"In the quarter-finals Cote d'Ivoire will face Egypt, a team they haven't beaten at a Cup of Nations since 1990. They lost to them on penalties in both the final in 2006 and in the last 16 four years ago, but the defeat that really stings is Egypt's 4-1 success in the semi-final in Kumasi in 2008, the game in which Amr Zaki embarrassed Kolo Toure."
"This Cote d'Ivoire is not as star-studded as that one, but it is pleasingly coherent and has in Amad Diallo, who scored the first against Burkina Faso and set up the second for Evann Guessand, a great unlocker of defences. Egypt, meanwhile, remain stodgier than they ought to be, yet to work out a way of integrating both Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush."
"Earlier in the day Algeria, who have perhaps looked the best-balanced side so far, beat DR Congo with a 119th-minute goal from Adil Boulbina. In the quarter-finals they meet the only other side to have won four out of four, Nigeria albeit Nigeria did not need extra-time to beat Mozambique. It's a game with history: Nigeria beat Algeria in the 1980 final and Algeria beat Nigeria in the 1990 final, but Algeria have won the past four meetings, including the 2019 Cup of Nations semi-final."
Cote d'Ivoire beat Burkina Faso 3-0 to complete an exceptionally strong quarter-final field. Seven of the eight quarter-finalists are former champions, with 22 titles between them, and all are ranked in FIFA's top 10 for Africa. Ghana's failure to qualify reduced early unpredictability; last-16 upsets included Mali over Tunisia and Cameroon over South Africa. Cote d'Ivoire will face Egypt, whom they have not beaten at the tournament since 1990, with a painful 4-1 semi-final loss in 2008. Amad Diallo provided creation. Algeria beat DR Congo with a 119th-minute Adil Boulbina goal and now meet Nigeria; Algeria have won the past four meetings despite earlier final reversals.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]