All the group stage matches of groups A, B and C are over, and two teams from each group have qualified for the Round of 16. Cricket betting can be an alternative for football in some situations.
Cameroon sealed the top spot in Group A at the Africa Cup of Nations. In the third and final match, they drew against Cape Verde and finished the group stages with seven points. The hosts went ahead in the game in the 39th minute with a goal from Vincent Aboubakar. It was his fifth goal of the tournament. But it took only a few minutes for Cape Verde to equalise. They opened their scoring after eight minutes in the second half. Garry Rodrigues scored the equaliser. But it was not enough for Cape Verde as they finished third in Group A. The hosts have won two out of three matches in the group stages, scoring seven goals and conceding three.
Burkina Faso also qualified from Group A as the second-placed team after a draw against Ethiopia. In their final group game, the Stallions managed to hold on for a 1-1 draw against Ethiopia. Cyrille Bayala scored for Burkina Faso, and Getaneh Kebede scored the equaliser from the spot for Ethiopia.
In Group B, Sadio Mane’s Senegal finished top after a 0-0 draw against Malawi. Senegal had two top Premier League stars in their team, Sadio Mane and Edouard Mendy. Against Malawi, Senegal dominated the game for 90 minutes. But Malawi’s resilience stopped the opponents from scoring the winning goal.
Even after finishing third in the group, Malawi can still hope as the four best third-placed teams can progress. Guinea is the second team that qualified from Group B. They finished second as they beat Malawi on matchday 1.
In Group C, goals were raining on matchday 3. In two matches, nine goals were scored. Gabon played out a 2-2 draw against Morocco, and Ghana lost 3-2 to Comoros.
Paris Saint Germain’s this season’s signing Achraf Hakimi scored a freekick in the 84th minute to grab the top position in Group C.
Comoros surprised Ghana as they won their first match by beating them 3-2. Ghana had a tournament to forget as they only grabbed just one point from three games.
After Ghana was knocked out, two Premier League clubs will get a massive boost. Leicester City’s defender Daniel Amartey and Arsenal’s Thomas Partey. They will return soon to England. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta did not show any sympathy to Partey after his side was knocked out.
“They played last night,” Arteta told the media ahead of the second leg of his side’s Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool.
“It was a huge disappointment for Tommy obviously because [he was] representing his country and in this period he had big games.
“He needs to be fully focused and involved now with Arsenal. When? As soon as possible.”
