TOPS

They only needed a point to secure a ticket to the knockout stage, and could have played out a draw, but the Namibians wanted more. Faced with a Mali team cornered in its area, the Brave Warriors lived up to their nickname, and discovered themselves on multiple occasions to try to open the scoring. In the first half Tjiueza even hit the post, proof of their impeccable will. Fortunately for them, the story ends well and thanks to this blank score, Namibia secures its first qualification for the final phase of a CAN.

It seemed like they were the ones who needed points in the standings. Percy Tau, as usual, led the South AfS offensives, in a very particular quest, that of pushing the Tunisians deeper than the ground. Already the Eagles of Carthage had difficulty taking off, they were not helped by the attempts of Bafana Bafana and their desire to bring down Tunisia for good. Although no goal was scored, the South Africans were still closer to opening the scoring than their opponents, although they were suffering.

FLOPS

At the top of their group and already assured of being qualified before kick-off, the Malians had obviously not planned to do violence. It’s simple, we had to pass the 80th minute of play to see a dangerous strike for the Eagles. For coach Eric Chelle, there was clearly a management dilemma, 4 out of 5 changes were already made in the 68th minute to allow the managers to rest. The coach even took the opportunity to bring in Traoré, Camara and Dante, all of whom have not played a single minute since the start of this CAN. These two draws suited the Malian Eagles well and it showed a little too much.

Was the Tunisian selection aware that this was the decisive match for qualification? Given their 90 minutes, we are entitled to ask the question. Second before the start of the match, South Africa only needed a point to secure a place in the round of 16, but the Tunisians played the match as if the roles were reversed. Two small shots on target, here is the very poor record of the Carthage Eagles who struggled to find the fault, before understanding that they were going home at the final whistle. When Jouini missed the winning goal with a poorly negotiated header in the 90th minute, the first signs of panic fell on the Tunisian faces, but it was already too late…