The Round of 16 of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nation : Nigeria and Ivory Coast dropped out.

ROUND OF 16
AFCON 2021

The group stage eliminated pre-tournament favorites in Algeria and Ghana
The “Round of 16” stage eliminated Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

‘Group A’ and ‘Group F’ have two representatives left in the final 8.

GROUP A: Burkina Faso | Cameroon
GROUP B: Senegal
GROUP C: Morocco
GROUP D: Egypt
GROUP E: Equatorial Guinea
GROUP F: Gambia | Tunisia

NIGERIA 0-1 TUNISIA
BURKINA FASO 1- 1 {7-6 pen} GABON
GUINEA 0-1 GAMBIA
CAMEROON 2-1 COMOROS
SENEGAL 2-0 CAPE VERDE
MOROCCO 2-1 MALAWI
IVORY COAST 0-0 {4-5 pen} EGYPT
MALI 0-0 {5-6 pen}EQUATORIAL GUINEA




FROM THE GOLD LIST RATING-
Burkina Faso [11th ranked] beat Gabon [9th ranked]
Nigeria [1st] lose to [12th] Tunisia
Guinea [14th] lose to Gambia [6th]
A depleted Comoros [17th] lose to Cameroon [2nd]
Senegal [10th] advanced through Cape Verde [19th]
Ivory Coast [3rd] is beaten by Egypt [7th]
Equatorial Guinea [8th] got through Mali [5th].



NIGERIA 0-1 TUNISIA
Youssef Msakni’s goal in the 47th minute knocked Nigeria out of the tournament.
Nigeria entered the knockout stage as the only unbeaten team.
Alex Iwobi made things more difficult when he picked up a straight red in the 68th minute.

BURKINA FASO 1- 1 GABON [7-6 PKO]
Burkina Faso deservedly advanced to the quarter-final through the penalty kickoff after Adama Guira’s own goal in the first minute of the final additional minutes extended the game into extra time for Gabon.

To be fair to Gabon, they played 50+ minutes with a numerical disadvantage.


The debutants had a respectable showing.
GUINEA 0-1 GAMBIA
Guinea and Cameroon ended their match with a player getting sent off towards the end of the match.

Musa Barrow scored the only goal of the match in the 71st minute to advance
Gambia to the quarterfinal in their debut season.


CAMEROON 2- 1 COMOROS
Comoros bowed out of the Africa Cup of Nations at the “Round of 16” stage. A proud achievement for a debut tournament.

Comoros had to field an outfield player as their goalkeeper.
Injury and positive COVID results had wiped out all of Comoro’s goalkeeping options for their ‘Round of 16’ match against Cameroon.
Defender Chaker Alhadhur stepped up when his team needed him the most.

A fully fit Comoros was already a severe underdog in this match and in this tournament.
Cameroon has a longer and more successful football history, the better quality players, and the advantage that came with being the host nation, and gaining a numerical advantage in the 7th minute when Comoros’s defender Nadjim Abdou was handed a red card.

Despite it all, Comoros ended up losing by a respectable margin of 2 goals to 1.


SENEGAL 2- 0 CAPE VERDE
Cape Verde was reduced to nine men before the hour mark.
Patrick Andrade in the 21st minute.
Goalkeeper Vozinha was sent off on the red card to force a substitution for Cape Verde and leave them two men down against a very talented Senegal team.
Sadio Mane scored the opening goal of the match in the 63rd minute.

MOROCCO 2-1 MALAWI
Achraf Hakimi scored the winning goal from a freekick in the 70th minute for Morocco but Gabadinho Mhango’s match opening goal in the 7th minute with a goal worthy of a win for Malawi.
Youssef En – Nesyri scored in the additional minutes to get Morocco on even terms.



Both matches on the final day of the ‘Round of 16’ required penalty kickoff after ending goalless.
Egypt and Equatorial Guinea advanced to the quarter-final at the expense of Ivory Coast and Mali.

IVORY COAST 0-0 {4-5 pen} EGYPT
Advancing to the Round of 16 as the group winner to be rewarded with the most successful nation as your opponent was Ivory Coast’s hard luck.
The Ivorians were knocked out of the competition by the Egyptians.
Egypt win 5-4 on penalties, with Eric Bailly the only player not to score from the spot.


MALI 0-0 EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Equatorial Guinea missed the first penalty of the kickoff but almost won it in the first five.
Equatorial Guinea knocked out Mali after 6-5 win in the penalty kickoffs.




The QUARTERFINAL fixtures

January 29. 2022
Gambia vs Cameroon
Burkina Faso vs Tunisia

January 30. 2022
Egypt vs Morocco
Senegal vs Mali/Equatorial Guinea