Group stage wrap-up: AFCON 2023 is the most exciting tournament ever

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) group stage ended with just one goal in four matches played on the same day. But that ending does not take away from the fact that this was one of the most dramatic and exciting AFCON tournaments in history, a tournament filled with goals, late thrills and giant-killing.

There have been 89 goals scored at this year’s AFCON. That’s almost as many as the entire 2021 tournament (100) and 2019 (102). In fact, at a current goals-per-game average of 2.47, it’s the highest-scoring tournament in 15 years, since the 2008 goalfest. Only four tournaments in AFCON history (including the 16-team edition) have seen more goals scored per game. Had it not been for the final dry day, the average would have been 2.75 goals per game – the third-highest in history.

One notable thing about the tournament is that teams no longer keep the ball for long, a “specialty” of African football that has prevented this continent from going far in the World Cup. According to statistics in the group stage, there were less than 12 matches where teams made more than 10 passes in an attack. This figure is less than half of Euro 2021, lower than Copa América 2021 and World Cup 2022. African players have a bad habit of playing individually, not having good team coordination skills, so when they have the ball, they act on their own. But anyway, compared to previous tournaments, AFCON 2023 saw a significant increase in the number of passes in a coordinated sequence, up 31% with an average of 15.2 passes.

In AFCON 2021, only three goals came from combinations of 10 or more passes. In the 2023 group stage, that number was 7 goals. That shows that the technical quality of the players participating in this year's tournament has improved. In other words, it means that African players have a better way of thinking about playing football. AFCON 2023 is also the first tournament in history to average more than 600 successful passes per match and the first tournament to have a passing accuracy of over 80%.

Another improvement was the late European-style goals. The final match of Group B encapsulated the madness of the group stage. With Ghana leading 2-0 against Mozambique, Egypt knew they needed to beat Cape Verde to qualify. By the 93rd minute, Egypt were 2-1 up, but that euphoria turned to horror when Cape Verde equalised in the 99th. By then Egypt were out, but on the other side of the pitch, Ghana had lost their advantage by conceding two goals in injury time to Mozambique. Ghana were eliminated along with Mozambique, while Egypt finished second in the group.

That crazy night in Group B brought us four goals after the 90th minute in two games. That was four of the 13 stoppage-time goals scored in the group stage of this year's AFCON alone, a figure that is twice as many as in any tournament since 2010.

africa-cup-of-nations-stats-90th-minute-winners-1024x1024-6165.png — Statistics of goals scored after 90 minutes in AFCON history since 2010

There are three other notable stories at AFCON 2023. First is the rise of Equatorial Guinea, who stunned everyone by topping Group A, ahead of hosts Ivory Coast and giants Nigeria. Juan Micha’s side owe much of their success to Emilio Nsue, a 34-year-old who plays in Spain’s third tier and is currently the top scorer with five goals. Equatorial Guinea have now reached the knockout stage in all four of their appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations (2012, 2015, 2021 and 2023). Since AFCON started playing a group stage (in 1963), they are the only nation to have attended more than one AFCON and always reached the knockout stage.

The second intriguing story unfolding is that of Mauritania, who made history by claiming their first ever AFCON win against Algeria, leaving Riyad Mahrez and co bottom of Group D. Mauritania had failed to win any of the eight games they had played in AFCON history, but with their first win they are through to the knockout stages for the first time in three appearances. Their opponents are Cape Verde.

The third fairytale of AFCON 2023 involves Namibia, who also picked up their first win of the tournament when they beat Tunisia 1-0 in their opening group game, their 10th game of the tournament. Although it was the only goal they scored in Group E, Collin Benjamin’s side qualified for the knockout stages for the first time in their history as one of the best third-placed teams.

LONG KHANG

Source