2023 Africa Cup of Nations last-16: nerve, know-how and luck take centre stage
From elation to ululation and finally salvation – a dozen days in the life of a Cote d’Ivoire fan. It started so well for the hosts and their adoring legions. Seko Fofana’s sumptuous strike early in the game against Guinea Bissau during the opening match of the 2023 competition on 13 January ignited the tournament and furnished the platform for a 2-0 victory at the shiny Alassane Outtara Stadium in Abidjan.
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The show went slightly left-field with the 1-0 loss to Nigeria on 18 January and turned vaudeville in the 4-0 annihilation against Equatorial Guinea four days later.
Still, there was hope amid the writhing: qualification for the last-16 as one of the four best third-placed teams. But that fate wouldn't be known for another 48 hours.
An inkling of the impending good fortune came on the very night of their abject defeat.
Cote d'Ivoire - with their three points and -3 goal difference - were down the pecking order as Egypt were drawing with Cape Verde and Ghana led Mozambique 2-0 in Group B.
As it stood, Ghana would advance to the last-16 as runners-up and Egypt would be third with three points but with a 0 goal difference.
But the luck of the Ivorians or perhaps the Ghanaian desire to opt for self-immolation instead of cruise control.
Chris Hughton’s men allowed Mozambique to score two goals in second-half stoppage time to force a 2-2 and inhale Ghana from the plains of participation to join them in the caverns of oblivion.
Turn
Egypt rose on the back of their 2-2 draw to the runners-up spot, Ghana were, with their two points, behind the Ivorians.
"I take full responsibility," said the admirable Hughton after the draw.
By the end of the next day, the Ghana Football Association hadn't even bothered to offer Hughton the port, stilton and revolver.
Guinea grabbed a third spot from Group C and Mauritania, 1-0 victors over a dysfunctional Algeria, secured a place from Group D.
It all depended on the games in Groups E and F on 24 January. But before the die was cast, the supremos at the Ivorian football federation sacked head coach Jean-Louis Gasset citing his failure to perform to contracted agreements.
After Namibia took the "best third" berth in Group E, it was just a question of whether Zambia could get a point off Morocco. No.
And Cote d'Ivoire were into the knockout stage with a new coach Emerse Faé, happy supporters and a grateful government which has invested millions in infrastructure projects for the 2023 Cup of Nations.
Change
The euphoria may be short-lived. Cote d'Ivoire will take on reigning champions Senegal who project sobriety and intelligence aforethought instead of skittish improvisation.
It will be a clash of cultures in Yamoussoukro on 29 January and a continuation of the intrigue which has lent the tournament a certain tang with the travails of the powerhouses.
How they have struggled. And even when they're just plodding steadily and not losing - as in the case of Nigeria - there's tragedy.
Nigeria boss Jose Peseiro had to resort to metaphysics to keep the Nigerian media off his back.
"God gives and God takes away," the Portuguese told his inquisitors just before the second Group A game against Cote d'Ivoire. "Maybe it's his time to give ..."
Time
His would-be tormentors found it impossible to trash such transcendance.
Peseiro will be part of the spirit world though should his supreme being decide not to bestow a fourth Cup of Nations crown on Peseiro's side. He survives for the moment following Nigeria's 2-0 win over Cameroon on Saturday night to advance to the last eight.
A rather more corporeal freshness was injected with the arrival of Mauritania and Namibia in the knockout stages for the first time.
Mauritania's 1-0 win over Algeria in their final game in Group D wrote the epitaph for one Djamel Belmadi who had been steering the good ship Algeria since 2018.
He led them to a Cup of Nations triumph in 2019 in Egypt but since then it has been consecutive first round exits.
"I told my players to give their all," said Mauritania coach Amir Abdou after the victory in Bouaké on 23 January.
"I told them to believe until the final whistle. The players had a historic game," Abdou added.
"I told them that they need to write their names in the history books of Mauritanian football and they have done that.”
Pride
Away from such rousing rallying calls, the Namibia defender Ivan Kamberipa, himself less than an hour into legend following the team's progress into the knockout stages, brought a rather more practical perspective to the shifts.
"I think players in the small teams used to give too much respect to the players in the bigger teams and that made them not do well." he posited.
Kamberipa, 29, has plied his trade in Namibia and Botswana. Typically unremarkable but nevertheless an honest soldier.
"Just because of where I'm coming from and just because such or such a player is playing in a big club, it doesn't mean you can't go and close him down.
"If you do that and you do it well, maybe you can say later: 'I had him in my pocket,' and that will inspire the supporters who will see it.
"And it's good for me as a player to go up against such quality players. That is something positive in itself."
Namibia's journey ended with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Namibia in Bouaké.
Neither tie had recourse to the anguish of a penalty shoot-out which decides the victor should the match be tied after 120 minutes.
At such junctures, it's a question of technique and nerve. The Ivorian body football and politic may well be hoping luck will play a part too.
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