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

[Mate2237]

Congratulations to Senegal for making it this far in the Afcon from the beginning of this tournament Senegal were seen as one of the team that will win this cup , so am not particularly surprised about the way that Senegal has been able to reach in this competition.they are one match away from the finals let see which team that they will play in the semifinals of this competition.


I think that Mali were affected by the red card that they received. But generally looking at the performance of Mali in this competition I will say that they gave a very good account of themselves, especially in the last game against Tunisia. Mali should go home and build for the next nations cup.

[Tonimez]

The first quarter finals game in the ongoing CAF African Cup Of Nations is currently in the 95th minute with two more minutes to go. It's between Mali Vs Senegal and at the moment, Mali is trailing by a goal to nil. If it ends like this, Senegal will qualify to the semi finals of the competition while the Malians will be going home. From what I'm seeing here, Senegal are surely gonna win this one. Despite leading, they're still the team that's been pressing for more goals. It's been a very tight game and a quarter-final-worthy match. The referee will soon sound the final whistle.

Senegal won the game with 1-0. I was thinking that Mali would won or draw the match and won the game in penalty shootout. But Senegal protected their goal from the first half till the end of the game. If Cameroon wins Morocco, then the AFCON will become an unpredicted tournament. As I have said, this is where we will know the strong teams from the lucky teams from the group stage. Morocco last game was not encouraging. I was expecting Morocco to win that game with good scores and not just only one goal and struggled to end the Match. Cameroon is not a weak team so they have to increase their tactics to win them. 8:00pm is the time.

This was my most saddened period of the game. Yves bissouma seen down the tunnel to his greatest suprise. Mali really impressed me all through this tournament and come what may, they won many hearts. Abongile Tom is a very mean referee, brandishing cards everywhere. In as much as I love his precision but he just doesn't care about what anyone says. Delivering a double yellow card to bissouma and sending him off in the first half ruined the game already. If Mali can stabilise their attack same way they protect their defense, they would win titles in this continent.



Ending this game with just a single goal from Senegal doesn't look very good because I thought Senegal was going to unleash more goals after the red card. Sadio Mane gradually retiring from scoring goals even though he still plays good football. He now went so indifferent about scoring and focus more on getting to the finals, playing more of a midfield game and linking the entire team.

Mali almost got this game turned around but held down by Ndiaye's 27th minute strike. Diarra made a whole lot of saves and delivered a classic game. AFCON 2025 has become so heated and I must say the entire world is wowed by the level of improvement in the tournament this year.

[Wakate]

We've not been struggling in the AFCON, our performance has been good, scored enough goals without stretching the games to penalty shootout. The only problem we talked about was that of our defense based on how easily penetrable it is, after scoring two to three goals in a game, the defense begins to leak, allowing our opponent to score one or two goals, and the game becomes tougher for us because we want to secure the victory.

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

[Franctoshi]

We've not been struggling in the AFCON, our performance has been good, scored enough goals without stretching the games to penalty shootout. The only problem we talked about was that of our defense based on how easily penetrable it is, after scoring two to three goals in a game, the defense begins to leak, allowing our opponent to score one or two goals, and the game becomes tougher for us because we want to secure the victory.

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

Do they care? The NFF in quote, this adminstration don't care about football, In fact from my observation, we haven't had another football loving president such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo that supported our then super eagle team all round, Then sporting activities were taken very seriously, especially football. Then we had a working NFF, and we've never had that again for long now.

[Felicity_Tide]

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

Lol, who's going to serve them such penalties... The government?.
As far as I know, the NFF is one of the many bodies that is not well regulated and checkmated. No accountability..., no questioning, and no demands to be met. From what I've gathered, this issue of late payment has been a problem years before now, but it seems we all could easily get to know these days because of how massive the internet has become, through social medias.

Even recently, I heard that there is an outstanding payment that is yet to be made, and from what I heard, the players threatened not to train for the Algeria game. Please, can someone confirm if that payment has been made, because it's going to be very embarrassing to see that these boys don't represent because of NFF's negligence.


The Quarter finals between Morocco and Cameroon is currently going on. So far Cameroon has been struggling to match the rhythm of the host side. Brahim Diaz got the opener, but it seems we're going to see more goals.

[Lida93]

This was my most saddened period of the game. Yves bissouma seen down the tunnel to his greatest suprise. Mali really impressed me all through this tournament and come what may, they won many hearts. Abongile Tom is a very mean referee, brandishing cards everywhere. In as much as I love his precision but he just doesn't care about what anyone says. Delivering a double yellow card to bissouma and sending him off in the first half ruined the game already. If Mali can stabilise their attack same way they protect their defense, they would win titles in this continent.



Ending this game with just a single goal from Senegal doesn't look very good because I thought Senegal was going to unleash more goals after the red card. Sadio Mane gradually retiring from scoring goals even though he still plays good football. He now went so indifferent about scoring and focus more on getting to the finals, playing more of a midfield game and linking the entire team.

Mali almost got this game turned around but held down by Ndiaye's 27th minute strike. Diarra made a whole lot of saves and delivered a classic game. AFCON 2025 has become so heated and I must say the entire world is wowed by the level of improvement in the tournament this year.

Well it seems as if the competition is beginning to take another turn, in the previous round we saw numerous goals in some games but in the first game of the quarter finals between Mali and Senegal the goals are begining to reduce, this shows how fierce the competition is turning out to be and am not surprised at all because right now there are no underdogs so its quite expected that every team might have to struggle a bit in this round.

[Ndabagi01]

Senegal won the game with 1-0. I was thinking that Mali would won or draw the match and won the game in penalty shootout. But Senegal protected their goal from the first half till the end of the game. If Cameroon wins Morocco, then the AFCON will become an unpredicted tournament. As I have said, this is where we will know the strong teams from the lucky teams from the group stage. Morocco last game was not encouraging. I was expecting Morocco to win that game with good scores and not just only one goal and struggled to end the Match. Cameroon is not a weak team so they have to increase their tactics to win them. 8:00pm is the time.

The game has started and it is almost halftime and Morocco are leading with one goal against Cameroon. The match which we all thought is going to be very tough, looks to be one sided and in favor of Morocco. This is still the first half and maybe the second half will be more interesting than this and we will get to see a better performance by Cameroon. If an equalizer will be coming from Cameroon in the early minutes of the second half, then we will have a more interesting second half than the first half. Both teams are strong but on paper, morocco is more stronger and has the more tendency for victory in this game. Although, a one goal lead is not enough to say they’ll win the match, let’s see what happens in the second half.

[Jaycoinz]

Congratulations to Senegal for making it this far in the Afcon from the beginning of this tournament Senegal were seen as one of the team that will win this cup , so am not particularly surprised about the way that Senegal has been able to reach in this competition.they are one match away from the finals let see which team that they will play in the semifinals of this competition.


I think that Mali were affected by the red card that they received. But generally looking at the performance of Mali in this competition I will say that they gave a very good account of themselves, especially in the last game against Tunisia. Mali should go home and build for the next nations cup.

They have made it to the quarter finals of which there is still the semi finals and the grand finale if they put up the same hard work so it's left for them to actually try and see if they can make it that far although with all the players and team confidence that they have am not doubting them at all if they end up being winners of the competition but the host nation will definitely have a enough statement to say about that idea because morroco is also a clear favorite in this competition.

[Wakate]

Hope you are aware that coaches have a huge influence on the performance of the players? Recently,y both Manchester United and Chelsea sacked their coach because of how poorly they were performing. What has kept the Super Eagle from qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is the previous coach, Finidi. The moment Eric Chile became the manager, things started to change for good. Up till now, the Super Eagles have been nothing but exceptional. If you dont believe in them, there are others that still do believe in them, at least dont make them lose their faith in the team.

You are very correct about this and I think that was the problem of the supwr eagle. The coach lack strategic skill to arrange the players and give them the kind of narrative and motivation that will help the players become zealous to play for the win.
I don't really give a fuck about the coach and what he has to offer, all I want to see is a win for the super eagles.

[Mr Reporter]

Hope you are aware that coaches have a huge influence on the performance of the players? Recently,y both Manchester United and Chelsea sacked their coach because of how poorly they were performing. What has kept the Super Eagle from qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is the previous coach, Finidi. The moment Eric Chile became the manager, things started to change for good. Up till now, the Super Eagles have been nothing but exceptional. If you dont believe in them, there are others that still do believe in them, at least dont make them lose their faith in the team.

You are very correct about this and I think that was the problem of the supwr eagle. The coach lack strategic skill to arrange the players and give them the kind of narrative and motivation that will help the players become zealous to play for the win.
I don't really give a fuck about the coach and what he has to offer, all I want to see is a win for the super eagles.

Well I was think now should even be the best to give blame’s to the for now that can come in later but I feel have to say the coach is not really trying it discourages them, well in addition to what you have said I feel the coach needs to do much better before to keep the super eagles fit for the next game….just as you have stated it i feel this time around no one should even try that to blame the coach for now this guys are really putting their effort but most at time just need to put always all this suffering and them to enjoy rest

[Callido]

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

We had the wrong coach, and some of the players were not called up. How we did not manage to qualify for the World Cup still surprises me today, countries that we were grouped together, some of them are already out of the AFCON, how is it possible that Nigeria could not qualify for the World Cup, a bigger competition.

It's all in the past, we are counting on another four years, maybe we can join other African countries to play on the big stage. I'm only scared we may not have this same team by then, some of them will be retired at the time.

[Woodie]

Going forward I don't see a game having more than 2goals played in normal time (90 minutes), already one game down and we only saw 1 goal in full time and currently Cameroon plays Morocco (the hosts) and currently the Arabs are winning by a goal and game looks locked with no clear cut chances created in the game...

[Issa56]

We've not been struggling in the AFCON, our performance has been good, scored enough goals without stretching the games to penalty shootout. The only problem we talked about was that of our defense based on how easily penetrable it is, after scoring two to three goals in a game, the defense begins to leak, allowing our opponent to score one or two goals, and the game becomes tougher for us because we want to secure the victory.

Super eagles performance has been good in the AFCON tournament, I will say it’s better than the performance which they displayed during World Cup qualifiers. Super eagles still have some positions which they are suppose to work on, their defense is not that strong, because they keep on conceding easily in matches, if they don’t work on that, then it’s really going to affect them in some matches.

Not qualifying for the World Cup is our biggest regret, but it's all in the past, while we had the opportunity, just like every country that qualified, we blew away our opportunity. Winning the AFCON is the only opportunity for us to prove ourselves.

If the super eagles performed the same way they are performing right now during the World Cup qualifiers, then am sure the super eagles will be playing in the World Cup, but their performance was just so terrible during the club World Cup qualifiers, and they were just struggling and couldn’t even win most of their matches during that period.

[Antotena]

Do they care? The NFF in quote, this adminstration don't care about football, In fact from my observation, we haven't had another football loving president such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo that supported our then super eagle team all round, Then sporting activities were taken very seriously, especially football. Then we had a working NFF, and we've never had that again for long now.

Please don't blame only the NFF, I know they have their own in their body but everything thag is happening in the NFF is controlled by the government, it's the allocation the government give them is what they see, I don't think the government can be silent with this their treatment if the federal government has been giving them proper allocation. As you see that NFF, even the NFF staff are not well paid, the government is owing them some amount of monte which is why they don't get motivated to fight for their players when they don't get paid too.

It's even the players that are saying they wouldn't go for games if they don't get paid their bonuses, I don't think the NFF workers can do the same because they can be replaceable instantly. The federal government can change the management but they can't change the players because they know their worth. This is why when they ask the government to pay them, they comply. The structure of NFF has been the same for years, we need to ask questions from the government too.

[Richbased]

Going forward I don't see a game having more than 2goals played in normal time (90 minutes), already one game down and we only saw 1 goal in full time and currently Cameroon plays Morocco (the hosts) and currently the Arabs are winning by a goal and game looks locked with no clear cut chances created in the game...

Morocco has doubled the score now and the match is nearing the ending minutes as it is already above 80 minutes as at the time of writing this post. Morocco is a big name is Africa football so Cameroon could not have given them a tough match. The tempo of the Moroccan players is difficult for the Cameroonians to comprehend so as a matter of fact, Morocco is heading to the semi finals and i don't mind who they will meet but they will surely reach the finals of this AFCON.

Earlier Senegal had a tough game against Mali, it was a tensed match because many yellow cards were given to the Senegal players but it was unfortunate that a red card that Mali got in the first half hindered their effort for an equalizer so Senegal took the advantage and won by a lone goal which also confirms them to the semi finals.

[Kavelj22]

Going forward I don't see a game having more than 2goals played in normal time (90 minutes), already one game down and we only saw 1 goal in full time and currently Cameroon plays Morocco (the hosts) and currently the Arabs are winning by a goal and game looks locked with no clear cut chances created in the game...

With less than five minutes remaining in regulation time, Morocco scored a second goal in the second half. This is unlike the Senegal match where only one goal scored. Congratulations for Morocco, the star of the Championship.

After advancing from the group stage, performances tend to decline due to fatigue caused by the short intervals between matches. Furthermore, the task becomes significantly more difficult against any team that believes it is close to reaching the knockout stages.

[BitBakerr1]

We've not been struggling in the AFCON, our performance has been good, scored enough goals without stretching the games to penalty shootout. The only problem we talked about was that of our defense based on how easily penetrable it is, after scoring two to three goals in a game, the defense begins to leak, allowing our opponent to score one or two goals, and the game becomes tougher for us because we want to secure the victory.

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

Do they care? The NFF in quote, this adminstration don't care about football, In fact from my observation, we haven't had another football loving president such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo that supported our then super eagle team all round, Then sporting activities were taken very seriously, especially football. Then we had a working NFF, and we've never had that again for long now.

The corruption in Nigeria is just becoming too much, when we have a president that love sport so much you will see that everything we work very well when it concerns sports but when we have a president that really don’t care about sport, you see that things will not work out well in area of sports, I will not say our current president does not like our love sports. The problem we are having in Nigeria is politics and for the fact that the person that was put as the NFF president is a loyalist or a boy or servant to the president. The president will not pressure him too much to do the right thing, especially when he’s among those people that made everything possible to put him in office, I just want the boys to play with their mind because if they’re expecting the NFF to pay them their bonuses or do them very well as it is required they will wait until the competition is off so they should do what they can do to help and bring joy to the face of your fans. I’m highly disappointed at NFF.

[Upgrade00]

Please don't blame only the NFF, I know they have their own in their body but everything thag is happening in the NFF is controlled by the government, it's the allocation the government give them is what they see, I don't think the government can be silent with this their treatment if the federal government has been giving them proper allocation. As you see that NFF, even the NFF staff are not well paid, the government is owing them some amount of monte which is why they don't get motivated to fight for their players when they don't get paid too.

Investigations have shown they do receive allocations. Recently when there was the protest about unpaid bonus, reports showed that N17 billion had been released for that earlier but the payment was not made until the team refused to train.
NFF also does not only get funding from the government, they get from CAF, FIFA and from sponsors like Nike but there has been nothing to show for all the fundings they get.
Morocco just got into the semis, if we can beat Algeria it will be a very tough match against the host nation for Nigeria. A month ago, I would have given us no chance in both games, but with our current form we could win Algeria and put up a big fight against Morocco.

[Iroh]

This same energy could have been diverted to the world cup qualifying stage and this could have helped Nigeria as a country to qualify for the world. The failure of the Nigerian football federation to take Nigeria to the world cup should attracted penalty for the members of the NFF so that they would treat the players better and pay them their salaries without owing them a dime.

Yeah, I totally agree. If the same energy being displayed now could have been used in the world cup qualifiers, perhaps Nigeria would have qualified for the tournament. It's quite pitiful that Nigeria couldn't qualify and like you noted, the NFF has a huge role in that aspect and sadly, they goofed.
It's crazy and quite embarrassing when players come out to complain about something the NFF should have handled and likely neglected. They should make it a priority to give the players what's due to them and also what they need when needed. We've got really good players. Players that are sometimes, not so motivated to play due to the failures of mainly the country's football federation.

[Abu-Naim]

Do they care? The NFF in quote, this adminstration don't care about football, In fact from my observation, we haven't had another football loving president such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo that supported our then super eagle team all round, Then sporting activities were taken very seriously, especially football. Then we had a working NFF, and we've never had that again for long now.

The leaders of the NFF and other bodies regulating and controlling the affairs of the football and spit in Nigeria are selfish, they are not after the dignity of the country, they are only on after what they will have in return which is why they are delaying the players, and if the players didn’t play well, they blame the entire team and the coach for not winning games meanwhile the management isn’t given the players the enough and proper care to encourage them to play for the nation.

Nevertheless, I don’t want this to have effect on their performance against Algeria because we need them to give their best in the game so that we will
Keep our hope alive