on Stanley Nwabali's overconfidence and some other players with that kind of mentality.

[Hypnotizer]

Morocco got seven points and Mali got three points in ground A and they both made it to the round of 16. However Mali performance in the group stage wasn't impressive, they need to improve their game because the round of 16 will definitely be tougher than the group stage.

Egypt and South Africa made it to the round of 16 in Group B. They both deserved to qualify because they are the strongest teams in this group and always have good performances in the AFCON.

Congratulations to the Super Eagles! They've qualified for the round of 16 and they still have one match left with Uganda. I'm sure they're going to win it and top the group with 9 points. The Super Eagles performance is impressive but Eric Chelle needs to work on Stanley Nwabali's overconfidence and some other players with that kind of mentality.

Morocco’s performance was good but not impressive I mean, I thought they easily win all their games the fact that they are the best team in the competition but they draw against Mali, nevertheless they still performed well and they secured to move to the Round of 16. Mali only manage to draw all their three games and bag a spot in the Round of 16, if they didn’t improve they will be knocked out easily in the round of 16 imo.

I won’t say much about the Egypt and South Africa qualification because they all played well in the group stage but they both need to get ready for the round of 16 because it is going to be tough.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been in good performance in the group stage but I think they need to work very well with their defense and goalkeeper, so far that is the only reason why they concede in their group games. If the Super eagles win Uganda today, then Nigeria and Tunisia will both move to the Round of 16.

[Princess Leah]

Morocco got seven points and Mali got three points in ground A and they both made it to the round of 16. However Mali performance in the group stage wasn't impressive, they need to improve their game because the round of 16 will definitely be tougher than the group stage.

Egypt and South Africa made it to the round of 16 in Group B. They both deserved to qualify because they are the strongest teams in this group and always have good performances in the AFCON.

Congratulations to the Super Eagles! They've qualified for the round of 16 and they still have one match left with Uganda. I'm sure they're going to win it and top the group with 9 points. The Super Eagles performance is impressive but Eric Chelle needs to work on Stanley Nwabali's overconfidence and some other players with that kind of mentality.

Morocco’s performance was good but not impressive I mean, I thought they easily win all their games the fact that they are the best team in the competition but they draw against Mali, nevertheless they still performed well and they secured to move to the Round of 16. Mali only manage to draw all their three games and bag a spot in the Round of 16, if they didn’t improve they will be knocked out easily in the round of 16 imo.

I won’t say much about the Egypt and South Africa qualification because they all played well in the group stage but they both need to get ready for the round of 16 because it is going to be tough.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been in good performance in the group stage but I think they need to work very well with their defense and goalkeeper, so far that is the only reason why they concede in their group games. If the Super eagles win Uganda today, then Nigeria and Tunisia will both move to the Round of 16.

Both teams tried their best Morocco as the host of the tournament has been impressive despite drawing against Mali, the said team they drew against is a tough team to beat atleast they didn't lose to them so give them some accolades. As for Mali they've been lucky to draw their way into the round of 16, I support that they seriously need to improve else they might not go beyond the round of 16.

 Yeah, it was a wonderful performance for the Super Eagles especially against Tunisia and im pretty sure they'll go ahead to beat Uganda today even though they merited the round of 16, maintaining that winning mentality matters so they could reach the finals like the previous AFCON tournament. Egypt is one of the best team in the tournament and im expecting more from them in the round of 16.