2023 Africa Cup of Nations: 5 things we learned on Day 18 - time for a rebrand

Well, if the organisers can call it the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations when it is clearly happening in 2024, the review can jolly well inject some contemporary breeze and freshness and anoint it the 2024 Africa Cup of Surprises.

South African players celebrate their second goal against Morocco in the last-16 of the Africa Cup of Nations. © AP / Sunday Alamba

Dream scenario

The Morocco coach Walid Regragui was handed a four-game touchline ban for his part in a melee with the Democratic Republic of Congo skipper Chancel Mbemba at the end of their game in the group stages. Regragui was absent for the final pool game against Zambia in San Pedro on Day 12. The Moroccan football federation appealed and tournament organisers relented to allow him to be in the engine room on the sidelines for the game against South Africa. But what? The DRC federation says it will appeal against the appeal. They want Regragui to pay for his alleged insults to their skipper. And the teams won't even be able to discuss the issues from the pool game anew as they won't be meeting in the final following Morocco's elimination. Curses.

Continental gift

Algeria? Possibly. Ghana? Probably. Tunisia? Unsurprising. They all went out in the first phase. But Morocco out in the last-16? Did not see that one coming. But that's the joy of this Cup of Surprises, they just keep coming. The Moroccans went to pieces in the game against South Africa. OK. You miss a penalty but then have a man sent off when you're chasing the game? No. No. No.

Swift retribution

There was something delightfully appropriate about South Africa's second goal against Morocco. Sofyan Amrabat was shown a red card in stoppage-time for a lunge on the South Africa midfielder Teboho Mokoena as he tried to push through for goal. Mokoena picked himself up off the deck and curled the resulting free-kick into the goal. 2-0. Game over and time for Morocco to go. Just so just.

Logical

Mali scored early in each half to establish their ascendance over Burkina Faso. But the lead was halved in the 57^th minute. Nevertheless, Mali held on to book a place in the last eight for the first time since 2013. They’ll have another west African derby in store against the revitalized hosts Cote d’Ivoire. That should be noisy.

Business end of the Cup of Surprises

And so the four days for the last-16 are over and we have an intriguing set of encounters in store for the quarter-finals: Angola v Nigeria; DRC v Guinea; Cote d'Ivoire v Mali and Cape Verde v South Africa. The days of saying Team X is favourite are long gone. "The Cup of Nations is very open for anyone to win," said the Burkina Faso coach Hubert Velud after his side lost to Mali. A truly wonderful scenario.