With the Africa Cup of Nations drawing to an exciting end this Sunday, KickOff's Lukhanyo Mtuta reflects on four key things we learned from this year's tournament.
A competition for the underdogs
There were giant killings galore at this year's tournament as known minnows claimed some unexpected results over the so-called juggernauts. Tunisia and Algeria failed to advance from the group stage, being pipped to the round of 16 by Namibia and Mauritania, respectively. In Group A, Equatorial Guinea topped their group ahead of Nigeria and hosts Ivory Coast. Cape Verde topped Group B ahead of Egypt and Ghana, while Angola also won their group despite their last win in the competition coming in 2012. None of the top-five ranked CAF nations reached the quarter-finals too.
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COSAFA on the rise again
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) had five representatives at the competition, namely South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, and Zambia. Only two of them failed to advance past the group stages, while two others made it as far as the quarter-finals. Namibia, meanwhile, made history when they reached the round of 16 for the first time ever. The Brave Warriors also drew against Mali and beat Tunisia, who are currently ranked 87 places above them on the FIFA world rankings. These are promising times for COSAFA teams, who posed a big challenge for the historically successful west and north African nations.
The impressive use of VAR and good officiating
The officiating and use of VAR at AFCON have made the headlines for all the right reasons. Many have acknowledged the referees for making conclusive decisions in a swift manner. Some have even commended the officials for not trying to draw attention to themselves as some referees in Europe have been accused of. Manchester United legend-turned-pundit Gary Neville had a glowing review of the officiating earlier this week, stating, according to Sky Sports: "The standards of officiating set by this year's AFCON are honestly staggering. It's like they invented it. The Premier League and all of Europe have a lot of learning to do."
Big names were humbled, stars were born
Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez and Sadio Mane were undoubtedly the three biggest names in the continent little more than a year ago. However, the tide seems to be turning for these superstars as they failed to set the stage alight as many had anticipated. Instead, reigning CAF African Men's Player of the Year Victor Osimhen has seemingly fully assumed the role of the biggest player in the region, while promising talents such as Ghana's Mohammed Kudus, Senegal's Lamine Camara and Bafana's Thapelo Maseko showed glimpses of becoming prominent superstars in the next editions of the competition.
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