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

[Hypnotizer]

I think the Cote d'Ivoire coach took the game for granted too much and made ten changes to the game, Gabon did not really play well and were just lucky to have had those two goals but the Cote d'Ivoire players did not give up at any point and ended the first half better.
I believe Cote d'Ivoire deserves to be top of the group because they gave us a very entertaining game today, Cameroon was good but I don't think that they will be good enough to come back from two goals.

I wasn’t able to watch the Ivory Coast vs Gabon game but when I saw live update of the match and saw Gabon leading with two goal before Halftime, I was very surprised but it was really cool they were able to pull a comeback and win with 3 goal.

Sudan lost to Burkina Faso with a score of 2-0, I was very surprised to see that, because I thought the Sudan team will not play that poor.. they even lost winning a penalty at the 24th minute, it really disappointing for the Sudan side. The both of them have qualify for the round of 16 together with their group leaders Algeria who beat Equatorial Guinea 3-1.

[Mayor of ogba]

Senegal and Congo are into the next phase of Afcon they have been very even the won their first match, drew the second match and that was when they faced each other and won their last match by the same score line.
If I were to be one of the favorites teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast and Nigeria I will be thinking about the chances of playing against either Senegal and Congo.

Don't be deceived by the performances of Senegal and Congo in the African Cup of Nations group stage matches and wish to play against them if you are favorite teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria because their performances can change in the knockout phase of the African Cup of Nations. I even see Senegal and Congo as one of the favorite teams to win the African Cup of Nations. With the experience Nigeria had against Congo in the World Cup qualifiers, I won't even wish Nigeria to play against Congo.

[Barikui1]

I wasn’t able to watch the Ivory Coast vs Gabon game but when I saw live update of the match and saw Gabon leading with two goal before Halftime, I was very surprised but it was really cool they were able to pull a comeback and win with 3 goal.

I was able to watch only the first half of the game that ended 2-1 in favor of gabon, and to honest the performance of ivory coast in that first half was very bad, it was a below standard performance from the ivory coast team, but it was a good thing that they responded like a defending champions in the second half and eventually won the game 2-3.
But for the sake of next time, they should try to start strong from now on because they will struggle to replicate such coming back success against a more formidable team.

Sudan lost to Burkina Faso with a score of 2-0, I was very surprised to see that, because I thought the Sudan team will not play that poor.. they even lost winning a penalty at the 24th minute, it really disappointing for the Sudan side. The both of them have qualify for the round of 16 together with their group leaders Algeria who beat Equatorial Guinea 3-1.

From my own end, I wasn't that surprised that Burkina faso beat the sudan team by two zero because they are not on the same level, and if you have been following up this Burkina faso team in the past few games, you wouldn't be taking them lightly because they are actually good, since they are quite intelligent and physical in the way they play.

[Hewlet]

If you are used to watching the super eagle's football, you will discover that the team is playing cohesively now more than before. At least they are able to score good number of goals and a good number of them have the enthusiasm to play, unlike before that it seems that they are being forced to play.
If they are so careful, they could win the AFCON.

As much as we want to applaud them for having an 💯 positive result throughout the few games they have played thus far, I know our national team so well that they are not too good when you start hyping them. The couldn't qualify for the world cup and this looks like the only opportunity they have to at least prove that they are a team that still has a lot to offer, that alone affected Thier mentality and that's part of the reason they are still doing real good till this point.

It's good that they have been scoring goals but going forward, I want to see serious improvement from our backline. We need not be conceeding goals as much as we're currently conceeding goals or else, when we get into the knockout stage of the tournament, we might suffer real bad from our defensive issues.

[Jostern]

Senegal and Congo are into the next phase of Afcon they have been very even the won their first match, drew the second match and that was when they faced each other and won their last match by the same score line.
If I were to be one of the favorites teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast and Nigeria I will be thinking about the chances of playing against either Senegal and Congo.

Don't be deceived by the performances of Senegal and Congo in the African Cup of Nations group stage matches and wish to play against them if you are favorite teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria because their performances can change in the knockout phase of the African Cup of Nations. I even see Senegal and Congo as one of the favorite teams to win the African Cup of Nations. With the experience Nigeria had against Congo in the World Cup qualifiers, I won't even wish Nigeria to play against Congo.

I still don’t Understand why people trust Super Eagles so much, because it’s weird to me that I don’t understand what the Super Eagles style of play is, Nigeria haven’t played any strong team in the AFCON, I can be convinced with the Super Eagles when they have played a very strong team like Senegal, DR Congo, Morocco, Ivory Coast, I don’t think there is a very clear favorite in this AFCON right now, because most of the teams right now seems unpredictable, we would have to see what happens in the knockout stages, that would definitely give us a glimpse of what is going to happen next with a team that would come out as favorites.

Nigeria have a chance of playing DR Congo again after what happened between them in the World Cup Qualifiers Series, they are placed on the same side of progression, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get to meet DR. Congo and can’t even beat them, because the Super Eagles are known for Disappointment.

Super Eagles are full of shit.

[ajanwalker]

 Gabon-Ivory Coast match was very exciting and competitive. Gabon went 2-0 up but ended up losing 2-3.
In Gabon's first goal, goalkeeper Lafont made a big mistake. He fumbled a shot that came directly at him, and Kanga scored to give Gabon a 1-0 lead.
Gabon finished the first half 2-1 ahead.

In the second half, with the score at 2-1, Gabon missed a chance that could have been a turning point in the match.
In the 84th minute, Ivory Coast equalized at 2-2. In the 90+1 minute, Ivory Coast took a 2-3 lead. In the last minute, Diomande scored a fourth goal into an empty net, but it was disallowed for offside. I don't understand how Diallo was called offside when he came out from behind the midfield line.

Sometimes I struggle to understand the decisions of African referees. This was one of them.

[Futurexxx]

I still don’t Understand why people trust Super Eagles so much, because it’s weird to me that I don’t understand what the Super Eagles style of play is, Nigeria haven’t played any strong team in the AFCON, I can be convinced with the Super Eagles when they have played a very strong team like Senegal, DR Congo, Morocco, Ivory Coast,

You are just talking out of sentiment here bro, the team you all made mentioned are top teams quite alright but I wishes to ask you, is Tunisia a small side?
Our super eagles are actually not in the best of form now, but that doesn't change the fact that they are not doing bad as they did in our world cup qualifying series, so if you are not being sentimental here, you will understand what am trying to say.

Nigeria have a chance of playing DR Congo again after what happened between them in the World Cup Qualifiers Series, they are placed on the same side of progression, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get to meet DR. Congo and can’t even beat them, because the Super Eagles are known for Disappointment.

Yes they have the chance, and if not for the penalty shootout loss, do you think dr congo can beat Nigeria? Am not denying that the dr congo team are strong, because even Senegal struggle to even see a draw from their encounter, but the game will be a lot competitive if they comes up against each other, that's what am certain of.

[SatoPrincess]

Yes I didn't watch the Match but I looked the Match from Niger Delta TV (NDTV).
A sport analyst said, If Uganda scored Nigeria, which they would have prevented to the end based on their domination of the game, when they meet the major teams they might lose out.

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

[knowngunman]

Don't be deceived by the performances of Senegal and Congo in the African Cup of Nations group stage matches and wish to play against them if you are favorite teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria because their performances can change in the knockout phase of the African Cup of Nations. I even see Senegal and Congo as one of the favorite teams to win the African Cup of Nations. With the experience Nigeria had against Congo in the World Cup qualifiers, I won't even wish Nigeria to play against Congo.

As far as this tournament is concerned, no country can be underrated. We saw what happened in last year AFCON, Nigeria herself was very unserious from the group stage but manage to qualified for the next round and then end up playing the final against Ivory Coast, a team that qualified to next round as a best loser team in the group stage. Ivory Coast won against Nigeria in the final despite being a worst team in the group stage. Perhaps, majority of these teams play just to qualify for the knockout stage before they unveiled their main strength. This is possible because the knockout stage is just a one chance game and losing it will lead to elimination unlike the group stage where they have chance to make amendments in their next fixtures.

[Majestic-milf]

The moment you underate a team, the more possibility that they even will shock you, Mozambique can still beat the super eagles if they take them for granted. No team we're meeting tournament should be taken for granted, if we actually want to lift the AFCON trophy this tournament.

See how Ivory Coast struggled to beat Gabon yesterday shows you how dangerous it is to underestimate small teams because I bet you, they never expected to be two goals behind in such an early time in the game so same thing goes for any big team playing against smaller ones and in this case, Nigeria against Mozambique. I'm not saying anything yet until the 90 minutes would be over in the game because I'm still not 100 percent confident of the Super Eagles form.

[IjawMan]

Yes I didn't watch the Match but I looked the Match from Niger Delta TV (NDTV).
A sport analyst said, If Uganda scored Nigeria, which they would have prevented to the end based on their domination of the game, when they meet the major teams they might lose out.

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

In the archives of strong football nations in Africa, Uganda is no where in the list, which makes Nigeria a no match for them in this AFCON tournament. It was so weak of them that Nigeria were playing like their continuity in the AFCON next round depends on that match. The substitute of three goalkeepers in that game was the first I have witnessed all my time watching football and not that the goalkeepers were injured but a strategy to reduce the goals from Nigeria.

[SatoPrincess]

Yes I didn't watch the Match but I looked the Match from Niger Delta TV (NDTV).
A sport analyst said, If Uganda scored Nigeria, which they would have prevented to the end based on their domination of the game, when they meet the major teams they might lose out.

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

The substitute of three goalkeepers in that game was the first I have witnessed all my time watching football and not that the goalkeepers were injured but a strategy to reduce the goals from Nigeria.

Lol that’s flattering but it’s not the case. It wasn’t strategy, Uganda didn’t plan to sub 3 goalkeepers in the match. The first goalkeeper was injured and had to be subbed. The second goalie was given a red card for using his hands to defend the ball outside the box. It will be one of the highlights of this year’s AFCON.

[8rch7]

NIGERIA and AFCON

I learned that the super Eagles of Nigeria are qualified from the group stage of the afcon with 100% point. This is an excellent news for Nigerians and the super Eagles and the also I think this is a good pointer that super eagles were supposed to be in the World Cup.

If you are used to watching the super eagle's football, you will discover that the team is playing cohesively now more than before. At least they are able to score good number of goals and a good number of them have the enthusiasm to play, unlike before that it seems that they are being forced to play.
If they are so careful, they could win the AFCON.

Actually Nigeria is not the only one national teams of AFCON participants winning all 3 group matches or getting 100% points but also has Algeria won 3 matches by scoring 7 goals and conceded 1 goal. Nigeria performed well during group phase matches scoring 8 goals but has conceded 4 goals and has weakness with defense position.

Success qualifying to 16 of round, Nigeria will face Mozambique as the 3rd standings team finish at Group F, seeing the performance of Nigeria opponent teams just winning 1 of 3 matches actually easy for qualifying to quarter final round and close to be the winner AFCON 2025. My prediction beside Nigeria I has favorite teams for winning AFCON is Morocco in the 16 of round against Tanzania.

[Princess Leah]

NIGERIA and AFCON

I learned that the super Eagles of Nigeria are qualified from the group stage of the afcon with 100% point. This is an excellent news for Nigerians and the super Eagles and the also I think this is a good pointer that super eagles were supposed to be in the World Cup.

If you are used to watching the super eagle's football, you will discover that the team is playing cohesively now more than before. At least they are able to score good number of goals and a good number of them have the enthusiasm to play, unlike before that it seems that they are being forced to play.
If they are so careful, they could win the AFCON.

Actually Nigeria is not the only one national teams of AFCON participants winning all 3 group matches or getting 100% points but also has Algeria won 3 matches by scoring 7 goals and conceded 1 goal. Nigeria performed well during group phase matches scoring 8 goals but has conceded 4 goals and has weakness with defense position.

Success qualifying to 16 of round, Nigeria will face Mozambique as the 3rd standings team finish at Group F, seeing the performance of Nigeria opponent teams just winning 1 of 3 matches actually easy for qualifying to quarter final round and close to be the winner AFCON 2025. My prediction beside Nigeria I has favorite teams for winning AFCON is Morocco in the 16 of round against Tanzania.

The Nigerian team really tried but what i just want from them is to maintain that consistency as they move to the next round, it would be so disappointing to win all the teams in their group, score a good number of goals and end up being kicked out in the round of 16, I wish all the Super Eagle players a good health and form and I hope key players like Osimhen doesn't get injured.

 Mozambique is not a tough opponent. I don't see them as threat so I expect Nigeria to be the victors but on the other hands they ought to be more careful and avoid sharing points too, it's a win or nothing for the Super Eagles.

[Finebone]

The Nigerian team really tried but what i just want from them is to maintain that consistency as they move to the next round, it would be so disappointing to win all the teams in their group, score a good number of goals and end up being kicked out in the round of 16,

Where I really want our super eagles to make an improvement is our defensive positions, because it seems like our midfield and attack is a lot better than before.
Though our midfield has not been seriously tested against a ball playing team, but with what I have seen so far from them, I am a bit confident in our midfield and our attack.

Mozambique is not a tough opponent. I don't see them as threat so I expect Nigeria to be the victors but on the other hands they ought to be more careful

I just hope that our super eagles team is not complacent about this game because if they treat this game as an important game, I don't see a reason for them not to win convincingly on Monday.

[Rockson1]

I just hope that our super eagles team is not complacent about this game because if they treat this game as an important game, I don't see a reason for them not to win convincingly on Monday.

There defense line is one of their problems which I think it should be taken care of so quickly, currently I think they has improved to some extent and with that, they can easily beat some teams that we do not think they can, one thing I don't like about the Nigerian super eagles is that, they at some point misprioritize things, what I don't want to hope for is what happened during the just concluded world cup, they need to continue to be consistent in their winning, there should not be any reason for failure this time, the mindset to win in any game is to be serious no matter who you are paying with and I think that should be the mindset of all super eagles players.

[Solodoski]

The draw for the next phase of the AFCON tournament has been drawn and Nigeria will face Mozambique in the round of 16. The draw is a bit favourable for the Nigerian side.

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

[SuperBitMan]

Senegal and Congo are into the next phase of Afcon they have been very even the won their first match, drew the second match and that was when they faced each other and won their last match by the same score line.
If I were to be one of the favorites teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast and Nigeria I will be thinking about the chances of playing against either Senegal and Congo.

Don't be deceived by the performances of Senegal and Congo in the African Cup of Nations group stage matches and wish to play against them if you are favorite teams like Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria because their performances can change in the knockout phase of the African Cup of Nations. I even see Senegal and Congo as one of the favorite teams to win the African Cup of Nations. With the experience Nigeria had against Congo in the World Cup qualifiers, I won't even wish Nigeria to play against Congo.

Well one thing you should understand is that a team may not do very well in a particular match those not mean they won't perform well if they meet again. I believe that Nigeria is very inform This time around and they are playing the African cup of nation competition with a very different spirit so if Congo and Nigeria should meet again I believe Nigeria will win them, remember in the match between Congo and Nigeria in the world cup qualifiers victor osimhen had injury and didn't play full time so I believe if they meet again Nigeria will win them very well.

[DYOR+BTC]

The draw for the next phase of the AFCON tournament has been drawn and Nigeria will face Mozambique in the round of 16. The draw is a bit favourable for the Nigerian side.

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

Yes i agree with you, Nigeria are not to be trusted with the hope to be crowned champions of Afcon tournament this year, they may be in a very good form, winning all the group stage games and also haunting to win more in the round of 16 and above but this there inability to remain consistent is one reason i will never trust them on that. Know doubt they are one of the best side considered to win the tournament but they are the only team that always turn the hope of all down at the highest point when all will be ready to see them go far in any tournament. So i do not  think they should be considered ready to win at last

[Zigabel]

There defense line is one of their problems which I think it should be taken care of so quickly, currently I think they has improved to some extent and with that, they can easily beat some teams that we do not think they can, one thing I don't like about the Nigerian super eagles is that, they at some point misprioritize things, what I don't want to hope for is what happened during the just concluded world cup, they need to continue to be consistent in their winning, there should not be any reason for failure this time, the mindset to win in any game is to be serious no matter who you are paying with and I think that should be the mindset of all super eagles players.

The Eagles truly have some issues around their defence but lucky for them, at this stage, their front lines is covering for a of that and that is why they still win games even with this supposed defect found around their defence. At the later stage of the tournament, they will need some extra effort to not allow th defensive defect interfare with their chances because it is clearly going to be an issue that may cost them some lot actually.